Have China Scholars All Been Bought?

That's the question asked by Carsten Holz, economist at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, in an article in the Far Eastern Economic Review. (Hat tip: Arts and Letters Daily)

He asks:

Does it matter if China researchers ignore the political context in which they operate and the political constraints that shape their work? Does it matter if we present China to the West the way the Party leadership must like us to present China, providing narrow answers to our self-censored research questions and offering a sanitized picture of China's political system?

I'm not altogether sure if the situation for China scholars is nearly as bad as the picture painted by Holz, but the questions he raises are serious ones.

Read the whole thing.