Two books published by the Harvard University Asia Center and cosponsored by the Fairbank Center for Chinese studies were recently recognized by the Urban History Association, University of Southern California Book Prize in Literary and Cultural Studies, and by the International Comparative Literature Association (AILC-ICLA).
The Urban History Association awarded Mark Baker, Lecturer (Assistant Professor) of East Asian History at the University of Manchester, its 2025 Best Book in Urban History (excl. the U.S., Canada, and Europe) for Pivot of China: Spatial Politics and Inequality in Modern Zhengzhou (Harvard University Asia Center, 2024).
“Baker’s analysis deftly weaves together archival research, ethnography, and spatial theories to show that spatial politics—questions of who lives where, who has access to services, and who benefits from state investment—have been integral to both socialist modernization and post-reform urbanization,” wrote the UHA prize committee. “The book makes an outstanding contribution not only to modern Chinese history but also to comparative urban studies.”
Xiaolu Ma (Ph.D. ’17), Assistant Professor in the Division of Humanities at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, won Honorable Mention in the University of Southern California Book Prize in Literary and Cultural Studies for outstanding monographs published on Russia, East Europe, or Eurasia in the fields of literary and cultural studies. Professor Ma’s book, Transpatial Modernity: Chinese Cultural Encounters with Russia via Japan (1880–1930) (Harvard University Asia Center, 2024), was also honored with an Honorable Mention in the 2025 AILC-ICLA Balakian Prize this July.