The Rise of China and Chinese International Relations Scholarship

By (author) Hung-jen Wang

Publication date:

23 August 2013

Length of book:

204 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

ISBN-13: 9780739178508

This book looks at the relationship between Chinese international relations (IR) scholarship and China’s rise as a world power. Specifically, it addresses how China’s rising international status since the early 1990s has shaped the country’s IR studies, and the different ways that Chinese IR scholars are interpreting that rise. The author argues that the development of IR studies in China has been influenced by China’s past historical experiences, its recent change in status in world politics, and indigenous scholarly interpretations of both factors. Instead of treating Chinese IR scholars as value-free social scientists, the author shows how Chinese scholars—as purposive, strategic, and emotional actors—tend to manipulate existing (mostly Western) IR theories to support their policy propositions and identity statements. This book represents one of few efforts to determine how local Chinese scholars are constructing IR knowledge, how they are dealing with intersections between indigenous Chinese and imported IR theory and concepts, and how Chinese scholars are analyzing “their China” in terms of its current rise to power.

Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Being Uniquely Universal: Creating Chinese International Relations Theory
Chapter 3: From “Chinese Characteristics” to a Chinese IR School: Four Stages of Identity Making
Chapter 4: Representing China’s Rise in Analyses of Sino-American Relations
Chapter 5: Representing China’s Rise in Analyses of Sino-Japanese Relations
Chapter 6: Representing China’s Rise in Analyses of Sino-Southeast Relations
Chapter 7: Making Sense of China’s Rise in the Context of Cross-Taiwan Strait Relations
Chapter 8: Conclusion: Chinese IR Scholarship, Knowledge Production, Interpretations and Choices

Hung-Jen Wang’s book . . . aims to inform readers about the views of Chinese IR scholars. . . .Wang’s core argument is that the production of IR knowledge in China is the result of a dynamic interaction between Chinese scholars and their subject, China. . . .Three operative concepts are at work here. First is identity, in which Wang makes the argument that Chinese IR scholarship has to be understood in view of the Chinese historical, cultural, and political contexts. . . .Second is appropriation. Chinese scholars freely make use of Western theories and concepts when these theories and concepts serve the policy recommendations they are making. . . .Third is adaptation, in which Chinese scholars, by borrowing Western theories, also make important efforts to tailor and modify these theories to fit China’s needs and conditions. In the process, these Western theories and concepts, which aspire to universal application, are relativized in the Chinese context. . . .This book has the merit of being the first book to review, discuss, and categorize a large number of Chinese IR writings. The data collected by the author are impressive.