Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies

{{Short description|Organization}} {{more citations needed|date=June 2025}} [[File:Fairbank Center logo Harvard.jpg|thumb|right|The chop of the Fairbank Center is its institutional logo. ({{Lang-zh|t=哈佛大學費正清中國研究中心|p=Hāfó dàxué Fèi Zhèngqīng zhōngguó yánjiū zhōngxīn|l=Harvard University Fairbank China Research Center}})]] The '''Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies''' at Harvard University is a post-graduate research center promoting the study of modern and contemporary China from a social science perspective. The center hosts and organizes academic activities, provides research funds for faculty and students, and helps policy-makers and news media to understand modern China.<ref name="history">{{cite web |url=http://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/about-fairbank-center |title=About the Fairbank Center |publisher=Fairbank Center |access-date=February 17, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160224040251/http://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/about-fairbank-center |archive-date=February 24, 2016 }}</ref> The center sponsors the Edwin O. Reischauer Lectures.

==History== The center was established in 1955 as the Center for East Asian Research, and on the retirement of its founding director, John K. Fairbank, was renamed the John K. Fairbank Center for East Asian Research. From its beginnings in 1955, its focus was on modern and contemporary China, diverging from classic sinology, which emphasized the study of texts from a humanistic perspective.<ref name="history"/>

To mark its 60th anniversary, the center hosted a symposium exploring the evolving landscape of Chinese studies and the center’s shifting role within it.<ref>[https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/tw/60th-anniversary/ 60th Anniversary Symposium]</ref>

===Directors=== List of directors of the Fairbank Center:<ref name="history"/><ref>https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/about/history-of-the-fairbank-center/</ref> * John K. Fairbank, 1955–1973<ref>Suleski, pp. 11-44.</ref> * Ezra Vogel, 1973–1975<ref>Suleski, pp. 45-58.</ref> * Dwight H. Perkins, 1975–1976 (acting)<ref>Suleski, p. 54.</ref> * Roy Hofheinz Jr., 1975–1979<ref>Suleski, p. 59.</ref> * Philip A. Kuhn, 1980–1986<ref>Suleski, p. 75.</ref> * Benjamin Schwartz, 1983–1984 (acting)<ref>Suleski, p. 76.</ref> * Roderick MacFarquhar, 1986–1992<ref>Suleski, p. 77.</ref> * James L. Watson, 1992–1995 * Ezra Vogel, 1995–1999<ref>Suleski, p. 99.</ref> * Elizabeth J. Perry, 1999–2002 * Wilt L. Idema, 2002–2005 * Roderick MacFarquhar, 2005–2006 * William C. Kirby, 2006–2007 * Martin King Whyte, 2007–2008 * William C. Kirby, 2008–2010 * Mark Elliott, 2010–2011 * William C. Kirby, 2011–2013 * Mark Elliott, 2013–2015 * Michael Szonyi, 2016-2022 * Winnie Chi-man Yip, 2020-2021 (acting) * Mark Wu, 2021 - Present

==Notes== {{Reflist|30em}}

==References== * Suleski, Ronald Stanley. (2005). ''The Fairbank Center for East Asian Research at Harvard University: a Fifty Year History, 1955-2005.'' Cambridge: Harvard University Press. {{ISBN|9780976798002}}; [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/064140358 OCLC 64140358]

==External links== * {{Official website}} * Facebook, [http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fairbank-Center-for-Chinese-Studies-Harvard-University/114293241955431 Fairbank Center] * [https://issuu.com/fairbankcenter Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies] [https://issuu.com/about?issuu_product=footer&issuu_subproduct=company&issuu_context=link ISSUU] Fairbank Center Annual Reports 2016–17 to 2021. * [https://chinaheritage.net/journal/professor-xu-zhangruns-letter-to-the-fairbank-center-for-chinese-studies-at-harvard-university/?lang=zh Professor Xu Zhangrun’s Letter to the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University], China Heritage, Wairopa Academy for New Sinology (n.d.)

Category:Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies Category:Fairbanks family Category:Harvard University research institutes Category:Research institutes of Sinology Category:Research institutes established in 1955 Category:1955 establishments in Massachusetts