About the Fairbank Center
Programs
The Fairbank Center sponsors nine ongoing seminars
on themes ranging from East Asian art history to Chinese
current events, and organizes research projects and
major international conferences on a wide variety
of scholarly topics. It also provides a forum for regular
dialogue between the academic and policy communities
in China and the United States. It further supports
research by offering hospitality to visiting scholars
from all over the world, by awarding a limited but
increasing number of postdoctoral fellowships, and
by maintaining its own specialized library.
History
The Fairbank Center was founded in 1955 by Professor
John King Fairbank, a leading scholar in modern and
contemporary China studies. The Center was originally
called the Center for East Asian Research. Under Professor
Fairbank’s leadership, the Center took an active
role in promoting the study of modern and contemporary
China from a social science perspective. At the time,
this focus marked a sharp departure from the field
of Sinology, which had emphasized the study of texts
from a humanistic perspective. The Center for East
Asian Research was renamed as the John K. Fairbank
Center for East Asian Research following Professor
Fairbank’s retirement, in honor of his signal
contributions to China studies through his teaching
and publications.
Symposium in Honor
of Wang Ruoshui
Wang Ruoshui was an old friend of the Fairbank Center.
He first visited in 1978, as a member of the first official
journalist delegation from the PRC. He then spent three
weeks at the Fairbank Center in the spring of 1989 and
fifteen months here in 1993 to 1994 and then a bit of
time toward the end of 1998 as well. This May 16, 2002
symposium was organized by Wang Ruoshui's many close
friends at the Fairbank Center, particularly Merle Goldman,
Nancy Hearst, and Rod MacFarquhar. (Symposium
transcript.)
In Memoriam
Benjamin
I. Schwartz (1916-1999) was Leroy
B. Williams Professor of History and Political Science,
Emeritus at Harvard University. Professor Schwartz
was an active member of the Fairbank Center for East
Asian Research from its inception, and remained centrally
involved in Fairbank Center events until his death.
(web page.) |
About John King Fairbank & Wilma Fairbank
John King Fairbank (1907-1991)
As he boarded ship for England in the Autumn of 1929
to take up a Rhodes Scholarship, there was little in
John Fairbank's background to mark him as the future
founder of modern Chinese studies in the United States.
He was born in Huron, South Dakota, in 1907, the only child of Arthur
Boyce Fairbank, an able, socially active lawyer, and Lorena King, a
1903 graduate of the University of Chicago. His education
led him through Phillips Exeter Academy and the University
of Wisconsin, to Harvard College, where he graduated
summa cum laude in 1929.
At Harvard, Fairbank had learned that secret diplomatic
papers of the Chinese government had just been published
in Peiping (as Beijing was then called). Research on
China's relations with the European powers could now
contribute to the current historiographical task: uncovering
the background of the Great War. Fairbank recalled later
that "China appealed to me at age twenty-two as
something interesting that no one else seemed to be doing." He
began China research at Balliol and the Public Records
Office. But for language training there was no substitute
for Peiping, where he transferred in 1932.
Five years in China showed him that behind every specialized
historical topic lay a broader challenge: understanding
the immense differences between Chinese civilization
and our own. That broader challenge would dominate his
life. (Click here to read entire article.)
Wilma Fairbank (1909-2002)
A magna cum laude graduate of Radcliffe College in
Art History, Wilma Cannon traveled to Beijing in 1932
to marry her fiancé, John
King Fairbank. While in China, she painted water colors of the local
scenery and developed a keen interest in Chinese
archeology and architecture. Over the years, she authored numerous
scholarly books in these areas. Wilma Fairbank was known not only for
her art and scholarship, but also for her warm hospitality to the East
Asian studies community. Every Thursday afternoon, she hosted open-house
teas at which Harvard faculty and students as well as visitors from
around the world were welcome. She passed away April 4, 2002 at the
age of 92, and a memorial service was held for her at Harvard in June
2002. See also: Article about Wilma
Fairbank (originally
published in the Winter 1994 Fairbank Center Newsletter). |