Philip A. Kuhn, American historian of China, Died at 91

  Historical

Philip A. Kuhn/ 孔飞力 or 孔复礼/ 孔飛力 or 孔復禮/ pinyin: Kǒng Fēilì was born September 9, 1933, and died on February 11, 2016.

He was an American historian of China and the Francis Lee Higginson Professor of History and of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University.

Kuhn taught at the University of Chicago from 1963 to 1978 where he attained the rank of Associate Professor in the Department of History.

During his time at Chicago, Kuhn published in 1970 Rebellion and its Enemies in Late Imperial China: Militarization and Social Structure, 1796-1864 as part of the Harvard East Asian monograph series, which led to his being granted tenure and a full professorship.

Philip A. Kuhn returned to Harvard, where he succeeded his mentor John King Fairbank, in 1978.

He also served as director of the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, from 1980 to 1986.

Philip A. Kuhn students hold professorships at universities in Asia, North America, and Europe.

Amongst his most notable are: Prasenjit Duara, formerly at the University of Chicago, now the National University of Singapore; Timothy Brook, the Principal of St. John’s College at University of British Columbia; Man-houng Lin, first female president of Academia Historica and Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica; Cynthia Brokaw, Professor of History, Brown University; Timothy Cheek, Louis Cha Chair in Chinese Research and Director, Centre for Chinese Research at University of British Columbia; William C. Kirby, the former Dean of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences; Hans van de Ven, head of the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Cambridge; and Karl Gerth, Professor of History and Hwei-Chih and Julia Hsiu Endowed Chair in Chinese Studies at UC San Diego.

Philip A. Kuhn passed away at 91 yrs old.