INTRODUCTION

With fast developing relations between China and ASEAN there is a growing need for both regions to better understand each other as their political and economic interests become increasingly interwoven. Of course, the rise of China has long attracted much academic interest in the country from all over the world, including Southeast Asia. However, the state of Southeast Asian Studies in China is a less well-explored terrain. Yet this is an important issue as growing Chinese engagement of Southeast Asia needs to be underpinned by sound academic research about the region. In order to better understand the changes and challenges facing Southeast Asian Studies in China, the East Asian Institute and the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore jointly organized a Conference on Southeast Asian Studies in China: Challenges and Prospects, on 12–14 January 2006. The following is a brief overview of the key issues brought up during the conference.

HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN STUDIES IN CHINA

The study of Southeast Asia has deep roots in China. Dating back to as early as the third century, the records of Southeast Asia composed of the memoirs and notes of China's envoys and their assistants, monks making pilgrimages to South and Southeast Asia as well as navigators and travellers. In particular, the famed Chinese explorer, eunuch Zheng He, greatly enhanced Chinese knowledge of the region through his seven voyages. Under the Qing dynasty, the waves of Chinese immigrants to Southeast Asia in search of livelihood also boosted China's understanding of, and ties with the region at the popular level.

Even though there exists rich ancient literature on Southeast Asia, modern academic research could be traced back to the early twentieth century when Jinan University was founded in 1906 and courses on overseas Chinese and Southeast Asian history were first taught. Since then, China's Southeast Asian Studies have undergone several phases of development which have been largely shaped by two factors — China's relations with Southeast Asia and the domestic political and academic environment in China.

China's relations with Southeast Asia would provide an external impetus for the development of the field, and condition public and scholarly attention to it. China's domestic environment, on the other hand, would directly impact upon the academic freedom, resources and even approaches for scholars in the field.