Remembering Michael B. McElroy (1939 – 2026)
Michael McElroy, a pioneering atmospheric scientist who taught at Harvard from 1970 until his retirement and who played a central role in shaping the University’s engagement with China on questions of energy, climate, and sustainable development, passed away on January…
The Policymakers Series — Dr. Ely Ratner with Mark Wu: U.S.-China Competition in the Indo-Pacific
The Policymakers Series — Dr. Ely Ratner with Mark Wu: U.S.-China Competition in the Indo-Pacific Ely Ratner, former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs, joins our Policymakers series for a discussion with Fairbank Center Director Mark Wu. Ratner…
Hou Family Fellowship in Taiwan Studies — Celebrating 10 Years
The Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University is proud to support innovative scholarship in Taiwan studies through the Hou Family Fellowships. With the Hou Family’s generous support, this fellowship advances rigorous interdisciplinary research and deepens global understanding of…
51 Years of Service, A Lifetime of Impact: Celebrating Nancy Hearst
After fifty-one years of service to the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies as Librarian of the H.C. Fung Library, Nancy Hearst has retired. Nancy has been a steady, expert presence for multiple generations of students, faculty, visiting scholars, and researchers at Harvard. She has spent over fifty years honing her craft –…
Faculty Spotlight: How Role-Playing is Helping Professor Michael A. Szonyi’s Students Understand China’s Land Reform
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsYDR2yLPdI Professor Michael Szonyi doesn’t mind that his students sometimes feel uncomfortable in his undergraduate class on rural China. In fact, when it comes to learning about the land reform movement in the early years following the Communist Party’s victory…
Networked Intimacies: Dating Apps and the Social Life of Urban China
Last fall, the Urban China Lecture Series welcomed sociologist Lik Sam Chan, a Lecturer at the University of Sydney, to discuss his book The Politics of Dating Apps: Gender, Sexuality, and Emergent Publics in Urban China (The MIT Press, 2021). Rather than treating…
Targeting Taiwan Under Xi: China’s Military Forest Flourishing Despite Toppling Trees
Please Note: The views expressed here are the author’s alone and do not represent those of any organization with which he is affiliated. He thanks anonymous reviewers for thoughtful inputs. Please visit this link for a complete version of the infographic…
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…