Please also see the "China Connections" list of China-related activities at the university 
Established in 1997, the Harvard University Asia Center was founded as a university-wide inter-faculty initiative to act as an umbrella organization for Asian Studies at Harvard and is charged with the expansion of South and Southeast Asian Studies in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS). A key component of that mission has been the establishment of the Center's South Asia Initiative (SAI) (http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~sainit ). SAI, under the direction of Professor Sugata Bose, is spearheading the University's efforts to develop the South Asia programs at Harvard. SAI sponsors the South Asia Without Borders seminar series, promotes scholarly exchanges, funds faculty research in South Asia, and provides student grants, among other programs.
The Asia Center hosts the bi-monthly Modern Asia Series which brings in speakers who discuss an extensive range of topical issues affecting contemporary Asia. It organizes the annual Asia Vision 21 conference, attended by government officials, businessmen and academics, which examine long-term issues and concerns from the perspective of the East, Southeast, and South Asia regions. The Center co-sponsors and/or funds a number of other seminars including the South Asia Seminar with the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, the South Asia Humanities Seminar with the Humanities Center, and the Asian Cultural Studies Workshop. Further, it organizes visits by distinguished visitors from Asia. In recent years, these have included Premier Wen Jiabao from China, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
The Center's Publication Program publishes approximately 15 titles annually and recently launched a series of publicly-available online publications. As a growing number of academic presses reduce or eliminate their publishing programs on Asia, the Publications Program is becoming one of the largest academic publishers of works on Asia in the United States. The Center also issues the bi-monthly Asia Bulletin which lists Asia-related conferences, seminars, lectures and other activities and events at the University and vicinity. It publishes a quarterly newsletter and the annual Asian Studies Directory.
The Asia Center oversees and advises the undergraduate concentration on East Asia Studies, administered by the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations. It also has oversight of, through the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the AM program in Regional Studies—East Asia as well as the doctoral program in History and East Asian Languages. It provides fellowship and grants assistance for undergraduate and graduate students and faculty in Asia-related fields, as well as outreach programs reaching audiences ranging from primary school students to CEOs. Further, it provides support to a number of Asia-related student organizations and publications, including the Harvard Asia Quarterly.
The Global Equity Initiative (GEI) (http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~acgei), another affiliated program of the Asia Center, under the direction of Dr. Lincoln Chen, seeks to advance understanding and address the challenges of equitable global development. The Initiative brings together scholars, policy-makers and practitioners from around the world to address global poverty, economic inequality and human insecurity.
The Council on Asian Studies was created in 1972 and 2001 with the purpose of coordinating, advising, and promoting teaching and research on Asia. It is comprised of faculty members from different departments of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) and from several schools of the University who study East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Inner Asia. It oversees or advises several academic programs, and provides faculty oversight to the Harvard University Asia Center.
Growing out of the Russian Research Center and renamed in 2002, the Davis Center is now a focal point for studies on Russia and surrounding countries. The center administers fellowships, conferences, seminars and the AM Regional Studies: Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia (REECA).
Founded in 1973, the Institute's mission is to support and develop Japanese studies at Harvard by promoting interdisciplinary teaching and research in the field of Japanese studies. The Institute funds new professorships, awards grants for undergraduate and graduate students, appoints postdoctoral fellows, and supports Japan-related research projects, publications, and library collections, as well as academic gatherings and cultural events. The Institute annually hosts visiting scholars and research associates from universities around the world. Graduate students from various Harvard University departments hold appointments as graduate student associates. Programs of the Institute include the Japan Forum, a weekly public lecture series of presentations and discussions by Japan scholars, covering topics related to Japanese studies; a Guest Lecture Series that hosts special talks and presentations and various interdisciplinary research projects involving students and faculty who study Japan. Publications of the Institute include Tsushin, a bi-annual, bilingual newsletter with news about Japanese studies at Harvard. The Document Center on Contemporary Japan is an Institute-funded library that focuses its efforts on postwar Japanese topics weighted heavily toward the social sciences. The Institute also supports the Kyoto Center for Japanese Studies, the annual Japan-America Student Conference, and the Harvard Program for Asian and International Relations. It also funds summer internships for Harvard undergraduates through the Harvard Japanese Language Program.
Faculty and students at the Graduate School of Design (GSD) have undertaken a number of Asia-related research projects over the years, including research on home ownership in China, alternative futures for West Lake, Hangzhou, China, and waterfront development in Hong Kong, amongst others.
Asia represents an area of increasing focus for the Graduate School of Education (GSE), involving cross-cultural exchanges in instructional technology, bilingualism, early childhood education, and adult learning. Asia-related programs include New America, an annual conference series in collaboration with Fairbank Center, which studies the changing ethnic composition of American society; Harvard Immigration Project, devoted to the scholarly study of immigration with a focus on children, youth and families; and the International Education Group which manages and coordinates GSE's efforts to strengthen education systems and institutions in other parts of the world, including Asia. HGSE also offers a master's program in International Education Policy (IEP), which focuses on the role of education in promoting social equality and reducing poverty. More information about the IEP program can be found at: http://gseweb.harvard.edu/iep .
The Harvard AIDS Institute has conducted and sponsored a number of research projects and educational programs within Asia, including the China Project that conducts joint laboratory research and vaccine development programs in concert with the Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine, Beijing, and the Nankai University Vaccine Laboratory, Tianjin. Enhancing Care Initiatives is a program that aims to enhance the care of HIV/AIDS sufferers in resource-scarce countries, including Thailand, primarily through Chiang Mai University. It has also sponsored a lecture series, videoconference, and a provincial field report.
Harvard Business School faculty members have been undertaking research and course development activities in Asia for many years. Asia-related programs include the Asia-Pacific Research Center, established in 1999 in Hong Kong, which targets potential areas of research, identifies relevant business issues, and creates a network of local resources for HBS faculty; and the Japan Research Office, established in 2002, which facilitates HBS faculty research efforts in Japanese companies.
Education about Eastern religions began at Harvard Divinity School in 1854. Asia-related programs include the Center for Study of World Religions, which sponsors a number of different events throughout the academic year, and the Harvard Buddhist Studies Forum (http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k21071). The Harvard Buddhist Studies Forum is an organization that provides a focal point for students and faculty interested in Buddhist Studies, which also sponsors a lecture series, supported by the Asia Center, and an annual conference.
Founded in 1936 under the auspices of the Harvard-Yenching Institute , the Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies (HJAS) has without interruption pursued its mission to disseminate original, outstanding research and book reviews on the humanities in Asia, focusing at present on the areas of China, Japan, Korea, and Inner Asia. As scholarship has evolved, so has this Journal, but always while holding constant its commitment to serve authors and readers alike through the careful selection and editing of its contents.
Harvard Law School houses a variety of programs relevant to Asia including the East Asian Legal Studies (http://www.law.harvard.edu/programs/eals/) program, the oldest academic program in the U.S. devoted to the study of legal studies in East Asia. EALS also organizes a speaker series and publishes a newsletter periodically. The Human Rights Program (http://www.law.harvard.edu/programs/hrp/) sponsors independent field work, summer internships, speaker series, visiting fellowships, international conferences, a student-edited journal, and most recently the year-long Henigson Fellowship. The Islamic Legal Studies Program teaches and researches on the legal systems and traditions of the Islamic world, supports research fellows, a speaker series, conferences, and research programs. Other Harvard Law School projects include the Program on International Financial Systems, which recently inaugurated the Symposium on Building the Financial System of the 21 st Century in the PRC. The Lewis International Law Center houses the Law School 's collection of international legal texts and web resources, which serves as an extensive online resource for researching legal codes in Asian countries (http://www.law.harvard.edu/library/services/research/guides/international /web_resources/). The Berkman Center for Internet and Society (http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/home/) has also recently undertaken significant internet research in Asia.
Harvard Medical School has recently sponsored major interdisciplinary programs involving medical specialists, anthropologists, psychologists and psychiatrists, and sociologists as well as establishing various partnerships with global medical institutions. Some of the activities of the HMS include the Center for AIDS Research International Programs that have been set up in various countries including China and Vietnam; the Center for Health and the Global Environment (http://chge.med.harvard.edu/); and Cross-National Collaborative Research programs.
The Department of Social Medicine focuses on global health problems affecting low-income societies around the world. Asia-related programs include the Vietnam-CDC-Harvard AIDS Partnership, a program that engages Harvard medical students in epidemiological research in Vietnam; the Annual Asia Public Policy Workshop; the World Mental Health Casebook, which examines the development of mental health policy and services in the developing world. International Fellowships focus on health and mental health concerns of China and Southeast Asian nations include the Freeman Foundation and Fogarty Training; research in China established by Professor Arthur Kleinman, and research in Indonesia initiated and carried out by Byron and Mary-Jo Good.
Harvard Medical International (HMI) was created in 1994 under the leadership of Harvard Medical School to extend healthcare across the globe. Some of the HMI's programs include WHARF AIDS Care training program in India; Indochina HIV/AIDS Primary Care Program; joint ventures with hospitals and physicians in India, China, and Thailand; an alliance with Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU); HMI and Asan Medical Center. The Seoul Partnership also organized a symposium “Genomics and Proteomics: Impact on Medicine and Health” and a student exchange program was set up between HMS and National Taiwan University College of Medicine.
Investigators from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) are carrying out numerous projects in Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, China, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Singapore, and Vietnam. One area of particular concern is health care system financing. Other programs include the Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research (http://www.hpcr.org/), which focuses on Central Asia; the Health Insurance for China 's 800 million rural populations and the Global Health Equity Initiative. The environmental health programs conduct research on environmental and health-friendly industrial materials and strategies; the People on War Project looks at ordinary individuals and their norms of behavior from war in war-torn countries, including Cambodia and the Philippines; and a separate program examines NGO care in Laos, Vietnam, and India.
Established in 2001, the Center for the Environment (HUCE) provides a focus for interdisciplinary, cross-faculty research and education in the field of environmental studies at Harvard. Asia-related programs include the China Project (http://environment.harvard.edu/research/chinaprojectindex.htm), a multidisciplinary research program on the sources, impacts, and control of air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions in China ; and the Forum on Religion and Ecology, an international multi-religious project that examines environmental concerns in religious contexts.
Chartered in 1928, the Institute substantially enhances East Asian Studies at Harvard. In addition to supporting visiting scholars, doctoral scholars and visiting fellows, the Institute publishes the Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies (founded in 1936) and books on East Asian literature and history as part of the Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Studies , published by the Asia Center. The Institute also provides support to the Harvard-Yenching Library, which houses one of the largest collections of books in Asian languages in North America.
The Kennedy School sponsors a number of programs and research centers relevant to East Asia include Asia Programs at the Center for Business and Government (http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/cbg/asia), which coordinates and manages a number of East and Southeast Asian-related training, research and teaching programs and conferences in diverse areas. These areas include policy development, HIV/AIDS, global economics and leadership. The Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs features programs on international security and energy policy; the Carr Center for Human Rights is a training and research center that focuses on public policy and human rights; and the Joint Center for Housing Studies has a small number of research projects related to housing markets and trends in China. Many individual faculty research projects also involve Asia.
The Center for International Development (CID) was established on July 1, 1998 in conjunction with the Kennedy School of Government (KSG). The CID serves as Harvard's primary center for research on sustainable international development. CID's Asia-related research projects include the Center for Tropical Forest Science—Asia Site Network, the Financial Crises in Emerging Market, which focuses on analyzing market trends and exchange rates in Southeast Asia; Human Resources and Development, and the Malaria and Human Affairs, which research on the economic consequences of malaria in developing and underdeveloped nations to determine how to mitigate the effects of the disease. Other research programs of CID include Consulting Assistance on Economic Reform (CAER) II; Rule of Law in Political and Economic Development; and Analytical Country Studies on Growth.
Founded in 1955, the Fairbank Center facilitates interdisciplinary training and research on East Asia, particularly on modern China (PRC, Hong Kong, and Taiwan) and Vietnam. The Center sponsors over 100 associates in research, visiting scholars and post-doctoral fellows. It also sponsors several conferences throughout the academic year and it annually holds the Charles Neuhauser Memorial Lecture in the fall and the Reischauer Lectures in the spring. Ongoing seminars sponsored by the Center includes the China Current Events Workshop, featuring topical issues of interest to scholars of modern Chinese politics; China Business Seminars; China Gender Studies Workshop; China Humanities Seminar; China Lunchtime Seminar; Fairbank Center Seminar, in which center affiliates and visiting scholars present and discuss their current research interests; Taiwan Studies Workshop; and the New England China Seminar, presenting topics relating to contemporary Chinese politics and society. The Center also supports funding for research for undergraduate and graduate students.
The Korea Institute at Harvard University supports research on Korea and provides a forum for related academic activities and scholarly exchange. It seeks to stimulate scholarly and public interest in Korea and Korean studies at Harvard and abroad. The Institute develops and implements programs, events, and funding for Korea-related research and activities. In so doing, it seeks to foster cooperation and collaboration among many Harvard constituencies, such as academic departments, centers and research institutes, faculty, students, affiliated scholars, and administration. The Institute also seeks to expand and cultivate Korea-related connections outside Harvard through activities and programs such as seminars, workshops and conferences, publications, exhibitions, films and cultural events.
Founded in 1937, the Foundation annually funds 24 (12 US and 12 international) mid-career journalists for one academic year of non-credit study at Harvard. There is usually at least one fellow selected every year that focuses on China and Asia.
Started in 1993, this program is a joint effort to enhance Central Asian Studies at Harvard and is sponsored by the Davis Center and the Center for Middle-Eastern Studies.
The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study supports an academic community where individuals can pursue advanced work in any of the academic disciplines, professions, or creative arts. Within that broad purpose, it sustains a continuing commitment to the study of women, gender, and society. Of the fellows selected annually, at least one focuses on Asia.
Founded in 1958, the WCFIA provides a multi-disciplinary environment for policy-related research on international issues. The Center annually has about 250 associates and affiliates from 30 countries including many from East Asia. Initiatives pertaining to Asia include the Global Cultures Program, which is part of the Harvard Academy of International and Area Studies. WCIA also sponsors research projects, conferences and faculty seminars to promote understanding of international cultures and civilizations. The Program on U.S.-Japan Relations, co-sponsored by the Reischauer Institute enables scholars and practitioners to conduct independent research on contemporary topics in American and Japanese cultures. It also sponsors a South Asia Seminar, featuring presentations given by scholars, journalists, and public figures on topics pertaining to the subcontinent and a Communist and Post-communist Countries Seminar, which mainly addresses East Asia and Cuba and issues of political and economic development and national and ethnic identities.
The undergraduate program (AB), overseen by the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations and the Social Science Program in East Asian Studies, provides preparation for a variety of fields of work and advanced study in East Asia. It enables students to develop a critical understanding of the human experience in East Asia through the acquisition of languages, cultural and regional knowledge.
The Masters (AM) program provides basic preparation for specialization in the East Asian field, both for future Ph.D. candidates and for those preparing for non-academic careers. A significant percentage of senior scholars of East Asia in leading universities were trained in this program.
The REECA Master's Program provides preparation for specialization in regional studies stretching from Central Asia to Eastern Europe.
The Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations offers language instructions in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Mongolian, and Manchu, and offers certificates in East Asian Languages. It offers undergraduate and graduate courses in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and Inner Asian history; Chinese, Japanese, and Korean literature, and East Asian religions and philosophies.
This interdisciplinary Ph.D. program of the Departments of History and East Asian Languages and Civilizations provides historians of East Asia with an integrated program in comparative history and advanced training in two East Asian languages.
This Ph.D. program of the Department of History offers historians of East Asia a comprehensive program in comparative history.
This Ph.D. program covers Eastern Iran to Manchuria, and is directed by an interdisciplinary faculty committee from the Departments of Anthropology, EALC, History, Near Eastern Languages and Literatures, Religion, and Sanskrit and Indian Studies.
The Ph.D. program of the Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies focuses on the textual study of Sanskrit literature and its cultural context, as well as the study of South Asian civilizations.
This Ph.D. program of the Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies focuses on the study of Tibetan literature in the context of broader issues, such as the intellectual and political history of the Tibetan cultural area and its relations with states and nations adjacent to it.
Formed in 1988, t he Center supports scholars, students, and researchers by making available up-to-date material pertaining to Japan. The Center provides access to Nikkei Telecom, Japan 's oldest commercial database service, and Gateway Japan, as well as Japanese-capable Netscape.
Established in 1965 at the Harvard Law School, the Collection currently holds over 25,000 volumes from Japan, 6,000 from the People's Republic of China, 6,000 from Taiwan, 3,000 from Korea, and some 5,000 in Western languages, including notable special collections of Japanese legal manuscripts and imperial Chinese laws.
In addition to the standard Western-languages texts on music of the countries of East Asia, the Music Department Library holds a remarkable collection of recordings in its Archive of World Music that has made it a preeminent East Asian music library in the United States . The James A. Rubin Collection consists of commercial and field recordings of South Indian music.
The Collection holds Harvard's foremost collection of material dealing with the politics, international relations, and economics of post-1949 China (PRC, Taiwan, and Hong Kong) and pre-1949 materials pertaining to the rise of the Chinese Communist Party.
Part of the Harvard Design School, this library maintains several special collections with Asian themes. The Special Collections section houses rare books, drawings, manuscripts, and other research and primary resource materials.
This extensive map collection is the oldest in North America, and includes numerous maps and atlases of Asia. It is housed in Pusey Library.
The largest of Harvard's art museums, the Arthur M. Sackler's Department of Asian Art contains over 18,700 works of art. It is unquestionably diverse, with collections dating from the Neolithic era to the present, and spans Asia, from India and Southeast Asia to China, Korea, and Japan in a wide range of media.
The Asian collection of the Herbaria is the strongest of its kind in North America. The Arnold Arboretum herbarium collections are especially strong in materials from Southeast Asia. The Arboretum and University Herbaria serve as one of the five editorial centers in the western hemisphere for the Flora of China project (http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/china/). The project describes and otherwise documents the approximate 30,000 (one-eighth of the world's total) plant species, including some 8,000 species of medicinal and economically important plants and about 7,500 species of trees and shrubs.
Founded in 1928, the Harvard-Yenching Library is the largest university library for East Asian research in the Western world. It includes Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Manchu, Mongolian, Vietnamese and Western-language collections. The library subscribes to over 6,700 current periodicals and journals in the distinct Asian languages and is also responsible for collecting Chinese statistical yearbooks. In addition to its collection, the Library holds nearly 108,000 reels of microfilm or pieces of microfiche and is home to a collection of photographs from East Asia. Highlights of the Library includes a full-text database of the Twenty-Five Chinese Dynastic Histories; a group of Naxi manuscripts in pictographic script; Chinese rubbings; the archives of the Lingnan University of Trustees (a missionary university in Canton originally known as Canton Christian College), 1884-1952; and missionary works in Chinese, including translations of the Bible in different dialects, several hundred rare Japanese Buddhist scrolls, a large set of Korean genealogies and collected writings; significant holdings of early Vietnamese newspapers, Manchu works of historical and literary interest; printings of 18th century Tibetan and Mongolian Buddhist texts; and collections of personal papers from prominent historical figures. A Tiananmen Archive was established in the fall of 1989, including handbills, petitions and pamphlets distributed by demonstrators and the government, eyewitness reports, photographs, and videotapes.
The Peabody Museum, one of the Harvard University Museums of Natural History, is the oldest institution in the United States that is devoted solely to the study of anthropology. The Peabody 's Ethnographic Asian Collections, consisting of around 6,000 objects, encompass materials from all corners of the Asian continent. Among these holdings are: Japanese and Chinese ceramics and porcelains; Chinese soul-money, cut paper and other ephemera; the Quentin Roosevelt collection from Yunnan (Tibetan, Naxi, Minchia); the Jewell collection of Late Imperial ornaments and implements; Kachin and Shan textiles; Japanese samurai armor, and the “Feejee Mermaid,” exhibited by P.T. Barnum and probably made in Japan. The collection of Ainu artifacts is among the largest in North America. From India and Pakistan, the museum's collections include clothing, shoes, basketry and pottery, daggers, bridle ornaments and ceramic jars from parts of the Middle East. The museum also houses a wide range of Siberian objects, among which the hide costumes and carved, wooden household items stand out. Its Archeological Asian Collections include: the Aurel Stein collection from Baluchistan ; Anau; Chanho-daro and other sites in India ; artifacts from the Olov Janse excavations in Vietnam ; small pottery collections from Japan, the Philippines, and Thailand ; the type collections of the Movius “Chopper-Chopping Tool” complex (Burma, Java); an extensive collection of oracle bone fragments (China); and Neolithic painted funerary urns (China). The Museum's large photographic archive includes about 8,000 images of China and Central Asia, including the Lattimore and Wulsin Collections.
Integrated with the Fine Arts Library of the Harvard College Library, this collection holds over 14,000 volumes of monographs and periodicals. It is one of the strongest specialized libraries for research on the art, architecture, and archeology of Asia in the U.S. The Collection has exceptional holdings on Chinese ritual bronzes, Buddhist arts, Chinese and Japanese paintings, and ceramics.
The Schlesinger Library houses collections of books, manuscripts, and other materials on the history of women. While its focus for collecting is American women, the library has an abundance of print and manuscript materials bearing on issues around the globe as a result of American women's extensive travel and foreign residence, notably, is its collection of letters of early missionaries in China.
Widener Library is Harvard University 's central research library. Its collection contains roughly 250,000 Western-language volumes on East Asian subjects. Within the library system are several specialized libraries; among those are: Tozzer (anthropology and subfields), Lamont (undergraduate collection and multimedia), Fine Arts Library (western and non-western art and architecture) and Littauer (Economics, Government and Political Science), all of which houses materials on East Asian subjects.
The Harvard Anime Society is Harvard's official club for the viewing and appreciation of anime (Japanese Animation). Showings are held every Saturday afternoon in Loker Common. There is also an anime video library from which members can borrow from.
The Harvard Asia Pacific Review is a bi-annual academic journal devoted to issues pertinent to the Asian region.
Founded in 1976, the Asian American Association (AAA) organizes academic, social and cultural activities such as the annual intercollegiate conference, cultural month, food festivals, student debates, panel discussions, and weekly study groups. AAA is the largest undergraduate organization at Harvard.
HRAACF is an Asian American community deeply committed to the Christian faith. It is the sister fellowship of Harvard-Radcliffe Christian Fellowship, and the two work together with it to better serve the campus and pursue racial reconciliation.
The co-ed Asian American Dance Troupe seeks to promote awareness of Asian culture within the Harvard-Radcliffe and Greater Boston communities through traditional and modern Asian dance. The troupe performs at various functions, including Cultural Rhythms and Arts First.
ABSK is a church-based campus group seeking to provide a spiritual home for students during their years at Harvard and afterwards. It holds weekly Bible studies, Sunday worship, and retreats and often joins in fellowship with other Boston-area ABSKs.
The Burma Action Group is part of the international Free Burma movement dedicated to bringing freedom and democracy to Burma. At Harvard, the group focuses on responsible investment and purchasing as well as legislative lobbying and raising awareness about the current situation in Burma.
The Chado Society is an organization that practices the Japanese art form of the tea ceremony. Chado is a combination of tea making, flower arrangement, incense, calligraphy, and the Zen philosophy. The Society meets once a week.
China Current Society serves as a channel for interested students to learn more about China 's current political, economic, and cultural developments. Some of its major activities include dinner talks, a New Year celebration concert, and dumpling parties.
Chinatown Adventure (CHAD) seeks to serve the needs of the children of Boston 's Chinatown by creating a safe positive learning environment, strengthening academic skills, and promoting cross-cultural awareness in order to foster personal growth and self-esteem.
The Harvard-Radcliffe Chinese Students Association welcomes all students who are interested in celebrating and learning about Chinese culture and the place of Chinese-Americans in today's society. As a political, cultural, and social organization, their goals are to promote Chinese political and cultural awareness, and to offer their members an opportunity to meet other students interested in Chinese culture.
Dharma is a Hindu religious organization at Harvard College that was co-founded in the spring of 1997. Activities include Bhajanavali programs (singing of devotional songs), visiting temples, and celebrating major religious festivals.
Dedicated to sharing Hong Kong culture, the Society holds a variety of activities such as intercollegiate dances, karaoke, forums, dinner meetings, and film festivals.
The Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations (HPAIR) is the realization of Harvard University 's commitment to fostering communication among nations about economic, social, and political concerns that have lasting implications for global peace and prosperity. HPAIR organizes international student conferences throughout the Asia-Pacific region in order to stimulate open dialogue and greater cooperation among the world's future leaders. Their annual conference unites top university students from over 15 nations and 40 universities together with government officials, business leaders, Harvard professors, and world-renowned scholars to exchange perspectives on critical international issues
Princess Masako of Japan was once a member of the Japan Society (JS), an organization consisting of Harvard undergraduates with an interest in Japan. JS seeks to enhance U.S.-Japan relations by educating Harvard students and faculty about Japan.
Founded in 1977, HKS has over 300 members and caters to a large Korean student population at Harvard, striving to anchor the varied interests and backgrounds of the membership by building on its common heritage.
The Korean Association leads the undergraduate Korean-American community's efforts to teach and learn about Korean culture and political issues.
Apart from assisting new Singaporean and Malaysian students adjust to their new home, this association is also for anyone interested in learning more about Singapore and Malaysia. Club activities include a fall trip to Maine for shopping and scenic shrubbery, and plenty of opportunities to feast on authentic Southeast Asian food.
The South Asian Association (SAA) serves as a resource for South Asian and South Asian-American students, and others interested in South Asian affairs on campus. The SAA organizes political, academic, social, and cultural events for its membership, and activities range from political forums to student concerts to dance parties.
The Harvard University Taiwanese Study Club was established at the end of 1987. Club activities include lectures, panel discussions, and informal seminars. The club's continuing goals are to provide a place for mutual understanding and exchange and to serve as a forum for those who wish to devote their personal career to Taiwan's future.
The Taiwanese Cultural Society is an undergraduate organization dedicated to serving the needs of all those interested in exploring Taiwanese roots, culture, and politics.
The Harvard Vietnamese Association (HVA) is an on-campus organization that focuses on bringing awareness of Vietnamese culture to the Harvard community and beyond. HVA hosts a variety of activities including conferences, monthly study breaks, and intercollegiate dances in addition to our traditional activities—performing cultural dances, sponsoring Tet celebrations, and organizing dinners.
Yisei (“second-generation”) Magazine is a Korean-American journal published semi-annually, which is circulated campus-wide and to Korean students at other area universities.
The Harvard Association of Tibetan Studies is dedicated to the goal of bringing together people who are interested in Tibet.
The Harvard Buddhist Studies Forum is dedicated to the goal of providing regular public lectures on topics relating to the study of Buddhism.
The HCSSA is dedicated to the goals of promoting social, intellectual, and cultural activities of Chinese students and scholars at Harvard and for other interested members in the Harvard community. Its activities include social, intellectual, and cultural events, films, and seminars.
The East Asian Caucus was founded in spring 1999 to promote friendship among Asian students at Harvard John F. Kennedy School of Government and to offer various learning opportunities to the US students about the Northeast Asia Region including China, Japan, and Korea.
Harvard Asia Quarterly (HAQ) is a journal of current affairs affiliated with the Harvard Asia Center. It was established in 1997 by students at the Harvard Law School and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences as an interdisciplinary journal of Asian affairs.
The Harvard Buddhist Community is a non-sectarian organization for graduate students. Daily morning meditation exercises are held during the academic year in addition to other events.
Harvard China Review (HCR) seeks to enhance mutual understanding and cooperation between Greater China and the rest of the world, and to help accelerate the integration of this region into the international arena. It comprehensively and objectively seeks to introduce the nature and context of the transformation currently occurring in Greater China.
The Harvard East Asia Society (HEAS) is dedicated to promoting the study of East Asia within the Harvard community and specifically among graduate students. HEAS is organized by those in the Regional Studies East Asia (RSEA) degree program, but it is also open to all those with an interest in East Asian cultures, history, and society. HEAS also coordinates an annual graduate student conference on East Asia.
Harvard HAPA provides an opportunity for informal social, cultural, and intellectual interaction among members of the Harvard community who are of part-Asian ethnicity, and specifically for graduate students. The activities of HAPA include providing a forum for bi-racial and multi-racial issues, sponsoring speakers and films, organizing social and cultural events, and holding weekly informal get-togethers.
The Society for Japanese Studies at Harvard is dedicated to facilitating communication among scholars involved in Japanese studies at Harvard and with those at other institutions. Activities include the publication of an annual journal, presentation of occasional lectures, seminars, and workshops, and the sponsoring of periodic social gatherings.
The Harvard University Yan Xin Qigong Association is dedicated to promoting the understanding of the essence of Yan Xin Qigong (traditional Chinese Qigong) in the Harvard community, especially among graduate students.
The Asia Business Club is one of the largest and most active student organizations at the Harvard Business School. The Club seeks to develop and sustain a dynamic and progressive Asian business environment by acting as both a bridge and a catalyst for businesses and individuals pursuing opportunities for career advancement in Asia. The Club's activities include annual events such as the Asia Business Conference, the Asia Trek, and the Japan Trip. In addition to these activities, the Club also organizes brown bag lunches and a speaker series.
Founded in 1994, AsiaGSD is a student organization at the Harvard Graduate School of Design for students interested in design issues in the Asia Pacific region. Its mission is to promote awareness of architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning and design, and related disciplines in visual arts within a broad regional framework. Based in the United States, with members representing countries as diverse as China, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, and Singapore, the organization is necessarily international within the region and across the Pacific. AsiaGSD is committed to fostering dialogues and addressing professional and scholarly concerns between students, academics, and professionals around the world.
One of the largest student organizations at Harvard Law School, the Harvard Asia Law Society (HALS) brings together a diverse group of students and scholars interested in exploring the implications of the legal, economic, and political changes sweeping across Asia. Some of their endeavors include organizing the Harvard Asia Business Conference jointly with Harvard Asia Law Society and the East Asian Caucus; Annual Asian Delegations, a team that travels to a different country in Asia every year; speaker committees that brings lawyers, academics and government officials to speak at the Law School; and career panels to provide networking opportunities for students with Law School alumnus.
The Asian American Policy Review was established to bridge the divide between academia and public policy by offering scholars, elected officials, policy analysts, and community leaders a forum to discuss contemporary issues and events affecting the Asian Pacific American community.
The Asian Pacific American Law Students Association (APALSA) is an academic, political, and social group dedicated to fostering a supportive atmosphere for Asian Pacific American students at Harvard Law School.
The Korea Caucus is a group from the Kennedy School of Government dedicated to raising awareness of Korean issues within the Harvard Community.
The primary goal of the Korean Association is to provide the Korean and Korean-American students of Harvard Law School the opportunity to explore a wide range of mutual interests and concerns. To this end, they host a number of events specific to the academic, professional, cultural, political, and social interests of their members.
From samosa parties to political discussions, the South Asian Association (SAA) was formed with the aim to promote understanding and appreciation of South Asian political, legal, and social issues via film screenings, social events, cultural shows, dinners, and an annual conference.
This list was compiled by the Harvard University Asia Center (http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~asiactr/). For any changes, additions or updates, please contact the Center (asiactr@fas.harvard.edu).