The Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University is a post-graduate research center promoting the study of modern and contemporary China from a social science perspective. The center hosts and organizes academic activities, provides research funds for faculty and students, and helps policy-makers and news media to understand modern China. The center sponsors the Edwin O. Reischauer Lectures.
History The center was established in 1955 as the Center for East Asian Research, and on the retirement of its founding director, John K. Fairbank, was renamed the John K. Fairbank Center for East Asian Research. From its beginnings in 1955, its focus was on modern and contemporary China, diverging from classic sinology, which emphasized the study of texts from a humanistic perspective.
To mark its 60th anniversary, the center hosted a symposium exploring the evolving landscape of Chinese studies and the center’s shifting role within it.
Directors List of directors of the Fairbank Center: John K. Fairbank, 1955–1973Suleski, pp. 11-44. Ezra Vogel, 1973–1975Suleski, pp. 45-58. Dwight H. Perkins, 1975–1976 (acting)Suleski, p. 54. Roy Hofheinz Jr., 1975–1979Suleski, p. 59. Philip A. Kuhn, 1980–1986Suleski, p. 75. Benjamin Schwartz, 1983–1984 (acting)Suleski, p. 76. Roderick MacFarquhar, 1986–1992Suleski, p. 77. James L. Watson, 1992–1995 Ezra Vogel, 1995–1999Suleski, p. 99. Elizabeth J. Perry, 1999–2002 Wilt L. Idema, 2002–2005 Roderick MacFarquhar, 2005–2006 William C. Kirby, 2006–2007 Martin King Whyte, 2007–2008 William C. Kirby, 2008–2010 Mark Elliott, 2010–2011 William C. Kirby, 2011–2013 Mark Elliott, 2013–2015 Michael Szonyi, 2016-2022 Winnie Chi-man Yip, 2020-2021 (acting) Mark Wu, 2021 - Present
Notes
References Suleski, Ronald Stanley. (2005). The Fairbank Center for East Asian Research at Harvard University: a Fifty Year History, 1955-2005. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ; OCLC 64140358
External links
Facebook, Fairbank Center Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies ISSUU Fairbank Center Annual Reports 2016–17 to 2021. Professor Xu Zhangrun’s Letter to the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University, China Heritage, Wairopa Academy for New Sinology (n.d.)