Youth Reflections: Comparative Reading Experiences and Understandings of Introductory Books on Regional and Country Studies (Chen Wanting)

Comparative reading experience and understanding of "Theory and Practice of Regional Country Studies: Exploration Based on Peking University" and "Regional Country Studies: History, Theory and Methodology".

Author/Chen Wanting

Trainees of the 13th Grand Diplomacy Youth Development and Practice Sailing Project Class

He studied at the School of Social and Political Science of Anhui University

Source: Grand Diplomacy Youth Think Tank (GDYT)

Editor's note: This article is a reflection on the study and practice of the 13th Grand Diplomacy Youth Development and Practice Navigation Project Class of the Grand Diplomacy Youth Think Tank (GDYT).

After reading the two introductory materials on regional and country studies, I have learned a lot about the relevant knowledge of regional and country studies, realized the essential difference between regional and country studies and other disciplines, and realized that regional and country studies need to be built by multiple disciplines. However, with the enhancement of China's comprehensive national strength, regional and country studies have gradually become a new direction in the development of the discipline, and the practical value of its research has become more and more prominent. Therefore, the study of regions and countries is not only of theoretical significance, but also of practical value. This article about the reading experience and perception of the two books is mainly carried out from three parts: content overview, comparative understanding and reading experience.

1. Overview

In the book "Theory and Practice of Regional Country Studies: Exploration Based on Peking University", he mainly talks about the discipline construction, theoretical methods and talent training of regional country studies, and discusses the enlightenment and thinking on the construction of regional country studies with Chinese characteristics by citing the cases of "European studies" and area studies with Japanese characteristics. After reading the whole book, this book emphasizes that China is striding towards the world, so the establishment of the discipline of regional country studies is particularly special and necessary, and the book is more about the goals that need to be achieved in China's regional country studies, emphasizing the importance of talent training and construction.

The book "Regional and Country Studies: History, Theory and Methodology" narrates the lectures of various branches of China's international political studies since the beginning of the 21st century. The book is written by the editorial department of the journal of International Politics Studies, through a series of interviews, inviting young and middle-aged scholars to have dialogues, including 20 domestic conversations about international relations, international politics scholars and experts, etc., full of the achievements and reflections of scholars in different fields of China's international politics since the 21st century, and at the same time, at the same time, the current problems and practical difficulties of regional country studies with Chinese characteristics, and also look forward to the future of regional country studies.

Different from the previous book, this book not only reviews the definition, background and development of regional country studies in China, but also uses the method of comparative research to analyze the research on various regions (the United States, Japan, Europe, Central Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America, Pacific Island Countries) and all of them follow an almost similar order: first, the general situation of the development of the study of a region in the world, then the scope is narrowed to China, the current state of China's research on these regions is narrowed down, the third part describes the characteristics and shortcomings of China's research on these regions, and finally, the current state of research on these regions in China is assessed and the future development of the research is provided.

2. Comparative understanding of the two books

(1) Homologous

1. Regional and national research objects and research methods are defined. Area and Country Studies is an interdisciplinary and interdisciplinary discipline that studies the politics, economy, culture, society, and diplomacy of other countries and regions.

2. The case studies of the regions and countries are described. The first book draws on regional country studies from Europe, Japan, Southeast Asia, and the United States, and the second book uses case studies from the United States, Japan, Europe, Central Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Pacific Islands from China. Although the scope and research object are different, they all use the writing technique of examples.

3. The current state of regional and country studies in the world and China is explained.

4. They have been inspired by the regional and country studies of other countries and have reflected on their own discipline construction. Inspired by the construction and research methods of regional and country disciplines in different countries, and even China's own regional and country studies, we will reflect on them and further promote the development and improvement of the disciplines.

5. Interview-style recording and writing techniques are used. Both books adopt a question-and-answer approach, asking questions to elicit the views of scholars and experts on issues related to regional and country studies.

(2) Differences

1. The focus of the discussion is different

The former emphasizes the discipline construction and talent cultivation of regional and country studies, while the latter focuses on describing the differences between China's studies of different regions and countries, emphasizing learning through comparison and learning from each other.

2. Different research methods

Compared with the former, the latter pays more attention to the method of comparative research, and through the examples of Chinese studies on different regions, readers not only have a deeper understanding of the progress and shortcomings of domestic studies on these regions, but also, to a certain extent, recognize the differences in the starting point, research methods and research characteristics of different regional studies.

3. The logic of elaboration is different

The former is based on the logical narrative of discipline construction, theoretical methods and talent training, while the latter is discussed from the perspectives of the history, research theory and research methods of different regions in regional and country studies.

4. The object of the case is different

In the fourth part, the former cites cases on how other countries conduct their own regional and country studies, and discusses the discipline system and knowledge construction of regional country studies in Europe, Japan, and the United States, as well as the enlightenment for China to build its own regional country studies disciplines, while the latter cases are based on regional country studies of other countries from the perspective of China. This makes a big difference in terms of who the case is discussed.

3. Reading feelings

(1) Regional country studies are very different from studies in other fields, such as international relations studies, and must not be confused

Regional and country studies are conducted on other countries and outside the region. Different from the study of international relations, the scope and field of regional and country studies are broader, and it is not limited to the study of international politics, it is an interdisciplinary and cross-field study, covering the study of different disciplines or fields such as politics, economy, culture, society, and diplomacy of a region or a country.

(2) The definition of the identity of a scholar in area studies in the book is similar to my thoughts

According to the book, it is advisable for scholars in the field of regional and country studies to have two identities at the same time, one is an expert in a region or country, and the other is a scholar in a certain discipline or field. I am also deeply aware that although regional and country studies is an "interdisciplinary" joint research, it cannot always be "erudite" without "specialization". I have always wondered whether a scholar should be "specialized" or "erudite", because I think it is very difficult to achieve the level of "erudition", and few people have achieved this level since ancient times. In my later studies and reading, I gradually realized that perhaps scholars should first "specialize" and be thorough in one field before they can draw inferences from others and continue to deepen their cultivation in other fields.

In the book "Theory and Practice of Regional and Country Studies: Exploration Based on Peking University", it is mentioned that in order to form a rational regional and country study, "on the one hand, it is necessary to coordinate and cooperate with scholars from the same target country or region but belonging to different disciplines, and on the other hand, it is also necessary to coordinate and cooperate with scholars with the same disciplinary background but studying different target countries or regions", which has a further understanding of the identity of researchers.

To cultivate human resources in the field of regional and country studies, it is necessary to cultivate both "horizontal" and "vertical" directions, and to cultivate not only generalists, "erudite miscellaneous scholars", but also experts and "craftsmen".

(3) The conditions for human resource development mentioned in the book are the directions that those of us who want to conduct regional and country studies need to strive for

First of all, it is necessary to have knowledge about the region or the country. All the knowledge of this region (or country), we need to know everything, and we need to know everything. This is the most basic requirement. I think this is complementary to the following conditions, and it is always necessary to learn and master the language and knowledge, so that we can better live in this area, and better understand the political, economic, cultural and social aspects of the region.

Secondly, one must be proficient in professional knowledge, proficient in at least one professional field, and become an expert in this field. The book also mentions that "professional knowledge not only refers to the field of international politics and international relations, but also includes all fields of regional country studies", which is true, and this is indeed the level that regional country researchers ultimately hope to achieve. However, I still think that regional and country researchers should still achieve specialization first, and they can achieve common achievements in exchanges and learning with scholars in various fields, and not before exchange and learning. What I emphasize here is that the cultivation of talents needs to be progressive, not "eating into a fat man".

Thirdly, the ability to communicate fluently with the local population in the local language is required. That is, to study a certain area, you need to know at least one local language. As for the choice of language, we used to learn English as the first language of foreign communication, but as China is stepping into the world, it is not enough to learn and master English, and we cannot only rely on the second-hand information provided by Americans or British people to study other regions. Instead, it is necessary to truly master the language of one or more Chinese, personally enter the lives of the people of the region (or that country), and truly experience and feel the local society and customs, so as to get in touch with the true face of a country or region.

Finally, there needs to be a local experience of living or studying. As important as the language of the target country or region, living or studying in the target country or region should have a long period of living and learning experience. This is the same as the purpose of mastering a Chinese language mentioned earlier, to obtain first-hand information about the region. When I saw this, I was reminded that businessmen, students, or other practitioners from outside the country who are doing business in the country, and so on, may actually be better candidates for regional and country studies, because they must have no problem with the language, they have long enough life and study experience, and they have a deeper understanding of the country, and the only thing that is not very feasible may be the academic ability of these people and their willingness to participate.

In short, I believe that in the early stage of the construction of regional and country studies, when the time cycle of domestic talent training is long, these objects can be developed first, and there may be unexpected gains.

(4) It is increasingly believed that in the future, the direction of integrated development such as "interdisciplinary" and "interdisciplinary ability" will become the trend of talent training

With the rapid development of China, China is integrating with the world in all aspects, and at this time, the first thing that needs to be innovated is the learning of "foreign languages". It is said that "foreign language + any subject" is "king bomb". This is true not only for students learning foreign languages, but also for students in other majors. In the book, the author takes Peking University as an example to introduce the cultivation of regional and country studies talents, among which undergraduates adopt an interdisciplinary integration training model and explore the interdisciplinary talent training model of "multilingualism + area studies" and "foreign language + foreign history". It can be said that Peking University is always at the forefront of academic and discipline innovation, and has not yet built a platform for the cultivation of interprofessional talents in ordinary schools, so undergraduate or graduate students can only understand their own areas of interest through their own learning and exploration, and the lack of such a platform may lead to the degree of self-training is not so complete and the training cycle may be longer. Therefore, it is hoped that a model and platform for regional and country research and training can be established across the country, so as to better promote the cultivation of talents and further promote China to the world.

(5) A better understanding of the progress and shortcomings of regional country studies in various regions in China

In the second book, when discussing Chinese studies of the United States, only a few comments are made on its characteristics. American studies in China are characterized by a comprehensive layout and outstanding social influence, and in the field of American studies, Chinese and American scholars have also formed a successful model of dialogue and exchange, which has also produced high-level collaborative research results. I believe that the reason why American studies have such characteristics is that the United States is a major power that has influenced international politics since the end of the Cold War, and the necessity, importance, and value of studying it are extremely high.

However, in China, Pacific studies "emphasize application over foundation, region over country", and there is a lack of solid basic research on this region, the scale of research is small, and the degree of attention is insufficient, and academic research lacks height, depth and breadth. The integration between academic research and policy research, basic research and applied research is not sufficient. To a certain extent, this also explains the current shortcomings of discipline construction: there are many reasons that lead to an imbalance in the allocation of researchers from large and small countries. There is a disproportionate number of scholars studying the major powers that have the initiative in international relations than some small countries.

However, in this era of globalization, even small countries play an important role in international economic, political and cultural exchanges. Therefore, from the perspective of "anti-regional country studies", it is a wise choice for a small country with a small language.

All in all, just as former Vice Minister of Culture Liu De reminded Chinese scholars of Japanese studies, no matter which country carries out regional and national research, it should not be separated from the academic fertile soil of its own country, but should be based on the influence of its own society and culture, and should produce its own unique and scientific thinking, rather than simply imitating and copying, repeating and copying the research of related disciplines in the target country. At the same time, in studying the knowledge of other countries in all aspects and fields, we should persist in taking the lessons and lessons of foreign history as the stones of other mountains and using them for our own use, and make some distinctions, some choices, some sorting, and some excavations, instead of swallowing dates, dwarfing ourselves, or worshipping indiscriminately.

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