Inspired by his travels around Asia, Terrill devoted his time to understanding Chinese history, focusing his career on providing an insight into the Chinese government and political affiliations. Between 1962 and 1963, Terrill began his career as a
tutor in political science at the University of Melbourne, Australia. In 1962 and 1964–65, Terrill's career took a religious turn when he began working with the
Australian Student Christian Movement where he remained until 1968. During his time with this group, he became a teaching fellow in political science at
Harvard. He then became a lecturer in government at
Harvard from 1970 to 1974. In 1970 Terrill also spent time as a research associate with the
Fairbank Center for East Asian Research. Terrill also spent 14 years as an editor for
The Atlantic Monthly where he wrote 19 articles and contributed to other magazines such as
National Geographic and
Foreign Affairs. Throughout his career, Terrill has continued to publish articles on the Chinese government, political leaders such as Mao Zedong and
Deng Xiaoping, and China's economy. One of his latest articles labelled Glimpses of Chinese life, tells the story of a Chinese businessman who highlights the importance of changing your life before the age of 35. A sentiment familiar among all Chinese, turning 35 is a special moment and, if at this point you are yet to climb the professional ladder, you are stuck. This article, therefore, describes the life of a Chinese business man who decides to change jobs as a result of
Xi Jinping's
totalitarian policies, impacting on Chinese society. Some of Terrill's other articles, such as
China and the World: Self Reliance or Interdependence?, published in
Foreign Affairs in 1977, discuss the integration of China with the ‘rest of the world’ and how this would impact both the people of China and the world culturally, economically, politically and socially. From 1974 to 1978 Terrill spent most of his time at Harvard as a University Director of Student Programs in International Affairs and Associate Professor of Government. After the death of Mao in 1976, Terrill's trips to China increased, as he visited in 1978, 1980, 1982, and in 1983. In 1978, Terrill also spent a year as a research fellow in East Asian studies at Harvard where he collected and consolidated information on Chinese law and completed other tasks such as editing publication work. He then continued as a professor in several universities such as
Monash University from 1996 to 1999 and the
University of Texas at Austin from 1998 to 2004. Throughout his career, Terrill has also spoken at many forums across the United States. These include; the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences,
Washington Press Club, Fortnightly Club of Chicago, Main Line Forum (
Pennsylvania) and Crichton Club of Columbus in
Ohio. He has also spent time as a public speaker at many universities such as;
Yale,
Columbia,
UCLA, Texas,
University of California,
Berkeley, Catholic University, SUNY at Brockport,
New College (Florida),
Creighton University (
Omaha),
Princeton,
Vassar College; and among foreign universities:
Chulalongkorn University (Bangkok),
Liaoning (Mukden), Futan (Shanghai), Beijing,
People's University of China,
Australian National University and the
University of Toronto. In 2014 Terrill spoke at the World Conference on Sinology in Beijing where he discussed Chinese and American values under Globalisation. == Reviews of his work ==