1879-82

Chinese taught at Harvard by Ge Kunhua (Ko K’un-hua 戈鯤化) (1836-1882)

1913-14

The first courses in East Asian thought are taught at Harvard in the Department of Philosophy by the Professor of Japanese Literature and Life. This visiting professorship is organized by Professor James Haughton Woods, a specialist in Indian philosophy and a faculty member in the Philosophy Department. The chair is supported by an endowment donated by multiple benefactors, of whom the largest is William Sturgis Bigelow, a famous collector of Japanese art and the source of much of the Boston MFA’s Japanese collection.

The first person to hold the position is Professor Masaharu Anesaki, who offers “Philosophy 5: Religious and Moral Developments of the Japanese, with reference to Philosophy, Art and Literature” and “Philosophy 24: Schools of the Religious and Philosophical Thought of Japan, as compared with those of India and China.”

1914

Charles Hall, co-founder of Alcoa, dies. His will leaves approximately $6.5 million for the promotion of Chinese studies in China.

1914-15

Professor Masaharu Anesaki offers the first courses at Harvard dedicated to the topics of Japanese Buddhism and literature. He teaches “Philosophy 11a: Buddhist Ethics and Japanese Life” in the fall and “Philosophy 11b: Religion and Poetry in Japan” in the spring. In addition, Anesaki repeats his year-long course “Philosophy 5: Religious and Moral Development of the Japanese.”

1915

Hall Estate trust established.

1915-16

First courses dedicated to the subject of Confucian thought are taught at Harvard by Professor Hattori of the Imperial University of Tokyo, who replaces Anesaki as Professor of Japanese Literature and Life. Hattori offers three half-courses: “Philosophy 5a: Confucian Ethics and Japanese Life,” “Philosophy 11c: Confucius, his Life and Teachings,” and ”Philosophy 11d: Schools of Confucian Thought in Japan.” Hattori’s salary depletes the majority of the remaining funds in the endowment, and the position is not renewed.

1916

Professor Woods, at the time chair of the Department of Philosophy, formally reestablishes the teaching of Chinese at Harvard by creating a Chair in Chinese. The existence of this Chair is later used to persuade the trustees of the Hall estate that Harvard has an interest in the Far East and will be an adequate shepherd for their funds.

1916-17, Spring

Early class on Chinese religion taught at Harvard in the Divinity School. The course is offered by Reverends Logan H. Roots and James Thayer Addison, and entitled “Christian Missions in China in Relation to the Chinese Religions.”

1921-22

Zhao Yuanren is appointed to a one year renewable position at Harvard as Instructor of Chinese. In the spring of 1922, Zhao offers the first class in Chinese to be taught at Harvard since the death of Ge Kunhua. The half-year course is entitled “Chinese 1: Introduction to the Chinese Language.”

1922-23

Zhao’s introductory course is expanded into a year-long class.

1923-24

The Chinese curriculum is expanded into two year-long courses (one introductory, one advanced), which are both taught by Zhao.

1924

Wallace Brett Donham, Dean of the Graduate School of Business Administration and founder of the case study method, establishes relations between the trustees of the Hall estate and Harvard University. Donham later becomes a long-standing member of the HYI Board of Trustees.

1924-25

Mei Guangdi 梅光迪 replaces Zhao Yuanren as Instructor of Chinese.

1925-26

In addition to the introductory and advanced Chinese language courses, Mei adds a class on Chinese thought and literature to the curriculum. The course is entitled “Chinese 3: Introduction to the Literature and Philosophy of China.”

1927-28

Mei Guangdi further expands the Chinese curriculum, offering a total of five year-long courses. He expands the Chinese language program into three years, continues to offer his literature and philosophy course, and adds a new “Special Studies” course. The special studies class, entitled “Chinese 20,” continues in subsequent years, and appears to be the primary venue through which graduate students are trained.

1928, January 4

Harvard-Yenching Institute formally incorporated. First meeting of Trustees.

1928, April 25

HYI Trustees approve funding for first visiting professorships, appointing Paul Pelliot, Lucius C. Porter, Baron Alexander von Staël-Holstein, and William Hung for the 1928-29 academic year. These scholars all offer classes in 1928-29 which, in addition to Mei’s ongoing three year course in the Chinese language, dramatically expand the number of courses available on East Asian subjects.

1928-29, Fall

Professor Paul Pelliot, visiting for one semester from the College de France, teaches “Chinese 10: The Chief Periods in the History of Chinese Art.” 23 students enroll, more than the total enrollment in all other Chinese courses combined.

1928-29, Spring

First class in Tibetan taught at Harvard. The course is offered by Professor Baron Alexander von Staël-Holstein of Yenching University and entitled “Chinese 23: Introduction to the Tibetan Language.” In addition, von Staël-Holstein also teaches “Chinese 21: Introduction to the Kacyapaparivarta.”

First survey course in Chinese history taught at Harvard by Professor William Hung (Hong Ye) of Yenching University. The half-course is titled “Chinese 24: Introduction to the Study of Chinese history.” 3 graduate students enroll.

1928-29

Professor Lucius Porter of Yenching University teaches a year-long survey course entitled “Chinese 12: Survey of Chinese Thought.”

Enrollment in Mei’s Chinese language classes nearly double from the previous year, increasing to a total of 9 students.

First Harvard University documentation of graduate students whose area of study lay chiefly in Chinese. Five graduate students focus on Chinese studies. While this number increases to as many as ten Harvard students at a time during the years 1928-1936, attrition is evidently quite high, as only a total of three advanced degrees (2 A.M. / 1 Ph.D.) are awarded.

1929

HYI is assigned five rooms in basement of Boylston Hall.

First A.M. degree granted in Chinese.

Wing Tsit Chan is awarded the first Ph.D. in an East Asian subject at Harvard for a dissertation presented to the Department of Philosophy entitled “The Philosophy of Chuang Tzu.”

1929-30

After the surge of the previous year, course offerings and student enrollments decline. A total of four classes are offered. Mei teaches only two Chinese classes (beginning and intermediate). William Hung remains at Harvard for a second year and teaches “Chinese 11: History of Chinese Civilization.” Together, he and Mei also offer a graduate research class.

1930-31, Spring

Professor DeVargas visits from Yenching University and teaches one half-course: “Chinese 12: The Cultural Renaissance in China.”

1931, Oct. 30

HYI Trustees agree to invite Professor Serge Elisséeff to Harvard for visiting lectureships in the year 1932-33.

1931-32

First course in the Japanese language taught at Harvard. The year-long class is taught by Hideo Kishimoto and entitled “Japanese 1: Elementary Japanese.” Five students – three undergraduates and two graduates – enroll. In the same year, Kishimoto inaugurates a graduate research class to match the one offered on the China side. It is entitled “Japanese 20: Reading and Research.”

1931-32, Fall

Professor Lucius Porter of Yenching University returns to Harvard as a visiting professor on behalf of the Harvard-Yenching Institute. He teaches two half-courses, an undergraduate class “Chinese 12: Survey of Chinese Thought” and a graduate course “Chinese 22: Mencius on Human Nature and Political Philosophy.”

James Ware, a graduate student in Chinese, co-teaches Chinese 1 with Mei.

Early 1930s

Substantial cutbacks in HYI funding for Asian studies at Harvard and in China, resulting from reduced dividends on endowment investments.

Graduate students supported by FYI and affiliated with Harvard during this period include John Fairbank and Edwin Reischauer.

1932

James Ware receives the first Ph.D. degree in Chinese studies to be granted by Harvard. A specialist in Pre-Tang Chinese Buddhism, his dissertation is entitled “Wei Shou on Chinese Buddhism.” A portion of this dissertation is published in T’oung-pao 29 (1933).

1932,
July 6 - Aug. 16

First Summer Seminar in Far Eastern Studies held at Harvard University.

1932-33

James Ware, having received his doctorate, fills in for Mei (who is on leave) as Instructor of Chinese. In addition to Chinese 1 and 2, he teaches a half-course in the spring entitled “Chinese 10: The Historical and Intellectual Background of Chinese Literature.”

Serge Elisséeff teaches at Harvard for the first time. He teaches two classes – “Chinese 10: Explanation of a Chinese Historical Text” which focuses on Ssu-ma Ch’ien, and “Japanese 2: History of Japanese Civilization before 1800.”

1933

HYI receives gift of the two stone lions that presently stand on the lawn in front of 2 Divinity Avenue.

1933, Nov. 13

HYI Trustees appoint Elisséeff Director of the Harvard-Yenching Institute on a lifetime basis and nominate him Professor of Far Eastern Languages of Harvard University, effective September 1, 1934.

1933-34

Elisséeff is sent to China by the HYI to learn colloquial Chinese and consult with the Yenching side of HYI’s operations. Kishimoto remains as the sole Japanese instructor. In addition to language classes, he teaches two half-courses, one each semester: “Japanese 10a: The Historical Background of Japanese Civilization” and “Japanese 10b: History of Japanese Religions.”

Mei returns and co-teaches Chinese language classes with James Ware. They are joined by Charles Gardner, a graduate student in the History Department, who teaches “Chinese 20: The History of China.” This is the first course offered in the Chinese curriculum to be cross-listed with the History department, as “History 20L.”

1934-35

Elisséeff returns from China to assume day-to-day directorship of the Harvard-Yenching Institute. He also resumes teaching classes on Japanese language, early Japanese history, and Chinese classics. Kishimoto leaves.

Graduate course offerings in Chinese are expanded to encompass more methodological and theoretical themes. Mei teaches “Chinese 5: Chinese Theories of Literature and History,” while Gardner teaches “Chinese 12: Historical Method in the Study of Chinese History.” A total of three students enroll in the two courses, one in the former and two in the latter.

1935

1935-36

Teaching staff in Chinese and Japanese is limited to James Ware, Charles Gardner, and Serge Elisséeff. Ware continues to offer the three-year course in Chinese. Elisséeff expands the Japanese language program into a two-year course (elementary and intermediate). Charles Gardner offers a new year-long survey of Chinese history entitled “Chinese 11: History of China. Evolution of Chinese Culture from Antiquity to the Present.”

There are only three Harvard graduate students in Chinese (none in Japanese) at this time.

1936

Inaugural issue of the Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies published.

1936-37

John Fairbank joins the faculty of the History department and teaches his first course at Harvard. It is titled “History 83b: History of the Far East since 1793.” The course is immediately popular, attracting a total of 43 students.

Gardner’s survey of Chinese history is relisted as “History 85: History of China – Political, Institutional and Cultural Evolution from Antiquity to the Present” and cross-listed with the Chinese language program. Elisséeff’s Japanese history course is also cross-listed with the History department for the first time.

Three teachers, one Japanese and two Chinese (Mr. Wang, Weng, and Dr. Shimoyama), join the language teaching staff as assistant instructors.

In anticipation of the formation of FEL, the number of graduate students in Far Eastern Languages increase to 12, a 300% increase over the previous year.

1937, Feb. 9

Creation of the Division of Far Eastern Languages

Division of Far Eastern Languages formally founded by vote of the Harvard Faculty. Elisséeff appointed first chair. FEL as a “Department” can be found in the minutes of faculty meetings, and the term “Division” ceases to appear after the late 1930s.

1937

First A.M. degree granted in Far Eastern Languages.

1937-38

Elisséeff offers a new year-long, mixed level course entitled “Japanese 15: History of Japanese Literature.” This is the first course dedicated to subject of Japanese literature to be taught at Harvard.

First undergraduate concentrator in Far Eastern Languages.

1937, October 5

Appointment of Elisséeff as first Chairman of the Division of Far Eastern Languages is announced at the Harvard faculty meeting.

1938, March 22

Faculty votes to change primary administrative subdivision of the Faculty from Division to Department. “Two or more Departments may, at their discretion, organize themselves into a Division and delegate to that Division such authority as they may desire.” This change takes effect as of the 1939-40 academic year. Hereafter FEL is known exclusively as a Department.

1938

First Ph.D. in Far Eastern Studies awarded to Tu-chien Weng, a specialist in Mongol history, for a dissertation entitled “The Life of Ai-hsieh.” Weng received his B.A. and M.A. from Yenching University, and is evidence that the close relationship between Harvard and Yenching fostered by the Harvard-Yenching Institute affected not just faculty appointments, but also graduate student admissions. After receiving his degree, Weng assumes a traveling fellowship in Paris under the auspices of the Harvard-Yenching Institute.

1938-39

Japanese and Chinese are grouped together for the first time in the Reports of the President of Harvard College and the Harvard Course Catalogue under the rubric “Far Eastern Languages.”

Elisséeff adds a third, advanced year to the Japanese language curriculum.

In his final graduate year, Edwin O. Reischauer joins the FEL faculty as an instructor. He teaches beginning and intermediate Chinese.

Undergraduate concentrators in Far Eastern Languages increase to a total of three students.

1939

Reischauer receives his Ph.D. in Chinese Studies from Harvard with a special field in Japanese history. His dissertation is titled "Ennin's Diary of his Travels in T'ang China, 838-847." He assumes the post of Instructor in Far Eastern Languages.

1939-40

Fairbank and Reischauer inaugurate what will come to be popularly known as the “Rice Paddies” course. In their first years, the two semesters of the course are taught as “Chinese 10a: Survey of the History of Eastern Asia from Early Times to 1500” and “History 83b: Survey of the History of Eastern Asia from 1500 to the Present Time.” The first semester is co-taught by Reischauer and Fairbank. The second semester is taught by Fairbank alone. In latter parlance, the class is most typically referred to as the “History of East Asian Civilization.”

Fairbank initiates Harvard’s broader academic community outreach efforts in the field of East Asian studies by organizing the Far Eastern Institute, which is sponsored by the Committees on Chinese and Japanese Studies of the American Council of Learned Societies, and further supported by Harvard-Yenching Institute. The primary goal of the Institute is to “meet the needs of college and secondary-school teachers who desired a fundamental background in the cultures of the Far East” by offering instruction in the history and art of China and Japan.

1940

Harvard’s third and fourth Ph.D. degrees in Far Eastern Studies are awarded to Yen Yi Huang and Yueh-hwa Lin. Huang and Lin are graduates of Lingnan and Yenching universities, respectively, both of which were supported by the Harvard-Yenching Institute.

1940-41

The Rice Paddies course is renamed “Chinese 10a: Cultural History of the Far East,” and “History 83b: The Modern Far East.” In a pattern that would henceforth become standard, Reischauer teaches the first term, Fairbank the second.

1941, May 20

Faculty of Arts and Sciences votes to approve the establishment of a degree of Ph.D. in History and Far Eastern Languages, to be administered by a special committee appointed by the President. John Fairbank is the principal faculty force behind the establishment of the new program.

1941-42

Francis Cleaves, in his final year of graduate studies, joins the faculty of FEL and assumes responsibility for teaching the first year Chinese course.

1942, February

Following the outbreak of WWII, Elisséeff and Reischauer initiate a special spring term introductory Japanese class that is vastly oversubscribed. Total enrollment in Elementary Japanese surges from six students before Pearl Harbor to fifty-two in the spring term. Some of these students are later recruited for the special Japanese school run by Reischauer in Washington to train cryptanalysts for the Army Signal Corps. They include Howard Hibbett and Benjamin Schwartz.

1942

1942-43

Professor Zhao Yuanren returns to Harvard to teach an intensive Chinese course similar to that offered on the Japanese side. Intensive elementary Chinese is offered both terms; intensive intermediate Chinese is offered from the spring term. In addition, Zhao also teaches Harvard’s first class on non-Mandarin Chinese dialects, entitled “Chinese 9a: Chinese Dialectology.” Enrollment in Mandarin classes also increases, though not as dramatically as Japanese. A total of 22 students enroll in Elementary Chinese, as opposed to thirteen in the preceding year.

Elisséeff and Reischauer continue to offer their intensive course, with Intensive Elementary and Intensive Intermediate Japanese simultaneously offered in both fall and spring terms.

1946

Fairbank initiates a full-time seminar leading to an M.A. known as Regional Studies: China. This is later expanded to include the rest of East Asia.

James Robert Hightower receives his Ph.D. in Far Eastern Languages with a dissertation titled "The Han shih wai chuan." He is appointed to a position as Instructor of Chinese, but spends the next two years on leave in Peking.

Yang Lien-sheng receives his Ph.D. in History and Far Eastern Languages with a dissertation titled "Notes on the Economic History of the Chin Dynasty."

1947

Elizabeth Huff receives the first Ph.D. in Far Eastern Languages to be awarded to a Radcliffe student, for a dissertation on Chinese poetics entitled “Shih-hsueh.” Huff began her graduate career at Harvard / Radcliffe in the mid-1930s, and was studying in China at the outbreak of WWII, whereupon she was interned by the Japanese in Shandong for the duration of the war. After graduating from Harvard, she took a position at UC Berkeley, where she established the East Asian Library.

1947-48

Mongolian is first offered in FEL as a year-long course taught by Francis Cleaves.

Yang Lien-sheng joins the faculty of the Department of Far Eastern Languages as an assistant professor. He initially teaches Chinese language classes and topics in pre-modern Chinese history.

After a hiatus of several years, the full two semester Rice Paddies course is reorganized and offered again as part of Harvard’s Gen Ed curriculum under the title “History of Far Eastern Civilization.” 119 students enroll in the first semester, 58 in the second.

1948-49

1950

Harvard-Yenching Institute Studies Series initiated. The first title is An Annotated Bibliography of Selected Chinese Reference Works, compiled by Ssŭ-yü Teng and Knight Biggerstaff.

Howard Scott Hibbett and John Whitney Hall both receive Ph.D. degrees in Far Eastern Languages. Hibbett’s dissertation is titled “Ejima Kiseki and the Hachimonjiya: a Study in Eighteenth-century Japanese Fiction.” Hall’s is titled “Modern Trends in Tokugawa Japan: the Life and Policies of Tanuma Okitsugu.” Hibbett spends a year as a member of the Society of Fellows, and then assumes a teaching position at UCLA. Hall goes on to become a founding figure in the study of premodern Japanese history in the United States, teaching first at Michigan and then at Yale.

Benjamin Isadore Schwartz receives his Ph.D. in History and Far Eastern Languages, with a dissertation entitled “Communism in China until the Rise of Mao Tse-tung.” He is appointed Assistant Professor of History and Government.

1952

FEL inaugurates its Korean program, which includes an intensive course in the Korean language open only to graduate students, and a general course in Korean civilization available both to undergraduates and graduates. In its early years, the program is overseen by Professor Doo Soo Suh, former Dean of Seoul National University, who teaches all classes. Suh’s position as Visiting Lecturer is renewed annually.

1954

Elisséeff’s annual report on the state of the department identifies an FEL teaching staff of 8. Two full professors (Elisséeff and Reischauer); four associate professors (Cleaves, Hightower, Ware, Yang); two visiting lecturers (Ch’en and Doo Soo Suh)

1954-55

Hightower inaugurates a second course as part of Harvard’s Gen Ed curriculum. Entitled “Humanities 112: Classics of the Far East,” the course has 24 enrollees in its first year.

1956

Elisséeff retires. Reischauer assumes directorship of HYI and serves as Chair of FEL until his appointment as ambassador to Japan in 1961.

1958, September

FEL and HYI relocate from Boylston Hall to 2 Divinity Avenue.

1958

Howard Hibbett returns to Harvard as Elisséeff’s replacement. He initially holds the rank of Associate Professor of Japanese.

Edward Wagner joins the faculty of FEL, initially as Lecturer in Korean. He reinitiates the Korean language program, which had been in hiatus since the departure of Doo Soo Suh in 1955. When promoted to assistant professor the following year, his becomes the first permanent faculty position in Korean.

Nagatomi Masatoshi joins the faculty of FEL as its first fulltime professor of Buddhist studies. While Kenneth Ch’en had taught courses in Buddhism in previous years as a visiting lecturer, Nagatomi’s appointment makes the position permanent.

1950-60

Over the course of this decade, the number of undergraduate concentrators in FEL increase significantly. In 1950, three Harvard undergraduates concentrated in FEL. By 1961, that number had increased to twenty-two. Nevertheless, as a concentration FEL remained quite small. The number of concentrators in 1961 constituted one half of one percent of the Harvard’s undergraduate population.

1960

Itasaka Gen joins the faculty as Lecturer in Japanese. He and Hibbett assume stewardship of the Japanese program during Reischauer’s appointment as US ambassador to Japan (1961-66).

1961-65

James Hightower serves as Chair of FEL.

1964-66

Enrollment in East Asian related courses (Area Studies, not language) doubles. These numbers persist through the Vietnam years, with enrollment in the Rice Paddies course regularly exceeding 500 students. In 1966, Harvard has the greatest enrollment in East Asian courses of any major university in America. During this period the Rice Paddies course is reorganized into separate semesters on China and Japan , a division that remains today.

1965-70

Howard Hibbett serves as Chair of FEL.

1966

Joseph Fletcher is appointed Assistant Professor in the Department of Far Eastern Languages and teaches Harvard’s first course on the Manchu language.

1970

The faculty of FEL include 16 tenured or tenure-track professors and 11 lecturers. This represents an expansion of over one hundred per cent since the mid-1950s.

1960s – 1980s

Harvard University gradually takes over responsibility for funding the Department of FEL / EALC and the Harvard-Yenching Library from the Harvard-Yenching Institute. As late as the mid-1980s, some positions continue to be funded by HYI, and HYI continues to provide substantial support for book purchases by the library to the present day.

1967

Fundraising begins to support a Chair in Vietnamese Studies.

1970-74

Edward Wagner serves as Chair of FEL / EALC.

1971-72

Vietnamese language first taught at Harvard by Alexander Woodside, the first holder of the newly formed Kenneth T. Young Professorship of Sino-Vietnamese History. Woodside’s primary affiliation is with the History department, but his is cross-listed in FEL / EALC.

1971-80

Substantial decline in this period in the amount of graduate student funding supplied by FLAS, NDLF, and Fulbright. The Council on East Asian Studies is created to address the problem of fundraising.

1972, Feb. 22

FEL renamed EALC

Permanent members of the faculty of FEL vote unanimously to change the name of the department from Far Eastern Languages to East Asian Languages and Civilizations.

1972, April 11

Significant changes to the organization and nomenclature of East Asian fields of study authorized by vote of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Council on East Asian Studies, with John K. Fairbank as first chair, created to supervise interdepartmental committees concerned with East Asian Studies. Undergraduate concentration in East Asian Studies created and overseen by an inter-departmental committee chaired by Ezra Vogel. Ph.D. in History and Far Eastern Languages renamed History and East Asian Languages.

1974-77

Patrick Hanan serves as Chair of EALC.

1976

The Harvard-Yenching Library is placed under the direct administration of Harvard University and integrated into the University library system. Its rare books collection remains the property of HYI.

1977-81

Donald Shively serves as Chair of EALC.

1980

The faculty of FEL include 17 tenured or tenure-track professors and 9 preceptors.

1981-87

Edwin Cranston serves as Chair of EALC, with Patrick Hanan substituting during his sabbatical in 1985-86.

1985

The faculty of EALC includes 18 tenured or tenure-track professors and 13 preceptors, instructors, and lecturers.

1987-88

Harold Bolitho serves as Chair of EALC.

1988-92

Tu Wei-ming serves as Chair of EALC, with Stephen Owen substituting from 1990-91.

1990, May 15

Faculty vote to merge concentration in East Asian Studies with concentration in East Asian Languages and Civilizations. The revised concentration is overseen primary by faculty in the department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, but individual advisors are selected from faculty throughout the university.

1992-94

Stephen Owen serves as Chair of EALC.

1994-96

Harold Bolitho serves as Chair of EALC.

1996-2002

Peter Bol serves as Chair of EALC.

2002-05

Philip Kuhn serves as Chair of EALC.

2005-08

Michael Puett serves as Chair of EALC.

2006

EALC assumes administrative responsibility for the Ph.D. program in History and East Asian Languages (HEAL).

2008

Wilt Idema assumes chairmanship of EALC.

The faculty of EALC includes 25 tenured or tenure-track professors and 34 language instruction staff.

2011

Shigehisa Kuriyama assumes chairmanship of EALC.