The State of China Studies: A Moving Target

1
The State of China Studies A Moving Target

• Theoretical and empirical developments and
  challenges

2
Overview of the lecture

• Major changes in the field (institutional and
  academic, disciplinary, access to China, domestic
  changes in China, political environment)
• Developments in different disciplines
• New topics and research frontiers
• Important resources (journals, web sites etc)

3
China studies as a field The framework

• Development from classical sinology, to area
  studies, to incorporation in different
  disciplines, with the result that China studies
  has become more mainstream in Western academia
• Research on China by Western scholars is
  facilitated through better opportunities to study
  and do fieldwork in China (better access to data)
  and through co-operation with Chinese scholars
  and institutions
• Research in China is less politicised today
  (although some topics are sensitive and
  difficult) and more embedded in the international
  academic community

4
China studies and politics

• China studies has never existed in an abstract,
  value-free domain
• Different environments, different generation of
  scholars Cold War, Maoism, reform period,
  post-1989 period
• Traditional China scholars love for the Chinese
  past and a mission to save China from
  disintegration into modernity (Neo-Confucian
  scholars and work abroad)
• Some contemporary social scientists in the West
  see China as a problem to be solved
• Relationship between scholars, media,
  policy-makers, businessmen et al
• Chinas growing strategic and economic importance
  means that research in these areas are in high
  demand
• Chinese politics and research Peasant issue (san
  nong wenti), harmonious society (hexie shehui) etc

5
Keeping up with the field?

• Growth in journals and books on China since 1980s
• Journals within the disciplines increasingly have
  articles on China
• Growth in good academic works published in China
  since 1990s
• Growth and increasing reliability and
  transparency of government publications,
  statistics, laws and regulations etc
• The internet as an important source
• Larger academic community

6
Institutional and academic framework in the West

• Sinological tradition still strong in Europe but
  younger generation focus more on contemporary
  China, building up of China or Asia centres
• European Association of Chinese Studies,
  bi-annual conference in Lund 6-10 August 2008
• New sinology and cultural studies Building on
  traditional knowledge in order to study modern
  cultural developments (memory-making,
  representation, heritage studies, film studies,
  popular culture, consumer culture etc)

7
Challenges to China studies

• Area vs discipline (looks different in different
  disciplines, conflict diminished over time)
• Challenges of globalization (Greater China,
  Cultural China, migration studies, diaspora
  studies, translocal studies, impact of Chinese
  culture abroad etc)

8
Pre-1949 situation

• Establishment of Chinese universities early 20th
  century
• Birth of sociological and anthropological studies
  in China in 1930s
• Western scholars active in China
• First generation of Chinese social scientists
• Important rural studies in 1920s and 1930s

9
1949-1979 Limited access for Western scholars
and bleak period for Chinese social scientists

• Many disciplines encountered problems in China,
  including sociology, anthropology, and law,
  politicisation of universities and scholarship
• Anti-rightist campaign, campaign against
  intellectuals during the Cultural Revolution
• Closure of universities
• Western scholars banned from China led to turn to
  text based research and to emigré research in
  Hong Kong
• Limited access for foreigners, guided tours to
  model farms, villages etc (Jan Myrdal on Liu Lin
  village in Shaanxi in early 1960s)
• Research and politics Friends of China, maoists,
  and anti-communists
• Traditional sinology a safe haven from the
  politics of the day

10
The Opening Up of China after 1979 Growth in
China Studies

• Re-opening of Chinese universities, old teachers
  back, recruitment of new students, re-opening of
  faculties and re-emergence of sociology and law
  etc
• Chinese students and scholars going abroad
• Study and fieldwork opportunities in China for
  Western students and scholars
• Growth in publications in China and abroad

11
Conceptual and theoretical contributions?

• Different paradigms shaped different periods of
  China research (communism studies, modernization
  theories, impact-response paradigm, transition
  studies etc)
• China is a fertile and challenging testing ground
  for the social sciences (possibilities to test,
  confirm, and contradict existing theories)
• Chinas political and economic development
  challenge many preconceived ideas about the
  relationship between economic development and
  democratization
• Debates on civil society, governance, rightful
  resistance, selective adaptation etc

12
Political science

• State-society relations From leadership studies,
  to institutions, to processes , including
  different groups (migrants, women, entrepreneurs
  et al)
• Political leadership and elite studies
  (Zhongnanhai watching), Cheng Li, Bo Zhiyue,
  Joseph Fewsmith, China Leadership Monitor etc
• Provincial leadership, local leadership and
  economic development (Vivienne Shue, Jean Oi, et
  al)
• Political institutions such as National Peoples
  Congress, village elections etc (Kevin OBrien,
  Li Liangjiang,Guo Zhenglin, Cai Dingjian et al)
• Democracy movements, political participation,
  grassroot democracy, civil society (in aftermath
  of 1989), Shi Tianjin
• Civil society, NGOs, internet etc (Yang Guobin)
• Studies on corruption (Lu Xiaobo, Yan Sun,
  Melanie Manion)
• Social unrest, rightful resistance, weiquan
  yundong etc (Scott Tanner, Kevin OBrien),

13
Economy

• Economists hostile to area studies
• Focus on the theoretical and empirical issues
  raised by Chinas economic transition
• From socialist planned economy to market economy
  Comparisons with developments in former communist
  countries, transition studies
• Explaining Chinas economic success
• Rural reforms Decollectivization, village and
  township enterprises (TVEs), local state and
  economic growth, regional differences, poverty
  reduction
• Urban reforms Reform of state-owned enterprises
  (SOEs)
• Private entrepreneurs Different models such as
  the Wenzhou model
• China and the international economy SEZ, WTO
• Institutional reforms Bank reforms etc
• New issues rural-urban gap, inequality, rural
  issues under Hu-Wen leadership, welfare issues
• Hot topics Innovation studies, China-India
  comparisons
• Leading scholars Peter Nolan, Barry Naughton,
  Carl Riskin

14
Sociology and anthropology

• How reforms affect different groups of people
  Migrants, women, laid-off workers, minorities et
  al
• Inequality and discrimination Migrant studies
• Anthropological work in the countryside family,
  clans, religion
• New anthropological work urban studies, cultural
  studies,effects of globalization
• Interesting anthropologists Myron Cohen, James
  and Rubie Watson, Stephan Feuchtwang, Dru
  Gladney, Louisa Schein, Helen Siu, Yan Yunxiang,
  Mayfair Yang, Xin Liu

15
International relations and security studies

• More in the US than in Europe for strategic
  reasons
• Chinas relations with other Asian countries and
  increasing focus on Chinas role and expansion in
  Africa and Latin America
• China and the UN (security council, peace-keeping
  forces, human rights issues etc)
• New topic China as a soft power

16
Legal studies

• Small field in the 1960s and 1970s (legal system
  attacked and demolished)
• Building up of legal system led to studies of law
  making and law-in-the-books in 1980s (Jerome
  Cohen, Stanley Lubman)
• Rule by law vs rule of law debate (Randall
  Peerenboom)
• Since late 1990s, more focus on law-in-action and
  contributions by sociologists, political
  scientists et al

17
Media studies

• Different types of media (print media,
  television, internet)
• Conditions for media production Journalism as a
  profession, censorship et
• Commercialisation of the media in an
  authoritarian system
• Internet and political change Public opinion etc
• China Media Centre at University of Westminster
• Scholars Hugo de Burgh, Zhao Yuezhi, Keane,
  Hong, Hemeruk et al)

18
Interdiciplinary studies and new areas

• Gender studies women in the Chinese revolution,
  family and gender roles, women on the labour
  market, women and political participation, women
  as migrants etc
• Growing field in China Activists and researchers
• Scholars in the West Elizabeth Croll, Tamara
  Jacka et al
• Urban studies

19
Journals on China

• The China Quarterly (1960-)
• Modern China (1975-)
• China Journal (1979-) formerly Australian Journal
  of Chinese Affairs
• China Information (1986-)
• Journal of Contemporary China (1992-)
• China Perspectives (1994-)
• China Review International (1999-)
• China An International Journal (2003-)

20
Translations of Chinese documents and articles
M.E. Sharpe journals

• The Chinese Economy
• Chinese Education and Society
• Chinese Law and Government
• Chinese Sociology and Anthropology
• Chinese Studies in History
• Chinese Contemporary Thought

21
Newspapers

• China Daily
• Peoples Daily
• South China Morning Post
• New York Times
• Washington Post
• Nanfang zhoumo

22
Internet resources

• China Elections
• http//www.chinaelections.org/en/
• China Digital Times
• http//chinadigitaltimes.net/
• China Leadership Monitor
• http//www.hoover.org/publications/clm/
• China Brief
• http/www.jamestown.org/china_brief/
• Congressional-Executive Commission on China
• http//www.cecc.gov/
• Book list
• www.princeton.edu/lynn/chinabib.pdf