What’s Wrong with the Study of China/Countries

Authors

  • Hans KUIJPER

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4312/as.2014.2.1.151-185

Keywords:

Sinology, area/country studies, complexity, scientific collaboration, e-research

Abstract

In this paper the thesis is submitted that there is something fundamentally amiss in Western Sinology (Zhōngguóxué, as distinct from Hànxué, which is a kind of old-fashioned philology): ‘China experts’ either pretend to be knowledgeable about everything related to China, in which case they cannot be taken seriously, or–– eventually––admit not to be scientific all-rounders with respect to the country, in which case they cannot be called ‘China experts’. The author expects no tenured professor of Chinese Studies/History to share this view. Having exposed the weakness, indeed the scandal of old-style Sinology, he also points out the way junior Sinologists should go. The fork in that road is two-pronged: translating or collaborating.

 

 

 

    

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Published

30.05.2014

How to Cite

KUIJPER, H. (2014). What’s Wrong with the Study of China/Countries. Asian Studies, 2(1), 151–185. https://doi.org/10.4312/as.2014.2.1.151-185