In Qiushi/Seek Truth, well-known PKU historian emphasizes the growing importance and complexity of area studies in China’s academic and policy landscapes.
Interesting article, thank you. A few years ago on YouTube I saw some talks on YouTube by Professor Shen Zhihua of East China Normal University on the importance of area studies. He and his colleagues have been doing considerable work in both Chinese and foreign archives to better understand the history of PRC relations with its neighboring countries.
I put a summary and links of Professor Shen's talk on my translation blog
2020: Shen Zhihua on State of Chinese Research on Relations with Neighboring Asian Countries
Posted on 03/26/2021 by 高大伟 David Cowhig
PRC diplomatic history scholar Shen Zhihua’s talk at a 2020 Tsinghua University “Workshop on China’s Border Regions and Asia” 中国边疆与亚洲研究”学术工作坊 is on YouTube.
In 2009，China’s Central Military Commission wondered why are relations with the DPRK so very difficult? Shen said those top leaders of the PRC military had very little idea of the true history of PRC – DPRK relations. Shen said he originally wasn’t interested in this topic, but he was asked to work on it so he did. After he assembled archival materials, he found that China’s relations with the DPRK were completely different from what one could read in Chinese textbooks and in the PRC press. Very basic facts and ideas were completely wrong. In contrast with the propaganda about glorious brotherhood between the PRC and the DPRK, PRC – DPRK relations were actually very tense during the 1950s. Shen observed that PRC – DPRK relations didn’t get better because China sent in troops; they got better only when China withdrew its troops at the end of 1958.
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Another YouTube talk on Chinese area studies I saw was by Professor Zhang Baijia
2020: Zhang Baijia: Reflections on China’s Research on Frontiers and Relations with Neighboring States
Posted on 04/01/2021 by 高大伟 David Cowhig
Professor Zhang Baijia 章百家 spoke at the first session and gave opening remarks of the academic workshop on “China’s Frontier and Asian Studies” hosted by the Department of History of Tsinghua University on October 11, 2020. Zhang Baijia is the former Deputy Director of the Party History Research Office of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee, Professor of the Department of History of Peking University, Professor of the Department of Party History of Renmin University, and member of the Academic Committee of the Institute of Modern History of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Professor Zhang in his lecture stressed the importance of building area studies for China.
I thought his comments were wise. We are all to some extent prisoners of our own perspectives. Often we make excuses for the mistakes of people in our own group, while outsiders who make similar mistakes we condemn quickly without considering the possibility of misunderstanding or difficult circumstances.
China as a newly rising power is poorly prepared for this task both because of shortcomings in its institutions and in a shortage of human talent. Chinese research on foreign relations has focused on big countries while neglecting for the most part its neighbors. While research on big countries is important, it now occupies too large a part in China’s research effort.
For example, research on India, a big country on China’s border has been seriously neglected. Very few Chinese scholars have done work on India and even those that have are people with many years of personal experience with India and not people who started out as scholars and have done archival research.
Why is China’s research about its neighbors so weak?
First of all, deep in our bones we are very sinocentric. We think of our neighbors as belonging to the Chinese cultural sphere. Such a simple view is wrong. The history of China’s neighbors is very different from China’s. This is especially true for those of our neighbors which have been colonies of European powers.
If we compare Asian and European culture, Asian culture is much more complex that European culture.
Chinese studies on foreign relations suffer from
– Overemphasis on big countries.
– The USA is not China’s neighbor yet the USA is highly involved in China’s relations with its neighboring states.
— Much of China’s relations with the USA have to do with a shared international agenda. China’s concerns about the USA are related to US involvement in China’s periphery.
– PRC research on neighboring countries is weak. During the 19th century, many of the countries on China’s periphery did not have institutions of their own. In many cases these countries still have strong ties to the former colonial power and limited ties with China.
– An example of China misunderstanding its neighbors: when the Chinese delegation went to the Geneva Talks of 1954, they learned that Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia had become independent countries. China had to immediately make adjustments to its foreign policy.
– Difference in language and culture as a barrier to understanding. China has invested little in people and research to overcome its ignorance of its neighbors, except in some limited areas where it has been able to learn from research done by western scholars. Solving this problem will take time.
– Chinese scholars have done little research on how multilateral relations and bilateral relations affect each other. How are China’s relations with its neighbors affected by their relations with one another? Examples:
China – India and China – Pakistan relations are strongly affected by the current state of relations between India and Pakistan.
China – Cambodia and China – Laos relations are also affected by the relations of those two countries with Vietnam.
Interesting article, thank you. A few years ago on YouTube I saw some talks on YouTube by Professor Shen Zhihua of East China Normal University on the importance of area studies. He and his colleagues have been doing considerable work in both Chinese and foreign archives to better understand the history of PRC relations with its neighboring countries.
I put a summary and links of Professor Shen's talk on my translation blog
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( https://gaodawei.wordpress.com/2021/03/26/shen-zhihua-on-state-of-chinese-research-on-relations-with-neighboring-asian-countries/ )
2020: Shen Zhihua on State of Chinese Research on Relations with Neighboring Asian Countries
Posted on 03/26/2021 by 高大伟 David Cowhig
PRC diplomatic history scholar Shen Zhihua’s talk at a 2020 Tsinghua University “Workshop on China’s Border Regions and Asia” 中国边疆与亚洲研究”学术工作坊 is on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sXE-S_pWUQ&ab_channel=ShisuiKyu
In 2009，China’s Central Military Commission wondered why are relations with the DPRK so very difficult? Shen said those top leaders of the PRC military had very little idea of the true history of PRC – DPRK relations. Shen said he originally wasn’t interested in this topic, but he was asked to work on it so he did. After he assembled archival materials, he found that China’s relations with the DPRK were completely different from what one could read in Chinese textbooks and in the PRC press. Very basic facts and ideas were completely wrong. In contrast with the propaganda about glorious brotherhood between the PRC and the DPRK, PRC – DPRK relations were actually very tense during the 1950s. Shen observed that PRC – DPRK relations didn’t get better because China sent in troops; they got better only when China withdrew its troops at the end of 1958.
-----
Another YouTube talk on Chinese area studies I saw was by Professor Zhang Baijia
https://gaodawei.wordpress.com/2021/04/01/zhang-baijia-reflections-on-chinas-research-on-frontiers-and-relations-with-neighboring-states/
2020: Zhang Baijia: Reflections on China’s Research on Frontiers and Relations with Neighboring States
Posted on 04/01/2021 by 高大伟 David Cowhig
Professor Zhang Baijia 章百家 spoke at the first session and gave opening remarks of the academic workshop on “China’s Frontier and Asian Studies” hosted by the Department of History of Tsinghua University on October 11, 2020. Zhang Baijia is the former Deputy Director of the Party History Research Office of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee, Professor of the Department of History of Peking University, Professor of the Department of Party History of Renmin University, and member of the Academic Committee of the Institute of Modern History of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Professor Zhang in his lecture stressed the importance of building area studies for China.
I thought his comments were wise. We are all to some extent prisoners of our own perspectives. Often we make excuses for the mistakes of people in our own group, while outsiders who make similar mistakes we condemn quickly without considering the possibility of misunderstanding or difficult circumstances.
Here are some of the points Professor Zhang Baijia made in his lecture that I watched on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv0JT9FuEQI&t=21s&ab_channel=ShisuiKyu
China as a newly rising power is poorly prepared for this task both because of shortcomings in its institutions and in a shortage of human talent. Chinese research on foreign relations has focused on big countries while neglecting for the most part its neighbors. While research on big countries is important, it now occupies too large a part in China’s research effort.
For example, research on India, a big country on China’s border has been seriously neglected. Very few Chinese scholars have done work on India and even those that have are people with many years of personal experience with India and not people who started out as scholars and have done archival research.
Why is China’s research about its neighbors so weak?
First of all, deep in our bones we are very sinocentric. We think of our neighbors as belonging to the Chinese cultural sphere. Such a simple view is wrong. The history of China’s neighbors is very different from China’s. This is especially true for those of our neighbors which have been colonies of European powers.
If we compare Asian and European culture, Asian culture is much more complex that European culture.
Chinese studies on foreign relations suffer from
– Overemphasis on big countries.
– The USA is not China’s neighbor yet the USA is highly involved in China’s relations with its neighboring states.
— Much of China’s relations with the USA have to do with a shared international agenda. China’s concerns about the USA are related to US involvement in China’s periphery.
– PRC research on neighboring countries is weak. During the 19th century, many of the countries on China’s periphery did not have institutions of their own. In many cases these countries still have strong ties to the former colonial power and limited ties with China.
– An example of China misunderstanding its neighbors: when the Chinese delegation went to the Geneva Talks of 1954, they learned that Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia had become independent countries. China had to immediately make adjustments to its foreign policy.
– Difference in language and culture as a barrier to understanding. China has invested little in people and research to overcome its ignorance of its neighbors, except in some limited areas where it has been able to learn from research done by western scholars. Solving this problem will take time.
– Chinese scholars have done little research on how multilateral relations and bilateral relations affect each other. How are China’s relations with its neighbors affected by their relations with one another? Examples:
China – India and China – Pakistan relations are strongly affected by the current state of relations between India and Pakistan.
China – Cambodia and China – Laos relations are also affected by the relations of those two countries with Vietnam.
Another interesting talk by Professor Zhang Baijia from Youtube I summarized at 2021: “History and Experience of the Chinese Communist Party’s Engagement with the United States”: A Lecture by Professor Zhang Baijia https://gaodawei.wordpress.com/2021/04/24/history-and-experience-of-the-chinese-communist-partys-engagement-with-the-united-states-a-lecture-by-professor-zhang-baijia/ I won't say anything more about since this comment is already too long!!