Faculty

Ryuichi Abe

rabe@fas.harvard.edu

Reischauer Institute Professor of Japanese Religions

On leave 2025-26

Interim Director of Undergraduate Studies

Walter C. Cabot Fellowship (2024-25)

After completing an undergraduate degree in Economics at Keio University, Ryūichi Abé acquired a master’s degree from School of Advanced International Affairs, the Johns Hopkins University. He then turned to Religious Studies and was awarded an M. Phil...

Naomi Asakura

nasakura@fas.harvard.edu

Preceptor in Japanese

David Atherton

datherton@fas.harvard.edu

Thorley D. Briggs 1953 Associate Professor of the Humanities

David C. Atherton is a scholar of literature, focusing primarily on Japan’s early modern period (also known as the Edo or Tokugawa period, ca. 1600-1867). His work seeks to understand how the intrinsic, literary dynamics of early modern texts interacted...

Peter K. Bol

pkbol@fas.harvard.edu

Charles H. Carswell Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations

On leave Fall 2026

Peter K. Bol is the Charles H. Carswell Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations. His research is centered on the history of China’s cultural elites at the national and local levels from the 7 th to the 17 th century. He is the author of "This...

Chan Yong Bu

cbu@fas.harvard.edu

Assistant Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations

Chan Yong Bu’s research focuses on the entanglements of the body, science, and technology within media culture as crucial sites for human-nonhuman relations. In particular, Chan Yong works on industrial media in South and North Korea, media spectacles in...

Jing Cai

jing_cai@fas.harvard.edu

Preceptor in Chinese

Mark Caprio

mcaprio@fas.harvard.edu

Kim Koo Visiting Professor of Korean Studies beginning August 1, 2025

Mark E. Caprio is professor emeritus at Rikkyo University in Tokyo, Japan. He is the author of Japanese Assimilation Policies in Colonial Korea, 1910—1945 (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2009) . Additionally, he has co-edited a number of volumes...

Xiaocheng Chen

xiaocheng_chen@fas.harvard.edu

Preceptor in Chinese

Wen-Hui Chen

wenhuichen@fas.harvard.edu

Language Instructor in Chinese

Yue-Rung Chen

yuerungchen@fas.harvard.edu

Language Instructor in Chinese

Yuxiao Du

landon_du@fas.harvard.edu

Preceptor in Chinese

Yuxiao Du ( 杜宇潇 ) has been teaching at Harvard since 2019. He has taught elementary, intermediate, and pre-advanced levels in intensive and non-intensive settings, working with both heritage and non-heritage learners. Over the summer, he taught at Harvard...

Mark C. Elliott

elliott3@fas.harvard.edu

Mark Schwartz Professor of Chinese and Inner Asian History

Vice Provost for International Affairs

Mark Elliott has been at Harvard since 2003, having earned his B.A. and M.A. at Yale and his Ph.D. at University of California at Berkeley. His first book, The Manchu Way: The Eight Banners and Ethnic Identity in Late Imperial China , based primarily on...