Asei Ito (University of Tokyo; HYI Visiting Scholar, 2022-23), Jaehwan Lim (Aoyama Gakuin University; HYI Visiting Scholar, 2018-19), Haichun Yu (Hokkaido University), and Yuki Mikiya (Keio University; HYI ‘New Frontiers of Research on Institutions of China’ Training Program Visiting Fellow, 2026-27)
Abstract: Amid political hardening in the People’s Republic of China and intensifying geopolitical tension, China scholars face increasing research constraints. While the existing studies mainly focus on Western contexts, the experiences of China scholars in Asia remain underexamined. Following a survey conducted by Greitens and Truex, this study draws on the first, large-scale and systematic survey on 362 China scholars in Japan conducted in March 2025. The results indicate that 27.1 per cent of respondents reported research-related obstacles, 21.8 per cent encountered censorship and 43.2 per cent considered political sensitivity when giving advice to graduate students. Notably, these challenges substantially vary across academic fields, with scholars in literature, thought and philosophy exhibiting comparatively low levels of disruption. This disciplinary pattern highlights the importance of historically rooted scholarly traditions and offers broad insights into the ways in which knowledge production on China adapts despite restricted access.
Keywords: China studies; academic repression; self-censorship; knowledge production; Japan; disciplinary variation
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