Beyond the Nation-state: Hamashita Takeshi's Epistemological Lessons for Contemporary China Studies

When so-called China Study is being conducted, the first thing ever comes into consideration ought to be whether "China" is a nation-state or not. It seems self-evident in political science nowadays because we all act on the premise that has been affirmed ever since the establishment of modern Westphalian System. All fields of China study root in the same hypothesis which is statism. This essay does not tend to resolve the assumption which has still been taken by most IR theorists but to present another possible epistemology when facing China and to question the idea of applying oneness when researching.