Why China studies scholars in the West have been left in ‘crisis’ mode

As China’s global influence grows, the landscape of China studies is undergoing a profound transformation.

Scholars both within China and internationally are confronting new challenges, from escalating geopolitical tensions and mutual distrust – especially between Washington and Beijing – to increasingly limited access, making research and academic collaboration more difficult than ever.

Some have also urged a shift beyond Western-centric frameworks towards more field-based research and a truly open global dialogue.

Against this backdrop, Beijing has in recent years engaged in an intense war of narratives with Washington, pushing to build soft power

, promote its model of governance and “tell China’s story” in its own way.

The situation has left China studies scholars facing what one of them described as a “crisis”, as researchers grapple with deep uncertainty and dwindling interest among the next generation of would-be sinologists.

Rana Mitter, S.T. Lee Chair in US-Asia Relations at the Harvard Kennedy School, said restricted access as well as tighter control over data and fieldwork had made China studies more complicated for Western researchers.