Pak-China Relations & Pakistan Studies in China: An Analysis from Chinese Perspective

Pakistan studies in China started in 1946 with the history of more than 70 years, though Pakistan is the most trustworthy country to China yet far more significant country to the region and world. This article examines the importance of Pakistan Studies in China, keeping in view the relation of two countries. Despite being a closed allies and having higher level cooperation in many areas, there has been an insignificant progress and work done on Pakistan Studies in China. It is found that Chinese scholars on Pakistan studies are in small number and very few among them are proficient in Urdu language; therefore, less number of academic and research contributions on Pakistan Studies are made so far. It is suggested that beside language, there is a need to extend the existing Pakistan study centers, some other studies related to Pakistan. Furthermore, Chinese scholarship for multiple researches and scholars exchange programs should be provided for enhancing China Pakistan relations.

1. Theoretical Background

In 1946, a Chinese scholar named Fang Tong translated a British scholar R. Palme Dutt’s article: India and Pakistan to Chinese and published this article on World Affairs (世界知识), which marked the first time to introduce Pakistan to Chinese people. Since then, more and more articles related to Pakistan were published by World Affairs, and has shown a rising trend during the past 70 years. Until now, Chinese scholars have researched about Pakistan for more than 70 years for promoting China-Pakistan relations; therefore, Chinese scholars witness the process of China-Pakistan relations from unfamiliarity to good neighbours, good friends, good partners and good brothers. However, it must be pointed out that in recent times most of the Chinese scholars pay more efforts on developed countries studies, such as USA, British, France, Germany, Japan, etc., and rest of the 70% developing countries are regarded as dull subjects including Pakistan. Since, “One Belt One Road” initiative was launched in 2013 by Chinese President Xi Jinping, promotion of China-Pakistan relations and development of China’s Pakistan studies have become a major concern for Chinese scholars. Keeping in view the China Pakistan relations, it is a right time to analyse the current Pakistan studies in China. The work and analysis in this paper are made mainly on the basis of the researches and articles written in China; most of the data for this study is taken from China National Knowledge Infrastructure Database (CNKI): regarded as one of the most comprehensive database in China, comprises of articles and researches collected from reputed Chinese periodicals and magazines. This article presents a) the brief history of Pakistan Studies in China and number of articles and researches done in China about Pakistan, b) establishment of institutions, Pakistan Studies Centres and Urdu departments in different Chinese universities, c) analyse the issues and challenges to Pakistan Studies in China d) exploring the future prospects of Pakistan Studies in China, and e) proposed way forward for the enhancement in existing system and mechanism of Pakistan Studies in China.

2. A Brief History of Pakistan Studies in China

A few months later, after the Chinese Communist Party came into power in 1949 brought a new era to China; on January 5, 1950, the Pakistani government forthwith announced that the government of the People’s Republic of China was the sole legal government in China, and meanwhile seeking to establish diplomatic relations with People’s Republic of China. Comprehensive and friendly negotiations started in April 24, 1950 in Beijing and decided to establish formal diplomatic relations on May 21, 1950 (China Embassy Islamabad, n.d.). Pakistan was the third non-communist and the first Muslim country to recognize China (Kayani, Ahmed, & Shah, 2013). Since then, China and Pakistan have witnessed smooth development of friendly and neighbourly relations as well as mutually beneficial cooperation (Chinadaily, 2006).

Much work about researches on Pakistan wasn’t done due to fewer numbers of Chinese scholars according to a survey based on early archive information; the major concerned issues of those articles mainly focused on the history of Pakistan and Pakistani people, the journals on which they were published mainly entwined with World Affairs, People’s Education（人民教育）etc. Compared to the present work these former articles present fewer details but yet served the foundation of Pakistan studies in China and brought a lot of fresh knowledge and new ideas to the ordinary Chinese people. More importantly, Pakistan was the first Muslim country to recognize China, and providing China with a corridor into the Muslim countries and non-communist world. Pakistan is also regarded as the most trustworthy country to China (MOFA-China, China-Pakistan Joint Declaration, 2003). On the other hand, Pakistan is a quite complex yet far more significant country to China, the region and world.

Since China and Pakistan established the diplomatic relations, part of Chinese scholars began to focus on Pakistan studies. The articles about Pakistan collected by CNKI database increased to 11 pieces in 1951 from 3 pieces in 1946. Up to 1965, before the Cultural Revolution, the articles about Pakistan reached to 37 pieces. The articles in this period are far from the meaningful studies; however, the periodicals and magazines like World Affairs published lots of introductory articles for the Pakistan’s basic knowledge. Moreover, some Chinese scholars tried to analyse Pakistan’s political, economic and social situation to their readers. In addition to that some representative articles collected by CNKI database include “India and Pakistan”, “Current Political Situation of Pakistan”, “Evolution of Foreign Trade Relations of Pakistan”, “An Analysis on the Development Path of Pakistan”, etc.. These early, introductory articles lay the solid foundation for future researches of Chinese scholars.

Figure 1) Number of Articles Published Related to Pakis tan from 1946 to 1966

Sources: China National Knowledge Infrastructure, CNKI database. Please see the link below, http://www.cnki.net/,searching subject is Pakistan（巴基斯坦）, 1946-1966.

In 1966, the Cultural Revolution, regarded as the biggest catastrophic tragedy of Chinese people took place around every corner of China. Hence, almost all the research works went stagnant. The effect of Cultural Revolution on research publication can be seen in Figure 1. As the impact of the Cultural Revolution continued spreading, not only World Affairs but also other Chinese Journals were completely discontinued from 1967. On May 311971, the Journals of Paper Science & Technology (造纸技术通讯), hosted by China Technical Association of Paper Industry, published one paper entitled the modern bagasse paper mill, which focused on the development of paper technology in Pakistan. Generally speaking, the Cultural Revolution suspended almost all the research works especially in the arena of social sciences, while a few Chinese scholars still maintained their works on Pakistan studies intermittently during the entire turbulence Period.

Figure 2) Number of Articles Published Related to Pakistan from 1966 to 1976

Sources: China National Knowledge Infrastructure, CNKI database. Please see the link below, http://www.cnki.net/,searching subject is Pakistan（巴基斯坦）,1966-1976.

From overall perspective, Pakistan studies in China got in lag stage and only a few articles got published during the ten years of the Cultural Revolution. The number of published article’s details can be seen in Figure 2. The representative articles collected by CNKI database in this period mainly including Nuclear Power Plan of Pakistan and Weather Research Institution and Operation Service of Pakistan etc,.

Figure 3) Number of Articles published Related to Pakistan from 1976 to 2006

Sources: China National Knowledge Infrastructure, CNKI database. Please see the link below, http://www.cnki.net/,searching subject is Pakistan（巴基斯坦）,1976-2006.

After China experienced a lot of chaos, Chinese Communist Party finally realized that the only way to prosperity was to fold up the Cultural Revolution and start adopting the Reform and Opening-up Policy to the world. Hence, the new collective leadership of Chinese Communist Party announced the end of Cultural Revolution in 1978. Accordingly, more and more professors and scholars returned to their working positions and continued their research works in a better thriving environment. Hence, Pakistan studies in China ushered in the spring under this era. At the beginning of this era, their studies were mainly focused on the agriculture, medicine and sports arenas of Pakistan. Although their fields of research were a little bit narrow and not deep enough, it still marked a new era of the subject.

In 1978, Chinese Association for South Asian Studies was established, and in the next year the Journal of South Asian studies started its publication and then published New Five-year Plan of Pakistan written by Qamra Suri and Zhang Lianfang, and thus the Pakistan studies in China entered to a new phase. In this period, CNKI database collected several articles with the subject of Pakistan; meanwhile, the number of article increased to 183 pieces in 1986 from 8 pieces in 1976, which increased by 23 times during these ten years. Hereafter, it increased to 337 pieces in 1996, and finally reached to 742 articles in 2006 i.e. in 30 years of research work, quantity of pieces increased by 92 times compared to pieces in 1976. Gradual increase in number of publications between 1976 and 2006 is shown in Figure 3. During this period, the representative articles collected by CNKI database mainly including: Functions of Human Capital in Economic Growth: Comparative Study between China and Pakistan, Relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan, American Military Assistance for Pakistan and Its Influence in 1954-1965, Driving Factor and Realistic Consideration of Pakistan’s Policy toward China after Cold War, Pakistan Factor in Indian Anti-terrorism Policy after 9·11, the Economic and Trade Development between China and Pakistan, Security Cooperation between China and Pakistan in the New Era of Globalization etc.

It is worth noting that after Sep 11, 2001, the U.S. waged war in Afghanistan, and unfortunately Pakistan also involved in it. The security situation in Pakistan adds challenges to China- Pakistan bilateral relations, particularly in the context of the trade relations. Such concerns prompt more Chinese scholars to take interest in Pakistan studies and the number of papers increased substantially, published annually from less than 251 pieces in 2000 and jumped close to 536 in 2002.

Figure 4) Number of Articles Published Related to Pakistan from 2006 to 2016

Sources: China National Knowledge Infrastructure, CNKI database. Please see the link below, http://www.cnki.net/,searching subject is Pakistan（巴基斯坦）,2006-2016.

In 2006, the articles with the subject of Pakistan in CNKI database reached to 619 pieces, by the end of 2016 the number of article increased to 850 pieces. Figure 4 shows a continuous rising trend of number of published article during this period in Figure 4. In this phase, the representative articles in CNKI database mainly include: Medical Practice and Discussion of China’s International Rescue Team for Pakistan’s Earthquake Rescue, Important Areas for the Economic Cooperation between China and Pakistan, New Strategic Evaluation for American Development Assistance for Pakistan, Strategic Position of Pakistan and the Future of Sino-Pakistan Relationship, Challenge of International Law Faced by Unmanned Attacker——Take American Unmanned Attacker in Pakistan as an Example, An Analysis on Risk Factors of CPEC etc. The research areas on Pakistan have gradually expanded from the early literature, art, language and linguistics, agriculture, sociology and anthropology to the politics, economics, foreign diplomacy and other fields. It is not out of place to mention that Chinese scholars were attracted to the subject of Pakistan studies for the reason is that Pakistan and China has long history of reliable and time tested relationship (Jafar Riaz Kataria & Anum Naveed, 2014). Thus, China’s Pakistan studies is a step forward to new and enhanced relationship on a new stage.

3. China's Institutions and Scholars on Pakistan Studies

In 1946, Prof. Ji Xianlin, a renowned Chinese scholar hired by Peking University, established the Department of Oriental Languages and Literature for the study of South Asian language and linguistics. Thereafter, Prof. Ji Xianlin became the first professor of Sanskrit and Pali at Peking University. Several years later, Prof. Jin Kemu, Prof. Shan Yun and Prof. Liu Anwu also joined the department of foreign studies at Peking University, and began to teach and research work on Indian Sub-Continent culture and linguistics in a truly modern sense. In 1954, Peking University opened Urdu language major for bachelor students, and trained lots of diplomats, scholars and teachers since then. In 1965, Communication University of China also opened Urdu language courses for bachelor students. In 2007, Beijing Foreign Studies University started its Urdu language major program and began to enrol bachelor students. In addition to above universities, Luoyang PLA College of Foreign Languages and Guangdong University of Foreign Studies also started the Urdu Major. Urdu is the national language of Pakistan, the establishment and enrolment of Urdu language major at those universities was not only for the training of diplomats, scholars and teachers but also for in-depth study of religion, society and culture of Pakistan which later laid a solid foundation for the development of bilateral relations between two nations.

Table 1) Urdu language major universities & research institutions^*

University	Location	Major	Year founded
Peking University	Beijing	Urdu	1954
Beijing Broadcasting Institute /Communication University of China	Beijing	Urdu	1965
Beijing Foreign Studies University	Beijing	Urdu	2007
Luoyang PLA College of Foreign Languages	Luoyang	Urdu	Unknown
Guangdong University of Foreign Studies	Guangzhou	Urdu	2015

* Statistics as of October 2017, the author selects those statistics from Chinese universities’ websites.

China-Pakistan relations continued to move forward since the China adopted reform and opening-up policies in 1978, while China-Pakistan interactions have historically been limited to mostly inter-governmental contact, with limited people-to-people interactions, which has been identified as one of the core weaknesses in the durability of the two countries’ relations (Center for Pakistan and Gulf Studies, February 2014). Generally speaking, China considers Pakistan as the most trustworthy neighbour and reliable partner, while there was no specialized Pakistan research institution/centre in China until 2007 (MOFA-China, China-Pakistan Joint Declaration, 2003). To this end, the Pakistani government was also aware of the need to support Chinese universities to set up a number of specialized research institutions dedicated for promoting Pakistan studies in China.

With the help of Pakistani government, the Pakistan culture and communication study centre at Tsinghua University was established in April 2007, which is the first Pakistan Studies Centre in China. Pakistan Culture and Communication Centre at Tsinghua University is mainly engaged in the Pakistani culture-related research and academic exchange activities designed to further expand bilateral exchanges and cooperation in the field of cultural transmission, to deepen mutual understanding between the two countries’ history, culture, and further promote the friendship and partnership between China and Pakistan.

Since, Tsinghua University launched the first Pakistan studies centre in Beijing, more and more specialized Pakistan research institutions were established. On June 19, 2008, another prestigious Chinese university, Peking University, with a long Urdu language teaching history also established its own Pakistan studies centre under the care of former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. On April 20, 2007, Mr. Shaukat Aziz, the Prime Minister of Pakistan visited Chengdu, and suggested to establish the Pakistan studies Centre at the Institute of South Asian Studies at Sichuan University; after a year of preparation, it was jointly inaugurated by Mr. Masood Akhtar, Consul General of Pakistan in Chengdu and school leaders on November 18, 2008.

Pakistan Studies Centre at Fudan University, with the purpose of promoting the academic exchange and cooperation between China and Pakistan was founded in October 26, 2009. On March 2011, Xuzhou Normal University at Jiangsu Province also set up the Centre for Sino-Pakistani Education and Culture Studies. On March 18, 2012, after the approval of the Ministry of Education, Xuzhou Normal University was renamed to Jiangsu Normal University, and the Centre for Sino-Pakistani Education and Culture Studies was shifted to Jiangsu Normal University. On September 25, 2013, Pakistan Studies Centre at China West Normal University was also launched with the assistance of the Sichuan provincial government and other Pakistan studies centres around China. In addition to above five universities, in Sep 2013 and June 2016, China West Normal University and Yunnan Nationalities University also set up Pakistan Research Centre to promote research for Pakistan studies.

Table 2) Pakistan Studies Centre in China

No	Institution Name	Sponsor University	City	Year Founded
1	Pakistan Culture and Communication Centre	Tsinghua University	Beijing	Apr, 2007
2	Pakistan Study Centre	Peking University	Beijing	Jun, 2008
3	Pakistan Study Centre	Sichuan University	Chengdu	Nov, 2008
4	Pakistan Study Centre	Fudan University	Shanghai	Oct, 2009
5	Centre for Sino-Pakistani Education & Culture Studies	Jiangsu Normal University	Xuzhou	Mar, 2011
6	Pakistan Study Centre	China West Normal University	Nanchong	Sept, 2013
7	Pakistan Study Centre	Yunnan Nationalities University	Kunming	June, 2016

Source：Statistics as of October 2017, the author selects those statistics from Chinese universities’ websites.

Up to May 2017, seven special research institutions officially set up Pakistan Research Centre. The names of those institutions and their corresponding Pakistan research centres as detailed in Table 2. In addition to that, most scholars in other universities and scientific research institutions and specialists, teachers and students work on Pakistan related studies and jointly compose China’s Pakistan research team.

Table 3) Sequence of Publishing institutions in CNKI database

No.	Institutions	No. of articles
1	Sichuan University	166
2	Peking University	78
3	General Hospital Of Chinese People's Armed Police Forces	57
4	Xinjiang University	57
5	Fudan University	52
6	Jilin University	49
7	Renmin University of China	44
8	Bei Fang Investigation, Design & Research Co., Ltd	40
9	China Institute of Contemporary International Relations	39
10	National Institute of International Strategy, China Academy of Social Sciences	38
11	East China Normal University	37
12	Xingjiang Normal University	36
13	Zhengzhou University	32
14	Central China Normal University	32
15	China West Normal University	31
16	Zhejiang University	31
17	Yunnan University	30
18	Institute of Diplomacy	29
19	China Institute of International Studies	27
20	Party School of the CPC Central Committee	26
21	Shandong University	25
22	Wuhan University	23
23	Yunnan Province Academy of Social Sciences	23
24	Southwestern University of Finance and Economics	23
25	Tsinghua University	23
26	Shanghai Jiaotong University	22
27	Southwest University	20
28	Huazhong University of Science and Technology	20
29	Shanghai Nuclear Engineering Research and Design Institute	20

Note: the search database is CNKI, and the searching keyword of Articles’ subject is Pakistan; grouping browsing: institution; the searching deadline is May 4th, 2017. http://www.cnki.net/

The articles containing word ‘Pakistan’ were searched for different institutes from the CNKI database, and are detailed in Table 3. It is found that Sichuan and Peking University are ranked first and second with 166 and 57 articles, respectively. It is pointed out that General Hospital of Armed Police and Bei Fang Investigation, Design & Research Co., Ltd are different from traditional Think Tank, but they also make great contribution to Pakistan’s medical research and research of water resources and hydropower. The contributions of universities and institutes in term of publications detailed in Table 3, shows the interest and dedication of Chinese scholars toward flourishing the bilateral relations and cooperation in ongoing and upcoming future projects between the two countries

4. Current Issues and Challenges to Pakistan Studies in China

Since Sir Fang Tong translated the first article related to Pakistan to Chinese people in the year of 1946, the Pakistan studies in China has experienced nearly seven decades. Although China-Pakistan relations move ahead smoothly, while Pakistan studies is still regarded as a dull subject in China. Following are three main issues faced by Pakistan studies in China:

4.1 Chinese Scholars on Pakistan studies are still in a small group.

As mentioned above, currently there are six specialized Pakistan studies center in China; almost all institutions have a small number of specialized scholars, even some Pakistan studies centers have less than 5 scholars and working staffs. According the latest data of CNKI database, only few Chinese scholars devote their full-time on Pakistan studies. The renowned scholars on Pakistan studies are even less than 50 and among those less than 10 scholars published 10 or more papers, and only 17 scholars published 6-10 papers on Pakistan studies since 1946.

It is necessary to point out that some of the renowned scholars have entered in retirement stage, and young scholars still need more time to replace them. More importantly, only few Chinese scholars and students prefer to visit Pakistan for long-term stay to deepen their historical and cultural knowledge about Pakistan, and as a result of that fewer articles in English and Urdu have been published so far.

4.2 Chinese scholars on Pakistan studies lacking in foreign language proficiency

Chinese universities began to teach Urdu in 1954, and trained a group of proficient diplomats, translators and research scholars. Although there are six Pakistan studies centers established until March, 2015; most of them have limited funding and serious shortage of scholars. According to an interview with an unnamed teacher from Beijing Foreign Studies University, less than one-third graduates continue working in this field because of similar aforementioned issues. Therefore, fewer Urdu language graduates are engaged in specialized Pakistan related research work.

English is also consider as a barrier for many Chinese scholars to further pursue their studies due to lack of an English-speaking environment in China, and seldom Chinese scholars choose to visit Pakistan for a long term stays to improve their foreign languages proficiency (Zheng, 2010). Therefore, as a result of lacking in foreign language proficiency, the development of Pakistan studies in China is greatly minimized.

4.3 Fewer academic and research contribution by Chinese scholars on Pakistan studies

Compared to other regional studies disciplines, such as American studies and European Studies, in China Pakistan-studies are included within a broader regional area of focus including South Asian studies or Middle East studies; therefore, Chinese scholars on Pakistan studies contributed only a few research achievements to the international academic community. However, fruitful results have been achieved on Pakistan studies through International scholars from renowned Pakistan studies Institutions such as Institute for South Asian studies at UC, Berkeley, American Institute of Pakistan Studies, the Center for Pakistan Studies at Middle East Institute, and Centre for the Study of Pakistan at SOAS (The School of Oriental and African Studies) at London university, etc. while More importantly, Chinese scholars on Pakistan studies have no frequent communication with international scholars, so each year fewer Chinese scholars attending the international conference on Pakistan studies . It seems that there is a need to minimize the communication gap between Chinese scholars and government by developing concrete policies to resolve misunderstanding and funding issues for the development of Pakistan studies in China.

5. The Prospects of Pakistan Studies in China

There is undoubtedly much works have been done during the past 70 years, but it is important to reassess and review the strengths and challenges of Pakistan studies in China in order to move forward in a positive way. As mentioned above, Pakistan studies compare to America, European and Japanese studies is regarded as a dull subject in China though Pakistan is an important strategic partner of China since the diplomatic relations established in 1951.

The Chinese government also realized that lack of understanding of foreign countries possibly restricted the relationship between China and foreign countries. Hence, Chinese Ministry of Education launched the Project for Promoting Regional and Country Studies bases (区域和国别研究培育基地) in November 2011, and encouraged universities and institutions to join this project to establish more regional and country studies, and financing academic activities to enhance the communication between Chinese and International scholars. With this in mind, more Chinese scholars will begin to visit Pakistan for their studies. In recent years, the scholars on Pakistan studies are indeed growing but for a sustained robust academic development, a profound understanding of Pakistani language, culture, and traditions are provided to Chinese scholars which can only take place through regularly think tank collaboration, joint research, scholar and student exchange programs, etc. with the international academic community either in Pakistan or in other countries.

In May 2013, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang paid a visit to Pakistan and reached to an important consensus with Pakistan leaders on planning and constructing the CPEC. During Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s visit to China in July, 2013, the construction of CPEC was reiterated (Zafar, 2015). The CPEC is an important component of “one Belt and one Road” initiative; therefore, Chinese government has a strong commitment to improve the China-Pakistan relations with the purpose of mutual concerns for the economic development (MOFA-China, 2014). Evidently, there is no doubt that strong China-Pakistan relations will be beneficial to bring prosperity and development of Pakistan studies in China in future.

From 1946 to 2016, China’s Pakistan studies has passed 70 years and established independent academic system, however, it still facing lots of difficulties and challenges, especially, some external forces wants to sabotage the Pakistan China Economic Corridor, there is a need of consistent campaign to protect the China Pakistan economic corridor project with the help of media, domestic educations institutions. (Dawn, 2015) Institutes and think tank working on China’s Pakistan studies were unable to prompt Pakistan to take necessary actions to mitigate this problematic situation. Therefore, existing difficulties and challenges to China’s Pakistan studies should be carefully analysed and present their remedies.

5.1 Existing obstructions in system and mechanism

Since last decade, China is providing Urdu language training to their people through special Pakistan research institution; however, such institution are of small scale with few researchers and insufficient budget, so research work in those institutes are suffering alot. The General Institutes of Higher Education Undergraduate Program Catalog was issued by Ministry of Education in 1998, limits admission to 62 majors including Urdu. In 2012, Ministry of Education revised the General Institutes of Higher Education Undergraduate Program Catalog, but Urdu is still in the catalog, which allows fewer students to select Urdu major. In addition to that, only few students after graduation start doing scientific research on Pakistan and rest are doing teaching, broadcasting, foreign trade and translation etc.

5.2 The difficulties of talented team

CNKI database indicates that in recent years the publications regarding China’s Pakistan studies are increasing smoothly. It is found from CNKI database by inserting Pakistan as search keyword that only 8 scholars published more than 30 articles; 14 scholars published 20 to 30 articles; and 17 scholars publish 10 to 20 articles. The details of the scholars are provided in Table 5. It is important to note that this statistics does not count the scholars with less than 10 articles.

Table 5) Statistics: Research on Pakistan by Domestic scholars

篇数

No. of article

30篇以上

Above 30 articles

20篇以上

Above 20 articles

10篇以上

Above 10 articles

人数

No. of people

8人

Eight people

14人

14 people

17人

17 people

作者（篇数）

Author (the no. of article)

杨卫路(71)田利明(52)杨恕(44)张力(39)孙德刚(37)赵燕(34)张放(31)陈继东(30)

Yang Weilu(71) Tian Liming(52) Yang Shu(44) Zhang Li(39) Sun Degang(37) Zhao Yan(34) Zhang Fang(31) Chen Jidong(30)

梅新育(28)阎平(28)宋德星(26)董藩(23)陈利君(23)张锐(23)陈向阳(22)张利岩(22)彭碧波(22)龚新蜀(22)刘建飞(21)朱锋(21)吴汝康(20)徐骞(20)

Mei Xinyu(28) Yan Ping(28) Song Dexing(26) Dong Fan(23) Chen Lijun (23) Zhang Rui(23) Chen Xiangyang(22) Zhang Liyan(22) Peng Bibo(22) Gong Xinshu(22) Liu Jianfei(21) Zhu Feng(21) Wu Rukang(20) Xu Qian(20)

杨光斌(19)郑静晨(19)刘正敏(19)侯世科(19)王云(19)马强(18)闫文虎(18)杨小平(17)时殷弘(17)李吉均 (17)黄民兴(17)朱险峰(17)孟继鸿(17)和平(16)陶文钊(16)许文波(16)沈丁立(16）

Yang Guangbin(19) Zheng Jingchen(19) Liu Zhengmin(19) Hou Shike(19) Wang Yun(19) Ma Qiang(18) Yan Wenhu(18) Yang Xiaoping(17) Shi Yinhhong(17) Li Jijun(17) Huang Minxing(17) Zhu Xianfeng(17) Meng Jihong(17) He Ping(16) Zhu Wenzhao(16) Xu Wenbo(16) Shen Dingli(16)

Note: searching keyword is Pakistan; searching category: whole article; grouping browse of searching: author; searching deadline is May 4th, 2017. http://www.cnki.net/

According to Pakistan researchers’ analysis for data retrieval, it is easy to find that first, part of Pakistan researchers reach to the retirement age, but the young researchers still fewer, with the condition of temporary shortage, not forming reasonable research echelon. Next, some scholars publish many Pakistan research paper, but part of scholars do not regard Pakistan research as their own objective country to specialize in, they only incidentally research Pakistan when study great-power diplomacy, national religion, anti-terror cooperation and related issues. Finally, most domestic scholars use Chinese to make research, but less use English or Urdu, and it is still has few English or Urdu articles in foreign periodicals in China.

5.3 The existing deficiencies in research field

The frequently used keywords by most domestic scholar in the Pakistan research field are the belt and road, relationship between China and Pakistan, investment security, terrorism, Islam and so on, but pay less attention to other fields. The preference study for Pakistan research limits the range and depth for understanding Pakistan to the certain extent. According to the CNKI, we can find that when Chinese scholars research Pakistan, most of them select the areas of research, such as security and anti-terrorism etc., thus, Sometime preference studies and media reports even influence impression of young students for Pakistan; so cognitive difference may arises in some of them and reluctant to carrying out research on Pakistan studies.

The number of scholars visiting Pakistan is also increasing with time but due to the same aforementioned reasons they do not prefer to stay for long term in Pakistan for conducting in-depth studies rather they preferred frequent visits of short durations.

5.4 The sufficient connection with international educational circles

Compare to China’s Pakistan research, the most think tanks and universities in America, Britain and other developed countries set up special Pakistan Research Institution, such as American Institute of Pakistan Studies, Centre for Pakistan Studies, Middle East Institute and Centre for the Study of Pakistan at SOAS, University of London etc. Take American Institute of Pakistan Studies as an example, this institution carries out open strategy, converge almost 400 American universities, research institutions and museums including more than 1,000 researchers to constitute powerful Pakistan research team and establish affiliated group; School of Oriental and African Studies University of London focuses on Pakistan research for long term, it covers every field of Pakistan research, such as they sets up curriculum for languages speaking in Pakistan: e.g. Urdu, Pushtu, Sindhi etc. European and American universities and research institutions develop long-term cooperative relationship with universities and research institutions in Pakistan by organizing meetings, collaborations and initiating student exchange programs.

At present, there are larger differences between China’s Pakistan research circles and developed countries’ Pakistan research circles on facilities, allocated personnel and scientific research mechanism etc. In addition, domestic scholars mostly use Chinese and are not comfortable in doing research in English; therefore have lack of communication and connection with international community.

6. Conclusions & Recommendations

Through 70 years of development, China’s Pakistan research obtains many achievements and develops independent academic system; however, we cannot ignore that it still has larger differences compare to developed countries’ Pakistan research. Therefore, to establish and improve China’s Pakistan study and drive friendly relationship between China and Pakistan become an important issue which increasingly draws Chinese educational circles’ attention.

6.1 Optimize existing system and mechanism

Pakistan, a country with population of 207 million people (Daily Pakistan Today, 2017); its population size ranks is sixth in the world (Daily The Nation, 2017), and its average annual growth rate is 2.4% (Daily Pakistan Today, 2017). With the gradual promotion of the construction of “China-Pakistan Economic Corridor”, China increases its investment in Pakistan, which needs lots of versatile talents who are familiar with Pakistan’s politics, economy, society, culture and religion; moreover, they need to be proficient in Urdu, Punjabi, Sindhi and Pushtu and other local languages as well. However, the current Urdu graduates cannot meet the requirement. It is suggested that not only the quota for Urdu Major should be increased by Ministry of Education but also they should launch training program for local languages of Pakistan such as Punjabi, Sindhi, Pushtu, etc. Government should support Pakistan Research Centers in Chinese universities and also set up political, economic, social, cultural and religious labs. On top of all, collaboration between these centers and labs needs to be guaranteed for conducting in-depth research work related to Pakistan. In addition, we suggest establishing fund for special studies to increase the support for inter-disciplines and social vulnerable subject to further optimize the system and mechanism of China’s Pakistan studies.

6.2 Systematize talent training

At present, it is an urgent affair to optimize China’s Pakistan research team. Firstly, government should enhance the comprehensive capability of scientific research team by sending them to Pakistan for training, study and communication with the help of China Scholarship Council: a government-sponsored overseas education platform. Secondly, China Scholarship Council should refine funding of “project for the research of international regional problems and talents with high-level foreign language” based on economically and strategically important country to China; bottom line is setting up special scholarship program for China’s Pakistan research country and proportion, or setting up the special scholarship program to invest Pakistan research for improving the investment level and enhancing propaganda. As for the part of young scholars and overseas students who want to go to Pakistan, the state should give them systematic support. What is more, we should both advocate the students who research international relations to study minority language, and encourage the students who study minority language to learn theory of international relations and national research knowledge.

Finally, accelerate the construction and training of talent team. We suggest that the relevant departments should accelerate the construction and training of talent team related to Pakistan research, and regard the Pakistan Research Centre in above universities as basis to build Pakistan research team with the reasonable structure of old, middle-age and young scholars.

6.3 Multiple research field

As previously mentioned, most China’s Pakistan studies stay in strategic research field, but pay less attention to the basic, theoretical field which will spend more time on theory but get fewer achievement in the short time, and China’s Pakistan analysis is still not deep enough. We suggest that the relevant departments should increase the investment for basic, research theoretical field, encourage others to set up each countries’ fund with special research, separately set up national issues in multiple research field, and try to cover Pakistan’s all social and scientific field, such as politics, economy, religion, society and culture and so on, supporting the development of Pakistan research and other national issues research. During the establishment and appraisal of relevant subjects, properly lean to young researchers, and bring the development of Pakistan research through subjects. On the research method, we suggest that the Chinese scholars should actively go to Pakistan, increase the support to field investigation, and actively use the qualitative and quantitative empirical analysis method, making the research achievements more persuasive. Finally, China’s Pakistan research team should actively “walk out”, and establish cooperative and research mode with the relevant institutions of Pakistan; both countries can convene meeting and research the concerned subjects together, making their achievement effectively serve for their relationship, finally, promote the benign development of two countries’ relationship. Deep analysis of China’s Pakistan studies may demand to explore basic theoretical fields which take more time to mature the results compare to the strategic research field. It is suggest that government should increase its funding for all Pakistan’s social and scientific fields e.g. politics, economy, religion, society, culture, etc. that will support the development of Pakistan and other national issues researches. Moreover, China’s Pakistan research team should actively establish research cooperation with relevant institutions of Pakistan; both countries can convene meeting and research in the two aforementioned research fields to promote the benign development of two countries’ relationship and economy.

6.4 Accelerate international communication and cooperation

China’s Pakistan research team should also pay attention to communication and cooperation with the Pakistan Research Institutions in developed countries. The developed countries, such as Europe and America etc., have numerous Pakistan research achievements which become a flag to guide Pakistan studies in international educational circles and serve as European and American policy for Pakistan. In recent years, China’s neighbouring countries, such as Japanese and Korea, also develop their unique school on other countries studies and research, so their experiences can be used as worthful references for making China’s Pakistan policy and conducting future research work. Therefore, by taking advantage of international communication and cooperation, China may improve and optimize scholar’s skills, facilities and scientific research system for China’s Pakistan research institutions. Last but not least, Chinese scholar must learn English and Urdu language to contribute in international journals. It is believed that aforementioned suggestions in this section are crucial to complete CPEC project and develop long-lasting friendly relationship between China and Pakistan.

References

Center for Pakistan and Gulf Studies. (February 2014). Pakistan – China Relations: Prospects & Challenges. Roundtable Report IV, Foreign Policy Series FPS. CH.1. Islamabad: Center for Pakistan and Gulf Studies.

Chinadaily. (2006, November 14). China Daily. Retrieved September 20, 2017, from China Daily Newspaper: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-11/14/content_732562.htm

ChinaEmbassyIslamabad. (n.d.). Embassy of China, Islamabad. Retrieved September 18, 2017, from Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan: http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/ce/cepk/chn/zbgx/zywj/t191356.htm

Daily Pakistan Today. (2017, August 25). Pakistan Today. Retrieved September 18, 17, from Daily Pakistan Today: https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2017/08/25/pakistans-population-soars-to-207m-with-2-4-growth/

Daily The Nation. (2017, January 06). The Nation. Retrieved September 18, 2017, from Daily The Nation : http://nation.com.pk/newspaper-picks/06-Jan-2017/pakistan-has-world-s-6th-largest-population

Dawn, D. T. (2015, August 19). Daily the Dawn. Retrieved September 28, 2017, from Daily the Dawn: https://www.dawn.com/news/1201362

Jafar Riaz Kataria & Anum Naveed. (2014). Pakistan-China Social and Economic Relations. South Asian Studies, Vol. 29(No.2), 395-410.

Kayani, F. N., Ahmed, M., & Shah, T. A. (2013). China-Pakistan Economic Relations: Lessons for Pakistan. Pakistan Journal of Commerce and Social Sciences, Vol. 7 (3), pp.454- 462.

MOFA-China. (2003, November 4). China-Pakistan Joint Declaration. Retrieved September 28, 2017, from Ministry of Foreign Affairs-China: http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/wjdt_665385/2649_665393/t40148.shtml

MOFA-China. (2014, February 29). Joint Declaration "Deepening China-Pakistan Strategic and Economic Cooperation". Retrieved September 28, 2017, from Ministry of Foreign Affairs-China: http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/wjdt_665385/2649_665393/t1130297.shtml

Zafar, U. (2015, March 16). The Daily Mail International. Retrieved September 20, 2017, from The Daily Mail International: http://dailymailnews.com/2015/03/16/understanding-dynamics-of-pak-china-economic-corridor-urged/

Zheng, X. (2010). Re-interpreting Silence: Chinese International Students' Verbal Participation in U.S. Universities. International Journal of Learning, 17(5), 451-464.

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