From Shanghai to Cambridge and Back Again: Spotlight on Jie Li
Jie Li, Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations and Fairbank Center Faculty Affiliate, uses a range of media approaches to teach her undergraduate students at Harvard. Her most popular course, East Asian Cinema, enrolled as many as 170 students…
“Stabilizing Pills” for Chinese private enterprises in the post-pandemic era: Real stimulus or just a placebo?
Han Cheng is a Master’s student in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. All eyes are on the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China — which begins today in Beijing and…
Norbu Ketaka: An AI Journey Through Ancient Tibetan Manuscripts
“Norbu ketaka,” Tibetan for “cleansing jewel,” refers to a gem said to possess the magical power to purify murky waters. The name encapsulates this project’s mission: to cleanse obscure and error-laden texts, to restore digitized Tibetan manuscripts’ pristine clarity and…
Summer Reading 2024: Our Community Recommendations
We asked our Visiting Scholars and Visiting Fellows of Practice, Postdoctoral and Predoctoral Fellows, and Graduate Student Associates to offer up their recommended reading for curious minds over the summer break. We gave no more instruction than that — new…
Tiananmen @ 35: Rowena He shares her recollections of Spring 1989
On the 35th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests, we invited Rowena He (何曉清), a Non-Resident Associate in Research of the Fairbank Center, to share her reflections on the era. Professor He currently serves as a Senior Research Fellow at the…
Let Pre-modern China and Theater Sing: Spotlight on Thomas Kelly
It was Peony Pavilion — the masterpiece of Ming Dynasty opera, written by Tang Xianzu more than 400 years ago — that made Thomas Kelly, Assistant Professor of Pre-Modern Chinese Literature at Harvard University, fall in love with Chinese drama….
When China’s Navy Chief Came to Harvard: In Another Time, Admiral Wu Shengli Sought the Academic Gold Standard
Andrew S. Erickson is Visiting Professor, Government Department, Harvard University; Professor of Strategy, U.S. Naval War College (NWC) China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI); and Fairbank Center Associate in Research. The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and…
China’s New Military Commanders Reflect Xi Jinping’s Naval Ambitions
Andrew S. Erickson is Visiting Professor, Government Department, Harvard University; Professor of Strategy, U.S. Naval War College (NWC) China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI); and Fairbank Center Associate in Research. The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and…
A Scholar’s Journey Through Rural China’s History: Michael Szonyi reflects on his first trip back to China in four years
Cross-posted from the Harvard China Fund. Michael A. Szonyi is the Frank Wen-Hsiung Wu Memorial Professor of Chinese History at Harvard University. I arrived in China in August 2023 after an almost four-year absence, the longest in my professional career…
Taiwan Elections 2024 Recap: Democracy prevailed, and now the DPP has work to do
Fairbank Center experts weigh in: Michael A. Szonyi, Frank Wen-Hsiung Wu Memorial Professor of Chinese History, Harvard University; Steven M. Goldstein, Director, Taiwan Studies Workshop, Harvard University; Ya-Wen Lei, Professor of Sociology, Harvard University; Wei-Ting Yen, Assistant Professor of Government,…