FRONTIER HISTORY IN CHINA: A SCHOLARLY DIALOGUE ACROSS THE PACIFIC OCEAN

Abstract

Following the suggestion of the editors of The Chinese Historical Review, Patrick Fuliang Shan conducted this interview with Professor Ma Dazheng in Beijing in the summer of 2011 to discuss issues related to frontier history of China. Ma, a senior researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, is one of the foremost scholars in China on frontier history and has authored and edited voluminous publications on the subject. The conversation touches on a wide range of topics including the evolution of China’s frontier studies, theoretical and methodological features of frontier studies in China, current scholarly trends and challenges, and Ma’s own contributions to borderland studies.

Keywords:

• Frontier history
• borderland studies
• Chinese historical scholarship

The interviewer Patrick Fuliang Shan wishes to express gratitude to Professor Xi Wang for his thoughtful advice, to Professor Gao Hong of the CASS for arranging this interview, and, profoundly, to Professor Ma Dazheng for offering thought-provoking answers to the questions. Thanks also are extended to Professor Zhao Ma of Washington University at St Louis and Professor Haiyun Ma of Georgetown University for their insightful comments. Appreciation also goes to Dr David Barrett for his thoughtful remarks and careful reading of the review. The reviewer, who is also the translator, takes responsibility for any remaining errors.

Notes

1 The term “frontier” is widely used in the West to refer to borderland studies. However, Chinese scholars in mainland China often use “borderland.” For many scholars, the two terms are interchangeable or synonymous.

2 Liang Qichao, Zhongguo jin sanbainian xueshu shi (The History of Chinese Scholarly Learning in the Past Three Hundred Years), (Beijing: Zhongguo Shudian, 1985), p. 321.