The Introduction of Sports in China (Research Note)

The term tiyu can refer to Chinese traditional practices as well as “sports�? as generally understood. While such a broad grouping of physical activities might appear surprising at first, it is not at all strange given the context in which sports were introduced in China.

Lu Xueyi, Li Peilin, Chen Guangjin (eds.), 2013 nian Zhongguo shehui xingshi fenxi yu yuce (Analyses and projections for Chinese society in 2013),Beijing, Shehui kexue wenxian chubanshe, 2012, 333 pp.

What If Social Science Methods Had No Homeland? Detour via a Sociohistory of the Chinese State through Its Archives

ABSTRACT: This article studies the methods used by Chinese and foreign social science researchers in their analysis of the contents of the state and Party administration archives of the People’s Republic of China. Through the study of this particular subject, I demonstrate that the “tactics” used in the study of contemporary Chinese society may also be found in the study of totalitarian societies and to a lesser extent, in the study of modern bureaucracies. This detour via the method leads us to reconsider the question of the need for a “Sinicisation of the social sciences.” More specifically, I call into question the idea that the heuristic nature of a method is necessarily adversely affected once past the frontier. KEYWORDS: social science, Sinicisation, methods, archives