Ezra Vogel, China watcher lauded for urging Sino-US understanding, dies aged 90

Chinese diplomats and commentators praise moderate Harvard academic who studied China since the Mao era and was a biographer of Deng Xiaoping

Vogel had said US was pushing Beijing towards anti-American nationalism, though warned against China concentrating power in one leader’s hands

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Ezra Vogel, long-time Harvard University professor, addresses a forum in Beijing in 2013. Photo: Getty Images

Published: 12:15pm, 21 Dec 2020Updated: 11:51pm, 21 Dec 2020

Ezra Vogel, a towering China academic with Harvard University, has died, his home institute announced. He was 90 years old.

“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our former director Ezra F. Vogel (1930-2020),” Harvard’s Fairbank Centre for China Studies posted to Facebook and Twitter on Sunday night.

“Professor Vogel served as director from 1973-75 and from 1995-99. He was a true champion of our centre, an erudite scholar and a wonderful friend. He will be truly missed.”

Vogel’s son Steven also tweeted the news. “My father passed today, from complications after surgery. He was completely healthy a week ago. He thoroughly enjoyed life, especially in his later years. And we enjoyed him,” he wrote.

Vogel was one of the most prominent China experts in the United States, and had studied China’s elite politics and society since the Mao Zedong era.

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