Derk Bodde

Bodde received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University in 1930. He spent six years (1931-1937) studying in China on a fellowship. He earned a doctorate in Chinese Studies from the University of Leiden March 3, 1938. When the Fulbright scholarship program was initiated in 1948, Bodde was the first American recipient of a one-year fellowship, which he spent studying in Beijing.

He spent several decades as Professor of Chinese Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, and was a president of the American Oriental Society (1968–69). He was a member of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.

Honors

• Association for Asian Studies (AAS), 1985 Award for Distinguished Contributions to Asian Studies