“CHINESE” STUDIES FOR THE 21st CENTURY

Abstract

The 20 century saw major shifts in the way China and “things Chinese” were studied in Western universities. Old-fashioned Sinology continued to be dominant, but the Cold War era witnessed the rise of “area studies” which, in the China field, meant the social sciences took centre stage. In the literary and cultural field, however, change was slow to arrive; China’s 20 century literature and culture was still considered a poor relative next to the Sinological canon. In this commentary, having told my story about the landscape of Chinese studies of which I was part, I shall look at the shape that academic studies related to China, Chinese, and Chineseness might take from now on. How should academics account for and represent the UK’s historical vision of, and relationship with, “China” and “Chinese” people? How should the vast diversity that is China and the rest of the Chinese-speaking world be broached without risking the creation of new, fixed “objects” of study?