Methodologies in China Studies

This course is designed to examine a variety of approaches to studies of contemporary China mainly in the fields of Chinese politics and foreign relations. Certainly，the approaches to the studies of contemporary China could not be discussed in isolation to the general approaches in Social Sciences and Humanities. Beginning with the studies of Chinese history, we will explore Impact-Response and China-Centered Models in an effort to understand why history matters in the studies of Chinese politics and foreign relations.

Based on the historical understanding, the course will examine some approaches to the studies of Chinese politics with a special attention given to the Faction Model. In the field of Chinese foreign relations, the course will investigate relations of general IR theories and its application to the studies of Chinese foreign policy as well as some approaches widely adopted by China watchers across the world.