The Fairbank Center is pleased to announce the competition for the 2026-27 An Wang Postdoctoral Fellowship.
An Wang Postdoctoral Fellowships have historically supported junior scholars in any discipline of Chinese studies. Postdoctoral fellows are chosen through a competitive selection process. An Wang Fellows spend one year at the Fairbank Center working on research for a book manuscript or articles. In addition, they deliver research presentations to the Fairbank Center community and mentor the Center’s graduate student associates.
2026-2027 An Wang Postdoctoral Fellowship in Chinese Studies
For academic year 2026-27 the Fairbank Center will offer up to two post-doctoral fellowships to support participants in an interdisciplinary research group to study The Social Foundations of State Power in China. Through this research theme, the group will examine how social structure, inequality, and ideology sustain state capacity and regime durability in contemporary China. Building on recent empirical studies, the group will seek to understand how China’s evolving social stratification, informal institutions, and value changes underpin both the endurance and adaptation of its authoritarian state. With China’s ongoing social transformation—mass education expansion, rural–urban integration, digital governance, and renewed ideological campaigns—this is an opportune moment to build cross-disciplinary frameworks linking social stratification to state durability.
The Fairbank Center will recruit up to two An Wang Postdoctoral Fellows to contribute to this research: a junior scholar working on inequality, mobility, or public opinion in China, and/or a junior scholar focusing on governance, ideology, or compliance. Disciplinary homes may include sociology, political science, economics, communication, history, or area studies. Methodological approaches may include—but are not limited to—causal inference, spatial analysis, computational text analysis, and archival or ethnographic research.
Postdoctoral candidates with relevant research interests are encouraged to apply. The application deadline is January 15, 2026.
Faculty Mentors
The 2026-27 A Wang research group will be led by professors Yuhua Wang, Ford Foundation Professor of Modern China Studies, Department of Government, and Xiang Zhou, Professor of Sociology, Department of Sociology. Professor Zhou brings expertise on social stratification, causal inference, and survey data integration. His work on China’s inequality and mobility—spanning analyses of Gini trends, returns to education, and the structure of opportunity—provides the empirical foundation. Professor Wang contributes complementary strengths in political institutions, state formation, and authoritarian governance. His research on the long-run trade-offs between state strength and ruler survival, the infrastructural reach of the modern state, and ideological control in academia frames the project’s political and historical dimensions.
The Social Foundations of State Power in China
The 2026-27 An Wang Fellow/s will contribute to research examining the Social Foundations of State Power in China.
Building on Wang and Zhou’s recent work and utilizing pooled survey data from China, the research group seeks to address a central question for contemporary China: how does the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) sustain its rule and maintain political control amid rapid economic growth and widening inequality? How can an increasingly unequal and socially heterogeneous society continue to generate broad consent and political stability? This tension—between deepening social divisions and enduring political cohesion—lies at the heart of the group’s inquiry into the social foundations of state power in China.
Postdoctoral candidates’ proposed research may address questions related to several broad thematic pillars, including the political consequences of inequality and declining mobility; the ways education shapes beliefs about meritocracy and elite formation; the effects of information control and ideological monitoring on public opinion and professional behavior; the role of informal institutions and social cleavages in sustaining authoritarian governance; and the measurement of social divisions and their relationship to political attitudes and regime support.
The one-year fellowship period is from August 1, 2026, to July 31, 2027. The An Wang postdoctoral fellow/s will be based at the Fairbank Center at Harvard University for the in-person fellowship.
As part of the interdisciplinary research group, the primary responsibility of the An Wang postdoctoral fellow/s will be to conduct their proposed research project under the mentorship of Professors Wang and Zhou. The fellow/s will be expected to participate in workshops and collaborative projects led by the faculty mentors.
Over the course of the 2026-2027 academic year, the An Wang postdoctoral fellow/s will have opportunities to share their research and engage with a community of Harvard and Boston-area researchers working on contemporary China. The fellow/s will participate in the vibrant academic community at the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies.
Total annual stipend for An Wang postdoctoral fellow: $67,600 over 12 months. The postdoctoral fellow position will be eligible for Harvard University’s subsidized comprehensive medical, dental, vision, and other benefits. In addition, $3,000 in An Wang research funding for scholarly activities will be available to each appointed An Wang fellow.
The fellowships will be subject to all rules and regulations of Harvard University.
A strong working knowledge of Chinese and English is required.
A doctoral degree is required by one month prior to the start of the fellowship. Candidates must provide confirmation of successful completion of their terminal doctoral degree, in the form of a diploma or a certificate of completion from the degree-granting institution’s Registrar, by July 1, 2026, at the latest.
Applicants may not be more than five years beyond the receipt of their doctoral degree at the start of the fellowship.
Harvard University doctoral degree recipients are not eligible for this fellowship.
Applicants must notify the Fairbank Center of any changes to the information provided in their application that may impact eligibility. Failure to communicate such changes may result in disqualification.
How to Apply
To apply, you are required to submit an online application through Harvard’s application portal https://academicpositions.harvard.edu
Direct link to the An Wang Fellowship application: https://academicpositions.harvard.edu/postings/15619
Application deadline: January 15, 2026
All application materials must be in English. Applicants are required to submit:
• CV
• Cover letter (1-2 pages) that briefly states your interest in the program, your academic background, and a summary of your proposed research project
• Research proposal (no more than 5 pages, double-spaced)
• Writing sample (academic paper or dissertation chapter)
• Names of two or three recommenders, with current email addresses.
At least two and no more than three academic recommendation letters are required, to be submitted directly to the application portal by each recommender. Your references will receive a request email from the portal when you submit your application.
If you have not received your doctorate degree at the time of application, please ask your dissertation advisor to submit the An Wang Postdoctoral Fellowship Advisor Confirmation Form. This form must be completed by your advisor and emailed to fairbankcenter@fas.harvard.edu within two weeks of application submission and no later than January 30, 2026.
Contact harrietwong@fas.harvard.edu if you have any questions regarding the application.
The fellowships will be subject to all rules and regulations of Harvard University.
Harvard is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, creed, national origin, ancestry, age, protected veteran status, disability, genetic information, military service, pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions, or other protected status.