Social Status in Ming China: One Pawnbroker’s Struggle to Become a Literatus
Yi Zhang is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations and a 2025-2026 Graduate Student Associate of the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies. Below, she draws on her research to illustrate how newly-wealthy merchants in…
Max A. Palys ’26 Awarded 2026 Taliesin Prize for Distinction in the Art of Learning
The Division of Arts and Humanities in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences awarded the 2026 Taliesin Prize for Distinction in the Art of Learning to Max A. Palys ̕ 26, a member of the Fairbank Center Student Network. The Taliesin Prize is awarded…
Reimagining the Past: Rhodes Scholar Helen He on Technology, Art, and Chinese History
Helen He ’26 graduated last spring with a bachelor’s degree in computer science and East Asian studies and a secondary in Classics. A 2026 Rhodes Scholar, Helen will continue her studies at Oxford this fall, pursuing a master’s degree in computer science. Her innovative work…
Bringing Fujian’s Rural History to Life, One Document at a Time
A group of Harvard graduate students cluster around Jin Huaxia, the 33-year old Communist Party Secretary of Yuhu (Jade Pond), a village in the Fujian countryside, as he proudly shares his history. Standing in the Jin family’s ancestral hall, where…
Spotlight on Fairbank Center Research Grant Recipients
For many years, the Fairbank Center has supported undergraduate students who need to travel to China, Taiwan, or other locations to complete research for their theses with our Research Grants, and this year we opened up grants for graduate students…
In Memoriam: Barry R. Bloom (1937-2026)
Barry R. Bloom, a pioneering immunologist, global public health leader, and former dean of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, passed away on March 18, 2026, after a long battle with cancer. He was 88 years old. For…
Interview | How China Is Struggling to Handle the Urban-Rural Divide – Professor Michael Szonyi
Interview With Professor Michael Szonyi | How China Is Struggling to Handle the Urban-Rural Divide Professor Michael Szonyi (Harvard) reflects on the transformation of rural China, the resilience of village culture, and the profound inequalities still facing rural residents. He…
Media, Infrastructure, and Indigeneity: Conversations from Taiwan Studies+ 2.0
The second annual Taiwan Studies+ Symposium—which was generously supported by both the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies and the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University and the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange—was held on April…
Interview With Professor Susan Greenhalgh | Why Chinese Women are Resisting Xi’s Call to Reproduce
Critical Issues Interview | Why Chinese Women are Resisting Xi’s Call to Reproduce – Professor Susan Greenhalgh In this interview for the Critical Issues Confronting China Series, Professor Susan Greenhalgh, John King and Wilma Cannon Fairbank Research Professor of Chinese…
In Memoriam: 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…