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An unplanned journey: Contingent events and the study of China

China Information: A Journal on Contemporary China Studies

Published online on

Abstract

China Information, Volume 40, Issue 2, Page 130-142, July 2026.
Contingent events shaped my career in China studies. As the field expanded, scholars took up jobs in the academic disciplines, which led away from ‘area studies’ to more specialized work. When China opened to the West, students encountered China less as a ...