East Asian Studies at Harvard University

05/05/2026

We’re delighted to share that four EAS concentrators (and their thesis advisors) have been awarded the Thomas Temple Hoopes Prize for their senior thesis work! Big congratulations to Efrem, Sasha, Katy, Summer, and their advisors on this well-deserved recognition for outstanding work. More about the prize here: https://prizes.fas.harvard.edu/hoopes-prize

Francesco Efrem Bonetti for “‘As Light as a Goose Feather’: Violence and the Public in Late Qing China”—supervised by Professor Mark Elliott and William Sack

Sasha Claire Hitachi-Kizziah for “Culture and Technology in America’s Wagyu Industry”—supervised by Dr. Gavin Whitelaw and William Sack

Katy Yifan Lin for “When the Past Beckons: Colonial Memory and the Persistence of Japan in Taiwanese Life, 1971–1994”—supervised by Professor Jie Li and Alina Scotti

Summer Anastasia Lin Tan for “‘Goodbye to My Chinese Spy’: Affective Infrastructure, the TikTok Ban, and the Gen Z Countermyth”—supervised by Professor Moira Weigel and Gangsim Eom

11/17/2025

BIG congratulations to this year’s Rhodes Scholars, including one of our own concentrators! Helen He is a joint concentrator in computer science and East Asian studies, with an interest in using technology to tell stories about human history. She plans to spend her first year at Oxford pursuing a master’s degree in computer science. For her second year, she is considering graduate-level studies in the Traditional China department, devoted to the philosophy, culture, and history of pre-modern and early modern China. READ MORE: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2025/11/6-more-harvard-students-awarded-rhodes-scholarships/

03/07/2024

Learn how to make Laghman (Leghmen) noodles, an Uyghur staple dish!

02/01/2024

Talk tomorrow by EALC faculty member David Atherton!
“Violence and Form in Early Modern Japanese Literature”
Friday, February 2, 4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. EST
(in-person and online event)
Register for online viewing here: https://harvard.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEkdOChqjkoEt0pMcUBd9zGYYLSinm6F1GS #/registration
Speaker:
David Atherton, Assistant Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University
Moderator:
Shigehisa Kuriyama, Reischauer Institute Professor of Cultural History and Director, Reischauer Institute, Harvard University

01/29/2024

Beginning in Spring 2024, EAS is delighted to offer one Summer Research Travel Grant of up to $4,000 to support a concentrator, joint concentrator, or undergraduate Vietnamese Language Program student conducting research or undertaking a self-organized study abroad program in Vietnam (other underserved regions in East Asia will also be considered in the case of concentrators). We can’t wait to see what they’ll do with it! More info here: https://eas.fas.harvard.edu/travel-grants-eas-concentrators

10/31/2023

Can’t wait to kick off our annual Halloween event, the East Asian Ghost Story Gathering! We’ll be enjoying spooky tales from Japan, Korea, China, and Vietnam—both traditional and contemporary urban legends. Oh, and lots of cider and Halloween candy! ;)

08/29/2023

Another featured course as the registration deadline gets closer…!

GENED 1169: What is the Good China Story? (Aesthetics & Culture), taught by EALC Profs. Wai-Yee Li and David Wang.

“Why do stories have the power to bring China to the world and the world to China?

The course takes as its point of departure President Xi Jinping’s call in 2013 to “tell the good China story,” and in 2020 to “tell the good China story of combating coronavirus.” What is the good China story? Is this the story China should tell about itself to the world? Is this about cultural self-perception, understanding the world, cross-cultural communication, or simple propaganda? More importantly, how can we tell China stories from perspectives outside of China?

What seems beyond dispute is the power of stories to bring China to the world and the world to China. In exploring the “fictional turn” of contemporary Chinese cultural politics as it relates to the world, we will also trace its genealogy to earlier historical moments. Stories matter in China, not only in our times but also throughout history.

Narrative fiction is one of the most effective ways to engage with the Chinese past and the Chinese present. Instead of presenting China as a monolithic civilization, this course uses stories to understand “the world of China” and “China in the world” from ideological, ethnic, cultural, and geo-political perspectives. The course highlights the variety and vitality of stories from both modern and pre-modern periods. In genres ranging from religious allegory to science fiction, from moral fable to fantastic romance, from philosophical anecdote to political satire, Chinese stories have enlightened, intrigued, puzzled, and scandalized readers, reflecting and constructing ever-changing worldviews.”

08/25/2023

It’s that wonderful and frustrating time of the year again—time to choose JUST FOUR (or five, if you’re really determined) courses for Fall semester! Today we’re spotlighting a new course taught by EALC visiting lecturer Dr. Youngeun Koo—KORHIST 119: Governing Bodies in 20th Century Korea. This course aims to examine the history of modern Korea through the lens of families, women, and children, highlighting how their bodies constituted crucial sites of politics across the colonial, postcolonial, and neo-liberal eras. What does it mean to read Korea’s modern transitions through people’s “bodies”? Through an exploration of governing practices and processes, this course will unveil the intricacies of political memberships in modern Korea, entangled along the intersecting lines of gender, race, class, disability, and sexuality.

05/08/2023

"The Xiongnu, contemporaries of the peoples of ancient Egypt and Rome, dominated the Mongolian steppe from about 200 B.C. to 100 A.D. These horseback nomads proved innovative in warfare, but historians know little about the inner workings of their culture because the Xiongnu never developed a formal writing system. “Most of what we know comes from the Han Dynasty of Imperial China,” Warinner said. “They were major rivals of the Xiongnu, and they wrote about their wars and skirmishes along the border.”

In fact, the Great Wall was built as a barrier to mounted Xiongnu warriors.

Also detailed in historic documents are the Xiongnu’s powerful women. “That was another reason Imperial China didn’t like them,” Warinner quipped."

Biomolecular archaeology reveals a fuller picture of the Xiongnu people, the world’s first nomadic empire.

04/24/2023

Join us TODAY for Visitas! In addition to newly-admitted students, EAS invites current students interested in the concentration to an open class of the East Asian Studies Sophomore Tutorial, EASTD 97ab: Introduction to the Study of East Asia - Issues and Methods. This is a core class required of all EAS concentrators. Current students will be presenting their final projects!

Presentation topics include:

-Political Stability in Chinese dynasties - an LLM based approach to quantifying history

-VTubers: cultural influences on representation

-Guidebooks of what NOT to be: surviving in Edo through kibyoshi

-Double Concentration: Railways and Population of Tokyo

Other topics and programs: the Japanese coming of age ritual: shichigosan, the creation of Yenching Academy program at Peking (today's Beijing) university, newly discovered US-Japan postcards, and turning Tang-dynasty poems into a short film.
___________

After the class, head over to 9 Kirkland Pl. for an informal open house where you can get all your questions about the EAS concentration answered while enjoying coffee, tea, and East Asian snacks.

Class time: 1:30pm-2:45pm, 485 Broadway, Sackler Lecture Hall 004.

Open House time: 3pm-5pm, EAS Office, Room 102, 9 Kirkland Pl.

04/20/2023

Harvard Visitas is next Monday, 4/24! In addition to admitted students, EAS invites current students interested in the concentration to an open class of the East Asian Studies Sophomore Tutorial, EASTD 97ab: Introduction to the Study of East Asia - Issues and Methods. This is a core class required of all EAS concentrators. Current students will be presenting their final projects on this day!

Presentation topics will include:

-Political Stability in Chinese dynasties - an LLM based approach to quantifying history

-VTubers: cultural influences on representation

-Guidebooks of what NOT to be: surviving in Edo through kibyoshi

-Double Concentration: Railways and Population of Tokyo

Other topics and programs: the Japanese coming of age ritual: shichigosan, the creation of Yenching Academy program at Peking (today's Beijing) university, newly discovered US-Japan postcards, and turning Tang-dynasty poems into a short film.
___________

After the class, head over to 9 Kirkland Pl. for an informal open house where you can get all your questions about the EAS concentration answered while enjoying coffee, tea, and East Asian snacks.

Class time: 1:30pm-2:45pm, 485 Broadway, Sackler Lecture Hall 004.

Open House time: 3pm-5pm, EAS Office, Room 102, 9 Kirkland Pl.