Doing Fieldwork in China: Evolution and Prospects Analysis / Multimedia Scott Kennedy and Ilaria MazzoccoAugust 29, 2022 Featured Scholars Scott Rozelle Scott Rozelle is the senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and Co-director at Stanford Center on China’s Economy and Institutions. His specialization and focus is in Chinese agricultural policy, including the supply, demand, and trade in agricultural projects; the emergence and evolution of markets and other economic institutions in the transition process and their implications for equity and efficiency; and the economics of poverty and inequality, with an emphasis on rural education, health and nutrition. Scott Kennedy Scott Kennedy is senior adviser and Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). A leading authority on Chinese economic policy, Kennedy has been traveling to China for over 30 years. His specific areas of expertise include industrial policy, technology innovation, business lobbying, U.S.-China commercial relations, and global governance. Field research over the last four decades has been critical to increasing the world’s understanding of China. There are many other research methods including careful reading of documents and the media, surveys, databases, scraping websites, satellite imagery, but field research provides unique learning opportunities. One would be hard-pressed to legitimately call someone who rarely if ever visited the United States an “America expert.” The same should be true for China. Interviews, surveys, informal conversations, participant observation, passive observation, collecting original quantitative data, and obtaining hard copy writings are all much more feasible when on the ground. In this 6-part video series, CSIS’s Scott Kennedy and SCCEI’s Scott Rozelle discuss the importance of being in the field, the evolution of field research in China over the last four decades, and the prospects going forward. Access for researchers has followed the trajectory of Chinese politics and U.S.-China relations, from an “age of curiosity” to an “age of Chinese learning” to a “period of deep collaboration” to “a decade of challenges.” It is in the self-interest of both China and the United States that field research be encouraged and strengthened. Why Field Research in China Matters In the first installment of this series, Scott Kennedy and Scott Rozelle discuss the importance of fieldwork for experts and how it shapes research for the better. Even for quantitative researchers, going to the field can bring real insights. The 1980s: The Age of Curiosity In this conversation with Scott Kennedy, Scott Rozelle recounts his experience as one of the first Western scholars to be allowed to conduct research in rural China in the 1980s, including the physical challenges of reaching field sites at a time when transport infrastructure was still lacking. The 1990s: The Age of Chinese Learning Scott Rozelle and Scott Kennedy discuss their experiences doing fieldwork in China in the 1990s, a time when many Chinese scholars were learning from their American colleagues and welcoming foreign researchers. 4. The 2000s: A Period of True Collaboration The early 2000s were likely the most productive time for scholarly exchanges between the United States and China. Scott Rozelle explains to Scott Kennedy how many of his students from the previous decade were key in establishing fruitful collaborations, some of which included the U.S. and Chinese governments. The 2010s: A Decade of Challenges After the rich collaboration of the previous decade, the 2010s brought more challenges for fieldwork, a product of changes in Chinese domestic politics and a deterioration in the U.S.-China relationship. Scott Rozelle discusses with Scott Kennedy how increasing suspicion towards foreign researchers affected his field research. Looking Towards the Future Scott Rozelle and Scott Kennedy talk about the challenges of doing research in China over the past two years and what has been lost by the curtailment of travel and in-person communication. Additional Resources Susan D. Bloom, “Tales from the Fields of Yunnan: Listening to Han Stories,” Modern China (2000). Allen Carlson, Mary E. Gallagher, Kenneth Lieberthal, and Melanie Manion, eds., Contemporary Chinese Politics: New Sources, Methods, and Field Strategies (Cambridge University Press, 2010). Diana Fu, Mobilizing without the Masses: Control and Contention in China (Cambridge University Press, 2018) Sheena Chestnut Greitens and Rory Truex, “Repressive Experiences among China Scholars: New Evidence from Survey Data,” The China Quarterly 242 (June 2020): 349–75. Maria Heimer and Stig Thogersen, eds., Doing Fieldwork in China (University of Hawaii Press, 2006). Jan Kiely and Thomas David DuBois, eds., Fieldwork in Modern Chinese History: A Research Guide (Taylor & Francis, 2019). Charles Kraus, Researching the History of the People’s Republic of China (Cold War International History Project, 2016). Perry Link, Richard P. Madsen, and Paul C. Pickowicz, eds., Restless China (Rowman & Littlefield, 2013). Perry Link, Richard P. Madsen, and Paul C. Pickowicz, eds., Unofficial China: Popular Culture and Thought in the People’s Republic (Westview Press, 1990). Scott Rozelle and Natalie Hell, Invisible China: How the Urban-Rural Divide Threatens China’s Rise (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2022). David Shambaugh, ed., American Studies of Contemporary China (M.E. Sharpe, 1993). About the Authors Scott Kennedy Scott Kennedy is senior adviser and Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). A leading authority on Chinese economic policy, Kennedy has been traveling to China for over 30 years. His specific areas of expertise include industrial policy, technology innovation, business lobbying, U.S.-China commercial relations, and global governance. He is the editor of China’s Uneven High-Tech Drive: Implications for the United States (CSIS, February 2020) and the author of The State and the State of the Art on Philanthropy in China (Voluntas, August 2019), China’s Risky Drive into New-Energy Vehicles (CSIS, November 2018), The Fat Tech Dragon: Benchmarking China’s Innovation Drive (CSIS, August 2017), and The Business of Lobbying in China (Harvard University Press, 2005). He has edited three books, including Global Governance and China: The Dragon’s Learning Curve (Routledge, 2018). His articles have appeared in a wide array of policy, popular, and academic venues, including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and China Quarterly. He is currently writing a report tentatively titled, Beyond Decoupling: Winning the Hi-Tech Competition Against China. From 2000 to 2014, Kennedy was a professor at Indiana University (IU), where he established the Research Center for Chinese Politics & Business and was the founding academic director of IU’s China Office. Kennedy received his Ph.D. in political science from George Washington University, his M.A. in China Studies from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and his B.A. from the University of Virginia. Ilaria Mazzocco Ilaria Mazzocco is a fellow with the Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Prior to joining CSIS, she was a senior research associate at the Paulson Institute, where she led research on Chinese climate and energy policy for Macropolo, the institute’s think tank. She holds a PhD from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), where her dissertation investigated Chinese industrial policy by focusing on electric vehicle promotion efforts and the role of local governments. She also holds master’s degrees from Johns Hopkins SAIS and Central European University, as well as a bachelor’s degree from Bard College. Cite this PageScott Kennedy and Ilaria Mazzocco, "Doing Fieldwork in China: Evolution and Prospects," Big Data China, Center for Strategic and International Studies, August 29, 2022, last modified August 29, 2022, https://bigdatachina.csis.org/doing-fieldwork-in-china/.Copy