![Sample our Law journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5942/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Law.jpg"})
Abstract
Currently there is no systematic investigation into police scholarship in China. This is a first attempt to provide one. Specifically, this paper reports on the historical development, current status, and emerging issues of police research studies and research in China. It finds that police scholarship in China suffers from long neglect and has only recently started to take off with the establishment of Public Security Studies as an academic discipline.
Notes
1. This study is about police scholarship in mainland China, excluding Taiwan, Hong Kong, or Macau. Taiwan still claims to be a sovereign state. Up until 1997 and 1999, Hong Kong and Macau were colonies of the UK and of Portugal, respectively. After that, they were returned to China but governed as highly autonomous regions. All three areas have an independent police force and education system. For Taiwan police studies, see Chen (Citation2007); for Hong Kong, see Brodeur (Citation2005).
2. Unless otherwise specified, police studies or Public Order Studies will be used interchangeably.
3. For example, is Public Order Studies an academic or vocational, educational or training, scientific or professional field of study?
4. For example, is Public Order Studies an independent discipline? If not, to what discipline does it properly belong – law, administration, political science, sociology?
5. For example, is the objective of Public Order Studies to create a generalist or a specialist? Does it seek to build moral/political character, or just impart technical/professional skills? Wang (Citation2003, pp. 1–2) posits that the disciplinary development of Public Order Studies aims to meet global and domestic educational public security needs.
6. For example, does Public Order Studies as a discipline cover criminology, public administration, and law? Should police administration be made a part of public administration? Should police law be taught in law school or in public security schools? Cheng and Meng (Citation2003), for instance, are of the view that public security legal education should fall under legal studies and not the public security discipline.
7. For example, what is the most appropriate research methodology for Public Order Studies? Should Public Order Studies adopt anthropological, sociological, or legal research methods? Xiong (Citation2003, pp. 154–155) observed that scholars of Public Order Studies have paid little attention to methodology, and maintained that Public Order Studies should be empirically based, and attend to the integration of internal/external perspectives, macro/micro analysis.
8. For example, in what way has Public Order Studies been influenced by Western ideas? Should Public Order Studies be dominated by the Western paradigm?
9. For example, can Western policing theories serve Chinese policing needs? Should Chinese police scholars look towards Western police scholars for ideas?
10. For example, does Public Order Studies seek theoretical or applied knowledge? Does police research seek to understand the causation of crime/disorder or try to predict new waves of terrorist attack?
11. E.g., Xingshi jisshu [Criminal Investigation Techniques].
12. E.g., Jin dun [Golden Shield].
13. E.g., Jingcha wenzha [Police Digest].
14. Even internally circulated police publications can be easily obtained over the counter, with the exception of publications of government training establishments, for example, the Public Security University.
15. Article 1 of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, adopted on 4 December 1982, reads:
The People’s Republic of China is a socialist state under the people’s democratic dictatorship led by the working class and based on the alliance of workers and peasants. The socialist system is the basic system of the People’s Republic of China. Sabotage of the socialist system by any organization or individual is prohibited.
An amendment was approved on 29 March 1993 by the 8th NPC at its 1st Session, making it clear (at last two sentences of the seventh paragraph of the Preamble):
Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China and the guidance of Marxism–Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought, the Chinese people of all nationalities will continue to adhere to the people’s democratic dictatorship and follow the socialist road …
16. ‘Zhi’ is ‘zhili,’ meaning to maintain control in order to avoid disorder (‘luan’). ‘An’ stands for ‘anquan,’ meaning peace and security (Sung, Citation2000, p. 2). Sung (Citation2000, p. 79) points out that the first use of the term ‘zhian’ was in the early Han dynasty, when Jiayi was reporting to Emperor Han Wen Di about how to secure order and promote stability in his memorial Public Order Memo. See the next section, for a further analysis of the word ‘zhian.’
17. This is only partially correct. Depending on the focus, criminology, more so than police science, encompasses Public Order Studies.
18. For an exploration of the basic nature of ‘zhi‐an’ as a theoretic concept and practice, see Gong (Citation2004, pp. 56–57).
19. It is standard fare in Chinese research to conduct historical linguistic research to ascertain the cultural meaning of individual characters and composite phrases.
20. ‘The phrase “Mandate of Heaven” (tian ming) derives from this passage and similar passages in the Book of Odes (for example poem 305, “Yin wu”: “Heaven’s mandate looked down upon the world, / The people below were respectful”). In its earliest occurrences, traced back to the Shang dynasty, the phrase seems to have been used to assert that the ruler’s authority derived directly from the gods above: The king’s commands were the “tian ming” or “commands of heaven”’ (Lowewe, Citation2002, p. 342).
21. None of the methods mentioned are unique unto themselves or being tailored to Public Order Studies. A close inspection of much of the research of Public Order Studies shows that there was no vigorous control of methodology (Xiong, Citation2004). Xiong’s article (Citation2004) describes the constitution, development, method, and contribution of Public Order Studies as a scientific academic discipline. It further argues for elevating Public Order Studies to a second‐class academic discipline.
22. It should be noted that most of the terms are generic terms with no specific ‘zhian’ referent and content. Many of them are not conceptual in nature, but mere descriptions of a set of activities related to public order, for example, public order patrol or traffic control. Finally most of the terms are theoretically anchored, backed by research findings and literature.
23. The development of and in turn difficulties with Chinese police scholarship needs to be viewed in a historical context. Problems experienced now have its roots in history, when sociology and social science was introduced to solve China’s backwardness (Li, Fang, Wang, Sun, & Qi, Citation1987).
24. Currently, Chinese police scholars understand and adopt UK and US police research theory and findings more than that of France and Germany. There is virtually no interest in less developed countries. But such other countries might have lessons to offer China (Zhu, Citation2003, p. 154).