Harvard opens major China office

The University opens a major new facility to encourage research, student involvement, and teaching across the disciplines and professions.

Harvard Center Shanghai is in the new office tower to the left (top); the 88-story Jin Mao Tower and 101-story World Financial Center rise to the right.

The University is expanding its academic engagement with the People's Republic of China, opening a large new Harvard Center Shanghai in March to support faculty scholarship, student visits (for internships, public service, research, and education), and even teaching. The facility was formally inaugurated with a day-long series of academic presentations and speeches featuring deans, faculty members, and alumni; a banquet keynoted by President Drew Faust; and other events. A report on some of the activities, "Global Reach," appears in the May-June issue of Harvard Magazine (and "Changing, Challenging China," a roundtable discussion among faculty experts and alumni active in the People's Republic, appeared in the March-April issue).

Much more detailed coverage of the major speeches, some of the panel discussions, and other events outside the Harvard center during the March program proper appears below. (You can also read coverage by the Harvard University Gazette of President Faust’s visit to alumni and officials in Japan, with a large delegation of faculty members, immediately preceding the China events.)

A generous gift to support international reporting, from a friend of Harvard Magazine who wishes to remain anonymous, enabled editor John S. Rosenberg to visit Shanghai in March to cover these events and presentations.

View the program of events from March 18, and use these links to navigate to Harvard Magazine's expanded coverage, with sources of further information about Harvard's wide range of activities in China:

The Chinese Century?  (keynote address by William C. Kirby)

Architecture and Urbanism: Shanghai and Beyond  (a panel discussion)

The Moral Limits of Markets  (a luncheon address by Michael Sandel)

Who Cares About Chinese Culture? (a panel discussion)

China's Newest Revolution: Health for All?  (a panel discussion)

Innovations Changing the World: New Technologies, Harvard, and China  (remarks by David B. Yoffie)

President Drew Faust’s address at the evening banquet

Connections to China: Caregiving, Ecological City Planning

You might also like

Five Questions with Matthew Bunn

The last treaty limiting nuclear arms buildup between Russia and the U.S. expires February 5. What’s next?

Mark Carney on the Limits of Soft Power

At the 2026 Davos summit, the Canadian prime minister echoes Harvard’s Joseph Nye.

Harvard Scholars Discuss Venezuela After Maduro

A Harvard Kennedy School panel unpacks the nation’s oil sector, economy, and democratic hopes.

Most popular

The Health Benefits of Owning a Pet

Animal companions help their owners live longer, happier lives.

Harvard Faculty Debate Plan to Cap A Grades

At a lively meeting, faculty members weighed a grade inflation plan that most agreed is imperfect.

Harvard Kennedy School Offers Contingency Plans for U.S. Military Applicants

Active-duty service members can defer admissions or have their applications considered at peer institutions. 

Explore More From Current Issue

A lively street scene at night with people in colorful costumes dancing joyfully.

Rabbi, Drag Queen, Film Star

Sabbath Queen, a new documentary, follows one man’s quest to make Judaism more expansive.

A close-up of a beetle on the textured surface of a cycad cone and cycad cones seen in infrared silhouette.

Research in Brief

Cutting-edge discoveries, distilled

Illustration of a person sitting on a large cresting wave, writing, with a sunset and ocean waves in vibrant colors.

How Stories Help Us Cope with Climate Change

The growing genre of climate fiction offers a way to process reality—and our anxieties.