Harvard-Yenching Institute is an independent foundation dedicated to advancing higher education in Asia in the humanities and social sciences, with special attention to the study of Asian culture. Its offices are located on the campus of Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

History

The Harvard-Yenching Institute (HYI) was founded in 1928 with funding provided solely from the estate of Charles Martin Hall

Charles Martin Hall

Charles Martin Hall was an American inventor, music enthusiast, and chemist. He is best known for his invention in 1886 of an inexpensive method for producing aluminium, which became the first metal to attain widespread use since the prehistoric discovery of iron.-Early years:Charles Martin Hall...

, the inventor of a process for refining aluminum and the founder of the Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA). Although the Institute has close ties with Harvard University, it is a legally and fiscally independent public charitable trust. Mr. Hall’s charge to the trustees of his estate was to promote higher education in Asia and to that end the trustees of his estate partnered with Harvard University in order to fulfill the Harvard-Yenching Institute’s mission as stated in its Articles of Incorporation:

to conduct and provide research, instruction and publication in the culture of China and/or elsewhere in Continental Asia and Japan and/or Turkey and the Balkan States in Europe, by founding, developing, supporting, maintaining and/or conducting one or more educational institutions and/or by supporting in whole or in part, co-operating with or joining or affiliating with other institutions now in existence or hereafter formed...

In the 1930s, the Institute supported the development of what became the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations

EALC

In American universities, EALC refers to East Asian Languages and Civilizations , and is the term for the department of East Asian studies, which studies this region of the world....

 at Harvard and founded the Harvard-Yenching Library

Harvard-Yenching Library

The Harvard–Yenching Library is the primary location for East Asia-related collections at the Harvard University Library. In addition to Chinese, Japanese, and Western languages, it houses collections in Korean, Vietnamese, Tibetan, Manchu, and Mongolian, totaling more than 1 million volumes...

 as well as the Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies

Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies

The Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies is an English-language scholarly journal published by the Harvard-Yenching Institute. HJAS features articles and book reviews of current scholarship in East Asian Studies, focusing on Chinese, Japanese, and Korean history, literature and religion, with...

. During the 1930s and 40s, the Institute provided direct support to Yenching University

Yenching University

Yenching University was a university in Beijing, China. It integrated three Christian colleges in the city in 1919. Yenching is an alternative name of Beijing - derived from its status as capital of Yan state, one of the seven Warring States from 5th century BC to 3rd century BC.The university...

, because of its focus on the humanities, along with five other colleges in China, Fukien, Lingnan, Nanjing, Shantung Christian and West China Union Universities, and Allahabad Agricultural Institute in India.

Since the 1950s, the Institute’s core activity has been to offer fellowships for overseas study and research to younger doctoral and post-doctoral scholars at leading East and Southeast Asian universities in all fields of the humanities and social sciences. Although the Institute has a special commitment to promoting the study of Asian culture, its support is not limited to that field. To date over 1000 faculty from Asia have received Institute fellowships and over 300 doctoral students have received their degrees with Institute support. In addition to providing fellowships, the Institute supports publications through Harvard’s Monograph Series as well as overseas publications in Chinese and Vietnamese, conferences, workshops and training programs.

Management

The Harvard-Yenching Institute has a nine-member Board of Directors, consisting of three each representing Harvard University and the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia, and three independent members with significant experience in Asia. In addition, a HYI Faculty Advisory Committee functions as an informal advisory group to the Director, offering general advice on Institute operations and academic directions. In its 80 years, the Harvard-Yenching Institute has had seven directors, each a member of the faculty of Harvard University:

Directors

Serge Elisséeff

Serge Elisséeff

Sergei Grigorievich Elisséeff was a Franco-American academic, an early Sinologist and Japanologist. He began studying Japanese at the University of Berlin, but he transferred to Tokyo Imperial University in 1912, making him the first Westerner to do so.Elisséeff served in 1916 as Privat-Dozent at...

 (1930-1955)

Edwin O. Reischauer

Edwin O. Reischauer

Edwin Oldfather Reischauer was the leading U.S. educator and noted scholar of the history and culture of Japan, and of East Asia. From 1961–1966, he was the U.S. ambassador to Japan.-Education and academic life:...

 (1955-1963)

John Pelzel (1963-1975)

Albert M. Craig

Albert M. Craig

Albert Morton Craig is an American academic, historian, author and professor emeritus in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University.-Early life:...

 (1975-1988)

Patrick Hanan (1988-1996)

Tu Wei-ming

Tu Wei-ming

Tu Weiming , b.1940, is an ethicist and a New Confucian. He is Lifetime Professor of Philosophy and founding Dean of the Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies at Peking University...

 (1996-2008)

Elizabeth J. Perry

Elizabeth J. Perry

Elizabeth J. Perry is a prominent United States scholar of Chinese politics and history in the Department of Government, Harvard University where she is Henry Rosovsky Professor of Government and Director of the Harvard-Yenching Institute...

(2008-)

Fellowship Programs

The Harvard-Yenching Institute has several fellowship programs that bring scholars from Asia to conduct research at Harvard University, to participate in special training programs, or to attend graduate school at Harvard University as well as other universities in the U.S. and abroad. The fellowship programs include:

• Associate Program

• Coordinate Research Program

• Doctoral Scholars Program

• NUS-HYI Joint Scholarship

• The Harvard-Yenching Institute and Regional Studies-East Asia Program

• Advanced Training Programs

• Visiting Scholars Program

• Visiting Fellows Program

External links

• Harvard-Yenching Institute