Why Chinese universities are ditching language degrees for strategic regional expertise

Universities in China are shifting focus from traditional language degrees to country-specific and regional studies – a move analysts say reflects a broader strategy to craft a uniquely Chinese framework for understanding the world, independent of Western paradigms. The field of regional or area studies examines the politics, economics, culture, military affairs, geography, linguistics and other dimensions of countries and regions worldwide. Ministry of Education data shows that the interdisciplinary field has rapidly grown in popularity as an academic programme. At least 450 regional studies centres across more than 180 institutions have been set up nationwide since the ministry launched a “cultivation base” project in 2011, with about 20,000 faculty members deployed in the field. According to ministry data, 12 institutions proposed establishing the programme in 2024, making it one of the year’s most sought-after new majors. The shift comes as language majors face major cuts and restructuring. More than 109 institutions abolished 28 foreign language undergraduate majors between 2018 and 2022, according to the ministry. Among these, 26 universities discontinued their Japanese programmes and 21 eliminated English majors. Several top Chinese institutions – including East China Normal University and the University of Science and Technology of China – have announced that they will halt admissions to certain undergraduate language and translation programmes. The nationwide academic push is a direct response to China’s growing need for interdisciplinary talent, according to Zhang Yunling, a member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). “To understand this changing and complex world, it is not enough to simply train specialists within isolated disciplines,” said Zhang, a leading proponent and architect of the discipline. International studies has traditionally drawn on established disciplines, such as political science, linguistics and sociology. But relying on isolated approaches fragments the understanding of countries and regions, often leading to oversimplification and abstraction, according to Zhang. He said it was a “national imperative” for China to gain a deeper understanding of every country and region as it engaged more with the world. The discipline was also cited in the policy framework of China’s latest five-year plan, a strategic blueprint outlining economic and related goals for 2026 to 2030. It called for China to “strengthen regional and country studies and enhance the effectiveness of international communication”. Cui Hongjian, head of European Union studies at Beijing Foreign Studies University, said the field of regional studies was important to China’s larger goal of forging its own world view and “updating its global knowledge”, where previous research had been heavily influenced by Europe and the United States. “China now needs to develop its own experience and framework,” he said. “To genuinely become a global power, China now recognises that economic, political and military strength alone is insufficient. Knowledge is equally essential.” This was why regional studies placed special emphasis on fieldwork, Cui added. Analysts noted that top Chinese universities regarded fieldwork as a core element of their programmes, emphasising first-hand data collection through direct observation over reliance on secondary Western sources. According to Cui, China cannot frame its foreign policy simply through the prism of international relations theory – leave alone one largely shaped by the American school – given that Beijing and Washington had fundamentally different policy objectives. “Regional studies emphasises diversity, and that’s what sets it apart from traditional international relations theory,” he said. “In practice, this will lead China’s diplomacy to focus more on differences.” Analysts highlighted China’s concept of a “community with a shared future for mankind”. They noted that Beijing had invoked the phrase with increasing frequency in recent years at high-level meetings and international conferences, in addition to traditional Western phrases like “strategic partnership”. President Xi Jinping has mentioned the phrase in major speeches and meetings several hundred times over the past decade. The term means that China looks at itself and regions of the world – such as Latin America, Africa or Southeast Asia – as part of a symbiotic whole, according to Zhang. In contrast, traditional Western regional theories were fundamentally strategic, focusing on questions such as who controlled which territory or how one integrated into the global order, he said. However, Cui argued that a gap remained between the concept behind the term and its translation into concrete policies, creating challenges for regional studies researchers. Sun Chenghao, a fellow at Tsinghua University’s Centre for International Security and Strategy, said that stronger regional studies research was vital amid the intense US-China rivalry. “One view suggests that the US and China are competing for the rest of the world, essentially vying for greater influence over other regions or seeking to win the support of those countries,” he said. Sun said China could offset the impact of an inevitable US decoupling by deepening ties elsewhere, maintaining an indirect and strategically sufficient link to the American economy. “The US strategy remains a global one. No matter how much it retracts, it is still present in every corner of the world,” Sun said. “As China engages with other countries, it will inevitably involve US-China relations and these nations’ ties with Washington. That is why strengthening research in these countries is itself critically important.”

Why Chinese universities are ditching language degrees for strategic regional expertise

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Some 450 regional studies centres have been set up across more than 180 institutions nationwide since Ministry of Education launched project

Some 450 regional studies centres have been set up across more than 180 institutions nationwide since Ministry of Education launched project