Sociology of Islam, Volume 4, Issue 1-2, pages 129 – 148
Although China oriented academic interest in Turkey began in 1930s with the aim of learning Turks’ past from Chinese sources, this interest was limited to a smaller community of scholars consisting of sinologists and historians up to the 1990s. The paper deals with the evaluation of Turkish academic literature on China and tries to reveal the topography of China oriented academic works with some insight into academic community. First, it briefly reviews the Sino-Turkish relations and recent developments of China studies in Turkey. Thereafter, findings of the survey based on the examination of master and PhD theses in the field of social sciences in Turkey are discussed. It shows a positive correlation between quantitative growth of theses and diversification of research areas and the post 1980 transformation process of China in one hand, and the growth of Turkey-China relations in the other. Moreover, the academic motives and aims have changed compared to those of the early period. The researchers are now more oriented to China’s present and future than its past and they tend to understand and explain China’s rising, its future and its influence on Turkey’s economy with a more pragmatic approach.
