Teaching the Chinese IR in IR Courses

As the Chinese IR theories develop and the rising power of China in global politics, the Chinese IR theories and the Chinese case become more and more popular in IR theory courses in universities. It is not difficult to find courses and programmes focusing on China across the world. However, the Chinese IR theories or the Chinese IR school, the debate on whether there is and should be a Chinese IR school is still on-going, receive less attention. What I mean by the Chinese IR theories receiving less attention in learning and teaching IR is that, first, the Chinese IR theories are normally scheduled and designed as one session or one topic within the theory introductory courses; second, the courses focusing on China and associated topics within the discipline, like Chinese foreign policy, China’s global governance, or China’s economic trade relations, do not sufficiently apply and stretch the Chinese IR theories to empirical cases and analysis. This teaching-and-learning note does not simply complain about the neglection of the Chinese IR theories in the IR teaching or advocate more sessions on the Chinese IR theories in IR theory foundational courses in general. This essay tries to pin down some general phenomena when IR scholars and Western universities teach the Chinese IR theories, and from personal teaching experiences and observations, to illustrate the problems and barriers behind these teaching practices.