From Margin to Cutting Edge: The Search for a Paradigm in Chinese Historical Studies

Abstract

The Chinese Historians in the United States (CHUS) has gone through three stages of development. The first stage (1987-1992) began with the founding of the organization in 1987. Most of its members at that time were Chinese students who had just embarked on the graduate programs in American universities. As sojourners destining to return to home eventually, these graduate students chose to take the courses most relevant and applicable to China, attempting to learn western methodologies and approaches so as to apply them to the future teaching and research in China. This kind of selected learning strategy resembled the traditional Ti-Yong formula—“Chinese learning for essence and Western leaning for practical application.” The early CHUS annual meetings reflected the initial pursuits and efforts of its members. The papers presented at the meetings covered wide fields—American, African, European, Chinese, art and diplomatic intellectual history as well as history of philosophy—but many of them were closely related to the topics that were most popular in China. However, American graduate programs pointed to new possibilities in their pursuit of graduate training in history. When these Chinese students worked with their professors, attended in graduate seminars, wrote term papers, prepared conference presentations, conducted dissertation researches, and applied for scholarships, they learned about the Western scholarly discourse and paradigms, which, often than not, compelled them to face the unexpected issue of convergence or clash between the Chinese and American academic cultures.