East Asia Programs

Faculty of the Council on East Asian Studies

William C. Kirby, Edith and Benjamin Geisinger Professor of History (Chair)
William P. Alford, Henry L. Stimson Professor of Law (Law School)
Peter K. Bol, Harvard College Professor and Professor of Chinese History (on leave spring term)
Harold Bolitho, Professor of Japanese History
James K.M. Cheng, Librarian of the Yenching Library, Librarian of the Harvard-Yenching Library
Edwin A. Cranston, Professor of Japanese Literature
Carter J. Eckert, Professor of Korean History, Director of the Korea Institute
Andrew Gordon, Professor of History
William C. Hsiao, K. T. Li Professor of Economics (Public Health)
Akira Iriye, Charles Warren Professor of American History
Wesley M. Jacobsen, Professor of the Practice of the Japanese Language and Director of the Japanese Language Program
Arthur Kleinman, Professor of Medical Anthropology in the Faculties of Medicine and Arts and Sciences
Philip A. Kuhn, Francis Lee Higginson Professor of History and of East Asian Languages and Civilizations
Susumu Kuno, Professor of Linguistics (on leave 1999-00)
Leo Ou-Fan Lee, Professor of Chinese Literature
Roderick MacFarquhar, Leroy B. Williams Professor of History and Political Science
David McCann, Korea Foundation Professor of Korean Literature
Stephen Owen, James Bryant Conant University Professor
Dwight H. Perkins, Harold Hitchings Burbank Professor of Political Economy and Frank W. Taussig Professor of Economics
Elizabeth J. Perry, Henry Rosovsky Professor of Government
Susan J. Pharr, Edwin O. Reischauer Professor of Japanese Politics
Jay Rubin, Takashima Professor of Japanese Humanities
Hue-Tam Ho Tai, Kenneth T. Young Professor of Sino-Vietnamese History
Wei-Ming Tu, Harvard-Yenching Professor of Chinese History and Philosophy and of Confucian Studies
Leonard W. J. van der Kuijp, Professor of Tibetan and Himalayan Studies
Ezra F. Vogel, Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences (on leave fall term)
James L. Watson, John King and Wilma Cannon Fairbank Professor of Chinese Society
Michael Y. Yoshino, Herman C. Krannert Professor of Business Administration (Business School)

By a resolution of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences of April 11, 1972, the Council on East Asian Studies and its Executive Committee are appointed by the Dean in consultation with the Faculty Council to supervise such interdepartmental and other committees concerned with East Asian Studies as the Dean may designate.

Courses on East Asian languages, early history, literature, and thought are listed under East Asian Languages and Civilizations. Other courses on East Asia are listed under the Core Curriculum, Anthropology, Economics, Fine Arts, Government, History, Linguistics, Psychology, Sociology, and the Study of Religion.

Pamphlets describing the degree programs and course offerings on East Asia may be obtained at the offices of the Committee concerned, listed below.

The Harvard University Asia Center was created in 1997. The Center supports research, teaching, and public programs on Asia throughout the University. The Center’s main office is located in Coolidge Hall, on the third floor.

Faculty of the Standing Committee on the A.M. in Regional Studies–East Asia

Hue-Tam Ho Tai, Kenneth T. Young Professor of Sino-Vietnamese History (Chair)
Edwin A. Cranston, Professor of Japanese Literature
Milan G. Hejtmanek, Assistant Professor of Korean History
Elizabeth J. Perry, Henry Rosovsky Professor of Government
Susan J. Pharr, Edwin O. Reischauer Professor of Japanese Politics

The program in Regional Studies–East Asia, leading to a Master of Arts degree, is a basic preparation (1) for students who intend to go on to Ph.D. work in an East Asian specialization; and (2) for students who wish to equip themselves for nonacademic work. The program, which normally requires two years for completion, aims to make the student broadly conversant with the societies of the region, and also to give him or her a sound knowledge of one of the languages of the area. Details may be obtained from the Committee’s offices at Coolidge Hall 102, 1737 Cambridge Street, MA, 02138 or (617) 495-3777.

Faculty of the Standing Committee on the Ph.D. in History and East Asian Languages

Harold Bolitho, Professor of Japanese History (Chair)
Peter K. Bol, Harvard College Professor and Professor of Chinese History (on leave spring term)
Carter J. Eckert, Professor of Korean History, Director of the Korea Institute
Andrew Gordon, Professor of History
William C. Kirby, Edith and Benjamin Geisinger Professor of History
Philip A. Kuhn, Francis Lee Higginson Professor of History and of East Asian Languages and Civilizations

Established in 1941 to administer the Ph.D. in History and Far Eastern Languages, this program was renamed by a Faculty vote of April 11, 1972, without other modification of its program. The Committee, drawn from the two departments of History and of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, administers a program leading to the Ph.D. degree. The program in general combines study of the Chinese and Japanese languages (and sometimes other East Asian languages such as Korean, Mongolian, or Vietnamese) with advanced study and research in East Asian history. Normally this requires four courses (or equivalent) in the primary language, two and one-half in the secondary, and preparation for an oral examination in three history fields, of which two are ordinarily East Asian, and one Western, depending on the individual’s preparation and program. Further information may be obtained from the office of the Committee, at Coolidge Hall 102, 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138.

Graduate Courses of Reading and Research

*Regional Studies — East Asia 300. Reading and Research
Catalog Number: 4614
Carter J. Eckert 1178, Andrew Gordon 1891, Akira Iriye 1968, William C. Kirby 3128, Philip A. Kuhn 8051, Elizabeth J. Perry 3074, Michael James Puett 1227 (on leave 1999-00), Masahiro Shimotani 2811, Hue-Tam Ho Tai 6079, Ezra F. Vogel 2273 (on leave fall term), Steven Vogel 1766 and members of the Committee
Designed to provide students with the opportunity to do reading and research in an approved area of their choice under the direction of a member of the Committee.
Note: Open only to students affiliated with the Regional Studies–East Asia program.

Regional Studies — East Asia 310. Thesis Development
Catalog Number: 8453
Peter K. Bol 8014 (on leave spring term), Hue-Tam Ho Tai 6079 and members of the Committee
Designed to allow students to develop previous research or a previously written paper into the A.M. thesis, under the direction of an appropriate faculty advisor.
Note: Open only to students affiliated with the Regional Studies–East Asia program. Counts as course credit, but not towards the basic course requirements for the degree.