Harvard Granted $2.5 Million For Far East Studies

The Ford Foundation has announced a grant for Far Eastern studies at Harvard which will provide the East Asian Research Center with more money than it received from all sources in its first ten years.

According to officials of the Center, the money will be used primarily for research, but also to purchase library materials and to endow new Faculty chairs.

Totaling almost $2.5 million, the grant is divided into three parts. In support of its Chinese studies program, the Center has received $1.5 million. This money will be used for training and attracting China specialists and increased associates for a five-years period.

Another $800,000 will be used to help support research projects on contemporary Japan. This work will focus on the political organization, economy, urbanization, and popular thought and values of modern Japan. A major portion of the funds will be used to finance collaborative research with Japanese scholars. The Center is also making plans to bring scholars from several countries to participate in conferences on Japan.

The third share of the grant--$100,000--will be devoted to the study of Korean affairs. John K. Fairbank '29, Francis Lee Higginson Professor of History and Director of the Center, said Saturday that up to this point the Center has had very limited research programs on Japan and Korea. "The grant will allow us to take a great step forward in these areas," Fair-bank said.

Harvard was one of several universities which received money from Ford to study the Far East