John Zeidman, a 1979 graduate of Sidwell Friends School, was studying at Beijing Normal University in fall 1981 when he contracted viral encephalitis. He was evacuated to theUnited States, where he died in January 1982.

After his death, John’s family and friends established the John Fisher Zeidman ’79 Chinese Studies Fund to perpetuate his belief that Chinese-American relations would thrive if students began to study Chinese language, history, and culture in secondary school. Endowed by this fund, the Chinese Studies Program was inaugurated at Sidwell Friends in 1983. Since its inception, the program has grown significantly and is woven into every division of the School.

The Chinese Studies Program at Sidwell Friends is funded in part by the John Fisher Zeidman '79 Chinese Studies Fund, established in memory of John Fisher Zeidman ‘79 by his family and friends, and the Dora Chao, MD, Endowed Fund. The program offers courses in Chinese language and history, grants for student and faculty study abroad, Zeidman Fellowship opportunities for Sidwell Friends alumni, an exchange student program, and the annual Memorial Lecture. Students are also aided by the Nancy Levy Zeidman Gift for Student Experiences, which invites a new generation of students to experience the wonder of China, and the Ida Fisher Zeidman Resource Center, located in the Richard W. Goldman Memorial Library, which houses more than 2,000 books and journals on China.

This design is a traditional Chinese seal representing John Zeidman’s name in Chinese characters. It has been adopted as the insignia of the Sidwell Friends School Chinese Studies Program.

PREVIOUS JOHN FISHER ZEIDMAN ‘79 MEMORIAL LECTURE SPEAKERS 

1983 - John King Fairbank, Professor of Chinese History, Harvard University
1984 - John Hersey, Professor of English, Yale University; and Author (1945 Pulitzer Prize)
1985 - Jonathan Spence, Professor of History, Yale University
1986 - Harrison Salisbury, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for The New York Times
1987 - Arthur Miller, Playwright and Author of Death of a Salesman (1949 Pulitzer Prize)
1988 - Han Xu, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the United States
1989 - Harry Harding, Dean of the Elliot School of International Affairs, George Washington University
1990 - Michel Oksenberg, Professor of Political Science, University of Michigan
1991 - Perry Link, Professor of East Asian Studies, Princeton University
1992 - Nien Cheng, Author of Life and Death in Shanghai
1993 - Oleg Troyanovsky '37, Soviet Union Ambassador to Japan, the United States, and China
1994 - Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists for The New York Times
1995 - Warren Cohen, Professor of History, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
1996 - Nicholas Hope, Director of the World Bank’s Operations in China and Mongolia
1997 - Mary Gardner Gates, Director of the Seattle Art Museum
1998 - Andrew Nathan, Professor of Political Science, Columbia University
1999 - Li Zhaoxing, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the United States
2000 - Jonathan Spence, Professor of History, Yale University; and Author 
2001 - James Lilley and Steven Mufson - Lilley served as United States Ambassador to Korea (1986-1989) and the People’s Republic of China (1989-1991); Mufson served as the Beijing correspondent for The Washington Post
2002 - Maxine Hong Kingston, Chinese-American Author
2003 - Yang Jiechi, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the United States
2004 - Orville Schell, Dean of the Graduate School of Journalism, University of California, Berkeley
2005 - Huston Smith, Professor of Religion and Philosophy, Emeritus, Syracuse University; and Author
2006 - Carma Hinton, Filmmaker and Da Chen, Writer
2007 - John Pomfret, The Washington Post Los Angeles Bureau Chief; and Author
2008 - Rob Gifford, former Beijing correspondent for National Public Radio; and Author
2009 - Losang Rabgey, Director and Co-Founder of the NGO Machik; Tashi Rabgey, Co-Founder of Machik and Co-Director of the Tibet Center at the University of Virginia; and David Germano, University of Virginia 
2010 - James Fallows, National Correspondent, The Atlantic; and Author
2011 - Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Professor of History, University of California, Irvine
2012 - Prasenjit Duara, Professor of Humanities at the National University of Singapore; Director of Asian Research Institute and Research in Humanities and Social Sciences 
2013 - Cheng Li, Director of Research and Senior Fellow, John T. Thornton China Center, The Brookings Institution
2014 - Dr. Madeleine K. Albright, 64th United States Secretary of State
2015 - Evan Osnos, Journalist and Author 
2016 - Mei Fong, Pulitzer Prize-winning Journalist and Author 
2017 - Eric Liu, Author, Educator and Founder and CEO of Citizen University 
2018 - Max Sieben Baucus, Former U.S. Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China (2014- 2017) and U.S. Senator Montana 
2019 – Charles Hutzler, China Bureau Chief for the Wall Street Journal, Christina Larson, Global Science and Environment Correspondent for the Associated Press, Edward Wong, Diplomatic Correspondent for the New York Times 
2021 – Professor Erika Lee