Chinese Studies in the United Kingdom: 2002 overview

© Dr Lina Song

Table of contents

• Introduction
• The structure of understandings of contemporary China
• Chinese studies for general understanding
• Chinese studies for in-depth understanding
• The study of Chinese language
• Concluding remarks
• Bibliography
• Related links

Introduction

In February 1999 the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) released a major report on Chinese Studies in the UK. The report expressed warnings about:

1. The lack of capacity in the United Kingdom (UK) to respond to the challenge posed by the rapidly growing role that the Peoples Republic of China is playing in the spheres of diplomacy, culture and business. The report questioned whether the UK higher education system could provide the back-up, in terms of both language skills and other expertise in relation to China, that improving and broadening relations would require.
2. The UK falling behind other Western countries in supporting academic endeavour across the broader field of Chinese Studies. This concern was expressed in a report to the HEFCE by the Chair of the Asian Studies Panel in the 1996 Research Assessment Exercise and implied that the UK could face a serious loss of capacity in the medium-to-long term.

The report proposed the re-orientation of existing provision for Chinese Studies in UK universities, away from the traditional area studies and language/literature perspectives to focus more on pure language acquisition and on studies of contemporary China in the social sciences. Soon after the report, the government provided funding of between £1m to £1.3 million per year to strengthen Chinese Studies in UK Higher Education.

What has happened to Chinese Studies since 1999, as HEFCE funding has been injected into about ten UK high educational institutions with proven track records? What has happened to other Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) without track records of Chinese Studies when the signal given by the government was so clear and strong? This article reviews the current state of Chinese Studies in the United Kingdom.

The structure of understandings of contemporary China

Studies of China in any specialised area in the social sciences can be very specific. But there can be different levels of understanding of contemporary China. For the country as a whole Chinese Studies teaching is required (1) to give more students a basic understanding of China and (2) to train Chinese experts for Britain. For the first of these purposes, students who have taken core disciplinary degrees in natural or social sciences should be given the chance to learn about China at an introductory level - its history and culture, social structure, economic mechanisms etc. For the second purpose, in-depth understanding requires a rich knowledge with systematic teaching and learning based on a commitment to specialisation in the area.

Chinese studies for general understanding

The introductory level of teaching Chinese Studies in the UK HEIs reflects an increasing demand from undergraduate students for learning about China. This has been pursued by some HEIs by providing elective modules on China. At Nottingham University, elective modules provide students with a foundation in Chinese society and economy, culture and literature and geography. These attracted about 420 students across the campus in the academic year 2001/02, for example. Modules providing Chinese politics and labour history are open to undergraduates in the School of Politics and the School of History. Similar forms of Chinese Studies teaching can also be found in other UK universities. For instance, a fourth-year undergraduate option is taught on 'Chinese Society' at Aberdeen University. Since there is no need to obtain HEFCE student quotas for enrolment, students across all schools within one university can select modules on China. Elective modules on China have proved to be popular in many universities. There is every reason to expect this tendency to be developed further in the near future.

Chinese studies for in-depth understanding

As HEFCE funding is mainly used for training experts on China, most universities in the UK have established their teaching with a structure of specialisation.

More specialised subjects for undergraduates, like 'Geographies of Development and Inequality', 'China and Revolution in the 20th Century', 'Art and Society in China 1400-1700', 'Chinese Ceramics' and 'Art and Society in China since 1949', are taught at Sussex University.

However, for most universities in the UK, undergraduates who take degrees related to China are mainly taught the subjects of Chinese language with possibly some minor elements of other subjects. Combined courses of Chinese language with business studies at undergraduate level have proved to be the most popular degrees of this sort (Sheffield, Edinburgh, Leeds, Oxford, SOAS, Cambridge and Durham).

Since the recent injection of HEFCE funding, Chinese Studies at postgraduate level has been thriving. Nearly all fund recipients have implemented, or are preparing for, Chinese Studies at Masters level. This matches the original purpose of HEFCE 's initiatives - to provide training that develops expertise. The leading universities, like Cambridge, Durham, Edinburgh (with Glasgow and Aberdeen), Leeds, LSE, Oxford, SOAS, Sheffield, Sussex and Westminster, have established Masters courses on China. These postgraduate courses generally focus mainly on the humanities and often provide only marginal coverage of hard-core social sciences. Nearly all the HEIs mentioned confidently provide modules covering subjects within the humanities - culture, art history, religion, literature. However, modules on Chinese society, politics and business studies often seem to be less research-led.

Among all HEIs, the jointly taught programme at Edinburgh and Glasgow seems particularly well proportioned. Their Master of Chinese Studies offers an advanced course of study on contemporary China. The course aims to provide a foundation in Chinese language (Mandarin), society, politics, economy and business. This interdisciplinary programme has been designed to exploit Edinburgh's and Glasgow's expertise in Chinese Studies and to provide a wide-ranging course that is flexible enough to suit the needs of students wishing to pursue careers in business, diplomacy, or social science research involving China.

Other universities also offer a mix of subjects, but often have their own distinctive emphasis. For example, Cambridge is perhaps unusual in offering modules on Chinese commercial law, as well as the more commonly provided subjects of Chinese language, economics, management and politics. Sheffield focuses in the direction of the political economy of China whereas Durham highlights the economics of international trade and exchange rates.

University of Westminster has established its MA Programme in Contemporary Chinese Cultural Studies. This MA course uses an interdisciplinary cultural studies approach - the specialisation covers not only mainland China but also Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and overseas Chinese communities.

It is common for UK HEIs to run joint courses or modules between Business Schools and institutions teaching Chinese Studies. At Leeds University, the Department of East Asian Studies has joined with the Business School to set up a Centre for Chinese Business and Development. The new Centre offers MAs in Chinese and in Chinese and Business and a MBA in Chinese Business Management. In LSE, as many as six departments offering postgraduate courses with sections on China, and the Departments of Government, International History, and Anthropology have courses entirely devoted to China. Nottingham University Business School and the Institute of Contemporary Chinese Studies, Nottingham University have jointly convened a module on "East Asian Business and Society" (half of the module is on China).

Although accommodating outstanding Chinese experts in Sociology and Economics, the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) has its postgraduate programmes on Chinese Studies focused mainly on Chinese language and subjects in the humanities. This is a tendency shared with Oxford University. At Oxford, Masters-level teaching on China is oriented mainly around language and literature rather than the social science subjects. However, Oxford is repositioning itself, with the new appointment of a professor of Chinese politics and the forthcoming appointment of lecturers in Chinese economics and in Chinese geography.

Another model of training to inculcate expertise in Chinese Studies is to provide undergraduate degrees in mainstream disciplines that are offered "with Chinese Studies" at Nottingham University, the Schools of Geography, History, Economics and Management have all recently established "with Chinese Studies" degrees. A joint Honours degree of Chinese Studies and Modern Languages has also been established. Among all HEIs, the (undergraduate) MA Programme at Edinburgh and Glasgow seems particularly well proportioned. Their Master of Chinese Studies programme offers an advanced course of study on contemporary China. The course aims to provide a foundation in Chinese language (Mandarin), society, politics, economy and business. This interdisciplinary programme has been designed to exploit Edinburgh's and Glasgow's expertise in Chinese Studies and to provide a wide-ranging course that is flexible enough to suit the needs of students wishing to pursue careers in business, diplomacy, or social science research involving China. Among all HEIs, the (undergraduate) MA Programme at Edinburgh and Glasgow seems particularly well proportioned. Their Master of Chinese Studies programme offers an advanced course of study on contemporary China. The course aims to provide a foundation in Chinese language (Mandarin), society, politics, economy and business. This interdisciplinary programme has been designed to exploit Edinburgh's and Glasgow's expertise in Chinese Studies and to provide a wide-ranging course that is flexible enough to suit the needs of students wishing to pursue careers in business, diplomacy, or social science research involving China..

The study of Chinese language

Chinese language (Mandarin) is utterly different from any European language and it is regarded as difficult for Westerners to learn. Students who take single or joint honours in Chinese language have been few in the UK both before and since the 1999 HEFCE report. Nearly all HEIs providing courses on Chinese Studies run Chinese language courses. Some universities run full courses to graduate level, or even provide language training at postgraduate level (e.g., SOAS, Leeds, Oxford, Sheffield). Others run Chinese teaching with selective levels or elective modules. Nottingham University has currently recruited over 200 students learning Chinese Mandarin between Level One and Level Four. Apart from a dozen of them who take Degrees "with Chinese Studies", most are doing it as elective modules. "Floater elements" of Chinese language teaching from other degrees have become increasingly in demand at SOAS, too. Elective modules in Chinese language may not be sufficient to master the language. However, this can potentially increase interest in more specialised training.

Concluding remarks

The nature of Chinese Studies, like any other area studies, is its interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary focus. This conflicts with the tradition of university education that is often clearly defined by academic disciplines. Initiating a multi-disciplinary department accommodating Chinese Studies requires enormous resources or otherwise changing management within universities. This might be one of the reasons why there have been very few universities in the world with a department of Chinese Studies per se, although a few have embedded an element of Chinese Studies into a broader regional studies, say, Asian studies, or East Asian Studies, or Asian-Pacific studies. Naturally, how much university resources could be invested heavily depends on students' demand for studying China. So far, the demand has been steadily increasing but perhaps not as rapidly as expected. Students with single honours degrees in Chinese Studies might find it hard to acquire jobs in the British labour market to compare with those who have single or joint honours degrees in hard-core academic disciplines. The 1999 HEFCE report outlined the backward situation of Chinese Studies in the UK by comparison with other Western countries and in respect of the need for Britain to back up its diplomacy and trade with China. HEFCE's subsequent injection of funding has boosted the supply of teaching of Chinese Studies in the UK. As a result, the restructuring of China Studies in terms of teaching among British universities has been commonly observed as a success.

Bibliography

Related links

Institute of Comtempoary Chinese Studies, Nottingham University http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/Chinese-studies

School of Oriental and Afician Studies, University of London http://www.soas.ac.uk

University of Leeds http://www.leeds.ac.uk

University of Sheffield http://www.sheffield.ac.uk

University of Durham http://www.durham.ac.uk

University of Edinburgh http://www.edinburgh.ac.uk

University of Oxford http://www.oxford.ac.uk

University of Cambridge http://www.cambridge.ac.uk

University of Sussex http://www.sussex.ac.uk

London School of Economics and Polictial Science http://www.lse.ac.uk

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