Parks M. Coble, Jr. (born 1946,
Chinese: 柯博文;
pinyin: Kē Bówén) is an academic specializing in the political, economic, social and business history of 20th century
China. He is the James L. Sellers Professor of History at the
University of Nebraska, Lincoln, where he has taught since 1976. He has also held numerous fellowships and is an Associate-in-research at the
Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at
Harvard University.[1][2]
Biography
Coble received his
B.A. from the
University of South Carolina in 1968. He later earned his Ph.D. from the
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in 1975, where his
adviser was Lloyd Eastman.[3][4] Coble became an assistant professor at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln in 1976 and has remained there ever since. His early academic work was concerned with the relationship between Chinese business elites and the
KMT government during the
Nanjing Decade. His first book, The Shanghai Capitalists and the Nationalist Government, 1927-1937, challenged earlier scholarship that had spoken of a close collaboration between the KMT government and business elites. After the book's publication in 1980, a second edition followed in 1986. Chinese translations followed in 1988 and 2015.[5][6][7] Coble's later work dealt with Sino-Japanese relations, the fate of Chinese businesses under Japanese occupation and the history of Chinese war reporters in
World War II. He held fellowships at Harvard University, the
Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey and the
Hoover Institution at
Stanford University.[8][9][10]
In 2019, the
Association for Asian Studies hosted a roundtable discussion at its annual conference to celebrate "Parks Coble's important scholarly contributions to research in Chinese business, political, and social history."[11]
^Mann, Susan (April 1984). "Parks M. Coble, Jr., 'The Shanghai Capitalists and the National Government, 1927-1937' (Book Review)". Economic Development and Cultural Change. 32 (3): 667–674.
doi:
10.1086/451418.
ProQuest1301459851.