Taiwan Studies
Current Research
The Fairbank Center has many initiatives supporting Taiwan Studies. It provides travel grants to support Harvard University undergraduates to study in Taiwan for advanced language training or research. Additionally, the Center supports a variety of Taiwan-focused scholar programs including its Hou Family Fellowship for Taiwan Studies.
Expertise
Steven Goldstein 戈迪溫
Sophia Smith Professor of Government, Emeritus, Smith College
Research interests: Chinese domestic and foreign policy, mainland China-Taiwan relations and US-Taiwan relations.
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Michael A. Szonyi 宋怡明
Director of the Fairbank Center; Professor of Chinese History
Michael Szonyi is Director of the Fairbank Center at Harvard University and Frank Wen-Hsiung Wu Memorial Professor of Chinese History in Harvard’s Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations and Department of History.
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Ya-wen Lei 雷雅雯
Assistant Professor of Sociology
Ya-wen Lei is Assistant Professor of Sociology, having previously been a Junior Fellow at the Society of Fellows at Harvard University. Professor Lei grew up in Taipei, Taiwan, graduating from her undergraduate studies at the National Taiwan University.
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David Der-Wei Wang 王德威
Edward C. Henderson Professor of Chinese Literature
David Der-wei Wang holds a joint appointment in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations and the Department of Comparative Literature.
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Joseph Fewsmith 傅士卓
Professor of International Relations and Political Science, Boston University
Joseph Fewsmith is Professor of International Relations and Political Science at Boston University. He is the author or editor of eight books, including, most recently, The Logic and Limits of Political Reform in China (January 2013).
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Robert S. Ross 陆伯彬
Professor of Political Science, Boston College
Robert S. Ross is Professor of Political Science at Boston College. He received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University in 1984.
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Robert Weller 魏乐博
Professor of Anthropology, Boston University
Dr. Robert Weller’s work concentrates on China and Taiwan in comparative perspective. His actual research topics, however, are eclectic—running from ghosts to politics, rebellions to landscape paintings.
Read MoreResearch Projects
Hou Family Fellowship for Taiwan Studies
This year, the Fairbank Center announced a new fellowship thanks to a generous gift from the Hou Family. The Hou Family Fellowship for Taiwan Studies sponsors one North America-based scholar and one Taiwan-based scholar of Taiwan Studies as visiting fellows at the Fairbank Center to pursue Taiwan-related research for one or two semesters.
2016-17 Hou Family Fellows:
Chih-wei Chung
Chih-wei Chung is a Ph.D. candidate in Taiwan Literature at National Taiwan University. His research interests center around Sinophone Studies, particularly the realm of Taiwanese literature. He will be working on “Heteroglossia and articulations of Taiwan identity.”
Jaw-nian (Ted) Huang
Jaw-Nian Huang is a late-stage Ph.D. candidate in political science at the University of California, Riverside. He is interested in taking a political economy perspective on the potential impacts that China’s economic rise might have on human rights and democracy in its neighboring societies and the rest of the world. At the Fairbank Center he will be working on a postdoctoral project dealing with “China’s Authoritarian Diffusion, Cross-Strait Media Politics, and Local Responses in Taiwan and Hong Kong.”
Taiwan Studies Workshop
The Taiwan Studies Workshop at the Fairbank Center, led by Professor Steven Goldstein, sponsors speakers, conferences and publications on Taiwan. For the past fifteen years, the Workshop has visited both Mainland China and Taiwan, meeting with government officials and academics regarding cross-strait relations and American policy in the region. It traditionally presents an overview of the state of relations in a February round table. Its members include faculty from Boston University, Boston College, MIT, Princeton University and Harvard University.
Harvard Student Taiwan Study Grants
The Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies offers travel grants to support Harvard University undergraduates and graduate students to study in Taiwan for advanced language training or research. Most grants will be limited to support for roundtrip airfare. Preference is for study of Taiwan in the period after 1949 in humanities and social science disciplines, and in some cases research on imperial China. Eligible activities are: study at an academic institution in Taiwan, independent research, or attendance at academic meetings.
Read more about our applying to Taiwan Study grants for undergraduates or graduate students.
Taiwan Studies on the Fairbank Blog
Read the latest on Taiwan from our faculty and affiliates at the Fairbank Center blog.
Latest News
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The Fairbank Center is thrilled to announce the publication of The China Questions: Critical Insights into a Rising Power, edited by Jennifer Rudolph and Michael Szonyi (Harvard University Press, 2018). Published to celebrate the Fairbank Center's 60th Anniversary...
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Listen again to the podcast recording of this first event in a new public lecture series on the Asia-Pacific during Trump’s presidency.
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