Peter Kees Bol (; born 1948) is an American historian and

sinologist Sinology, or Chinese studies, is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of China primarily through Chinese philosophy, language, literature, culture and history and often refers to Western scholarship. Its origin "may be traced to the ex ...

. He is the Charles H. Carswell Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations of

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. Since 2013, he has been a Vice Provost of Harvard with oversight of HarvardX and the Harvard Initiative in Learning and Teaching (HILT). He is the founding director of the Harvard Center for Geographic Analysis, and also directs the China Historical Geographic Information System (CHGIS) and the

China Biographical Database The China Biographical Database (CBDB) is a relational database on Chinese historical figures from the 7th to 19th centuries. The database provides biographical information (name, date of birth and death, ancestral place, degrees and offices hel ...

(CBDB) project.

Biography

Peter Bol earned his Ph.D. in Chinese history from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

in 1980. His main research focus is China's cultural elites during the

Tang Tang or TANG most often refers to: * Tang dynasty * Tang (drink mix) Tang or TANG may also refer to: Chinese states and dynasties * Jin (Chinese state) (11th century – 376 BC), a state during the Spring and Autumn period, called Tang (唐) b ...

Song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

, Yuan, and

Ming The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

dynasties (from the 7th to the 17th century). He and

William C. Kirby William C. Kirby (; born 1950) is T. M. Chang Professor of China Studies and Spangler Family Professor of Business Administration at Harvard University. He is the chairman of the Harvard China Fund, Faculty Chair of the Harvard Center Shanghai, Har ...

together teach ChinaX, a Harvard massive open online course (MOOC) with a worldwide enrollment of more than 45,000 students. Bol has been a Vice Provost of

since 2013. He oversees HarvardX (open online learning) and the Harvard Initiative in Learning and Teaching (HILT). He is the founding director of the Harvard Center for Geographic Analysis, and also directs the China Historical Geographic Information System (in collaboration with Fudan University in Shanghai), and the China Biographical Database project (in collaboration with

Academia Sinica Academia Sinica (AS, la, 1=Academia Sinica, 3=Chinese Academy; ), headquartered in Nangang, Taipei, is the national academy of Taiwan. Founded in Nanking, the academy supports research activities in a wide variety of disciplines, ranging from ...

in Taiwan and

Peking University Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charter ...

Selected publications

*with Kidder Smith Jr., Joseph A. Adler, and Don J. Wyatt, ''Sung Dynasty Uses of the I-ching''. . Princeton University Press. 1990, 2014, 2016. *''This Culture of Ours: Intellectual Transitions in T'ang and Sung China''. . Stanford University Press. 1992. *coeditor with

Pauline Yu Pauline Yu (; born 1949) is an American scholar of Chinese literature and culture noted for her contributions to the study of classical Chinese poetry and comparative literature. She is also known for her research and advocacy on issues in the human ...

, Stephen Owen, and

Willard Peterson Willard J. Peterson is an American historian and sinologist. He is Gordon Wu '58 Professor of Chinese Studies, Emeritus, and Professor of East Asian Studies and History, Emeritus at Princeton University. His research specialties include early Ch ...

, ''Ways with Words: Writing about Reading Texts from Early China''. . University of California Press. 2000. *''Neo-Confucianism in History''. . Harvard University Press. 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bol, Peter 1948 births Living people American sinologists Historians of China Harvard University faculty Princeton University alumni 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers 20th-century American male writers