Our Graduate Research Grant Recipients Reflect on Their Summer
Every summer, the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies supports graduate students as they set off to pursue research interests across the world. The Fairbank Center’s Summer Research Grants are open to students across Harvard’s many graduate schools, helping to broaden the reach of China studies on the…
Remembering Jerome A. Cohen (1930 – 2025)
Jerome A. Cohen, a trailblazer in the study of the modern Chinese legal system who taught as a tenured member of the law faculty at Harvard University from 1964 to 1979, passed away on September 22, 2025. He was 95…
Seeing Chinese Society Through Wilma Fairbank’s Eyes: Selected Paintings from the 1930s and ‘40s
Wilma Cannon Fairbank was already an accomplished artist when she accompanied her fiancé, John King Fairbank, to Beijing in 1935. During the couple’s years in China, its was Wilma’s work as a painter—and the friendships forged with Chinese intellectuals—which opened…
Remembering Joseph Fewsmith: China politics expert, caring teacher, friend of the Fairbank Center
Joseph Fewmith, longtime Associate of the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies and Professor Emeritus of International Relations and Political Science at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University (BU), died on November 6, 2025. He was…
Our Undergraduate Research Grant Recipients Reflect on a Summer of Discovery in China and Beyond
Every summer, the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies supports undergraduate students as they set off to pursue research interests across the world. The Fairbank Center’s Summer Research Grants help undergraduate students pursue projects that often become central to their senior…
“Madame Fairbank’s Living Room”: How John and Wilma Fairbank Forged Lasting Ties with China’s Intellectuals During WWII
Professor John King Fairbank and Wilma Cannon Fairbank lived in Beijing during the 1930s, as John pursued his dissertation research and Wilma painted and researched ancient temples. During that time, they became best of friends with a dynamic, cosmopolitan Chinese…
An Oxbow in the River of Time? “River Elegy” and China’s Quest for Modern Greatness
An Oxbow in the River of Time? “River Elegy” and China’s Quest for Modern Greatness by Andrew S. Erickson, Visiting Scholar at the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies; Professor of Strategy, China Maritime Studies Institute, U.S. Naval War College Please Note: The views…
A Conversation on Yang Shuang-zi’s ‘Taiwan Travelogue: A Novel’—Food, History, and the “Good Life”
Following a recent talk co-presented by the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies and the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation, we asked two of its featured speakers—Yun Fu, Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and Dr. Wendy Wang, Hou Family Postdoctoral…
In Memoriam: Paul A. Cohen (1934-2025)
Paul A. Cohen, longtime Associate of the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies and the Edith Stix Wasserman Professor of History and Asian Studies Emeritus at Wellesley College, died on September 15, 2025. He was 91 years old. Professor Cohen was…
Whose Past Matters? Media Biases and the Politics of Discovery with Archaeologist Rowan Flad
Rowan Flad lectures at the conference “Sanxingdui in Bronze Age Eurasia: Retrospect and Prospects after 90 Years” at Sichuan University in Chengdu, Sichuan. December 2024. The work done by archaeologists reveals truths and raises more questions about the vast unexplored…