Pardee Professor Joseph Fewsmith Retires After 34 Years at Boston University

Pardee, like Rome, wasn’t built in a day. It was built brick by brick with the tenacity and vision of professors like Joseph Fewsmith who made valuable contributions to the school’s foundation and success as an East Asia scholar. He joined Boston University in 1991 as one of the three East Asia-focused social scientists, when Pardee was still in its nascent phase as the Department of International Relations in the College of Arts and Sciences. By cultivating, teaching, and leading some of the best courses in East Asian Studies in the country, Prof. Fewsmith carved a path for young students and faculty who were eager to explore and thrive in this niche scholarship of international relations. As decades passed, the courses he taught evolved into full-fledged majors, significantly expanding the school’s authority in the East Asian academic and research discipline. After completing 34 glorious years at Pardee and BU as a teacher, researcher, mentor, and director, he recently retired. 

Fewsmith is one of the influential figures in the East Asia intellectual circles, not only at Pardee and BU, but also in Boston and across the country. He has served on multiple research committees and currently is a center associate of the John King Fairbank Center for China Studies at Harvard University and an associate of the Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future at Boston University. 

A prolific writer, Fewsmith has published 10 books on China including Forging Leninism in China: Mao and the Remaking of the Chinese Communist Party, 1927-1934 (Cambridge University Press, 2022); Rethinking Chinese Politics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021); and The Logic and Limits of Political Reform in China (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013). He also served as series editor for a book series on Contemporary China and a member of the editorial board for numerous journals including The China Quarterly, The Journal of Contemporary China, and Journal of Asian Studies. Before joining academia, he worked in the industry as an analyst and then as a chief for the China division at Foreign Broadcast Information Service. 

Professor Fewsmith’s retirement lecture at Kilachand

Prof. Fewsmith’s retirement lecture — “May 4th and June 4th” — was held on May 1, 2025 at the Kilachand Honors College.  His lecture title paid homage to Roderick MacFarquhar, a British sinologist who referenced these controversial dates of mass movements during one of his addresses in Beijing. The address was about China’s hierarchical control, a befitting topic, alluding to Fewsmith’s expansive scholarship in Chinese domestic politics and foreign policy.

From the systems like household responsibility in the countryside and guandu shangban in industrial economy to the post COVID-19 era, the professor eloquently explained how these factors have collectively impacted the country’s growth, contributing to public displeasure in the last few years. 

“In his recent study of the impact of Covid-19 on Chinese society, Huang Yanzhong notes that in the last 11 months of 2021, 4.37 million small businesses closed and only 1.32 million new businesses opened. This was in contrast to the 6.13 million new businesses that opened in 2020. I mention this because such figures suggest the difficulty the lower reaches of the economy have had, which seems related to the state of public opinion.” — Professor Joseph Fewsmith

He also touched on how the centralization of powers under Xi Jinping has exacerbated discontent among the cadres. 

“Does all this centralization make it more difficult for the center to understand what is going on ‘down below.’ If Xi had understood the evolution of the COVID virus, would he have held to the ‘zero-COVID’ policy for as long as he did? At the same time, the centralization of politics has left low level officials unable to deal with local problems. So, they are frustrated. Does this mean that the cadre force is no longer as disciplined and loyal as before?” — Professor Joseph Fewsmith

Tribute from fellow faculty members

East Asia experts and Pardee professors, Bill Grimes and Min Ye in their tribute describe how Fewsmith’s research was based on the voracious consumption of political science literature in China and Taiwan, defying theory-driven research and uncritical use of trendy empirical methods. 

“Joe consistently worked from the ground-up, always insisting that high-level theorizing needed to be built on a base of historical, political, and social knowledge and grounded in facts and actual discourse. In doing this kind of research, Joe’s extraordinary networks in China and the United States governments, universities, and think tanks have been indispensable.” — Professor Bill Grimes and Professor Min Ye

Grimes and Ye also lauded Fewsmith’s scholarly accuracy often demonstrated through his books, placing high value on varying perspectives.

“Beginning with his work on elite politics… he demonstrated the diversity of views within Chinese intellectual circles and elites when that diversity was not widely recognized among scholars… Joe produced the most accurate, grounded, comprehensive account of political experiences in 2000s China at a time when many scholars in the United States were focused on applying Western social scientific models and concepts to explain Chinese politics… Beyond his written works, Joe’s extensive networks in China and the United States have allowed him to inform American policy makers and thought leaders about the realities of Chinese politics and to contribute to [the] U.S.-China dialogue among researchers.” — Professor Bill Grimes and Professor Min Ye

Grimes and Ye also spoke about Prof. Fewsmith’s profound impact on the students and colleagues of Pardee and BU, whom he treated with utmost kindness. 

“As one writes, ‘Thanks in no small part to Joe, my years as an assistant professor were actually enjoyable and happy.’ Meanwhile, students have voted with their feet to join Joe’s classes, attracted not only by his deep knowledge but also his sardonic sense of humor and his evident enjoyment of trading perspectives with them. Their enduring loyalty to him is perhaps the best indication of Joe’s contributions to the Pardee School and to Boston University.” — Professor Bill Grimes and Professor Min Ye

The East Asia scholarship has never been more important than now as new challenges in global politics and U.S.-China relations emerge. And for Pardee and BU scholars, Prof. Fewsmith’s life’s work will undoubtedly operate as a roadmap, guiding them to confront the status quo and ask difficult questions. More importantly, he leaves students and colleagues with a fruitful legacy rooted in curiosity, open-mindedness, generosity, and compassion — the same values that not only made him a respected professor and scholar but also a remarkably fine human being.

To learn more about Prof. Fewsmith’s work and achievements, please visit his faculty profile.

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