Zeng Xianghong and Yang Shu

Abstract:The five Central Asian countries have been independent for nearly 30 years. Against this background.it is necessary for us to conduct a comprehensive analysis of China's Central Asia studies in this period in order to guide our research in the future. This article tries to build up an assessment framework, based on observational perspectives and research themes which scholas often adopt in area studies, to evaluate the achievements and shortcomings in China's Central Asia studies. The observational perspectives of area studies include emic and etic perspective, internal research themes include regional-internal and regional related themes. Therefore, all the achievements of area studies can be divided into four categories: internal research from emic perspective, related research from emic perspective, internal research from etic perspective, and related research from etic perspective. With this framework to assess the doctoral dissertations on Central Asia studies in China from 1991 to 2019,we can find that doctoral dissertations using etic perspective for analysis are quite abundant, especially those with related themes from this perspective account for the vast majority of all the doctoral dissertations. On the other hand, those using emic perspective for analysis-no matter with internal or related themes—are quite rare. In this context of the Central Asia studies as a discipline is highly valued by the Chinse government and academia present. This article urges the Chinese scholars on Central Asia studies to take this opportunity to expand research themes, promote theoretical innovation, and enhance academic training and cooperation with the academic in Central Asian countries in order to make greater progress in this field.