Status Quo of International Central Asian Studies: Based on “Collected Translations of Studies on Ethnic Relations and Ethnic Conflicts in Central Asia” 国际中亚研究现状分析——基于“中亚民族关系与民族冲突研究译丛”

The geopolitics of Central Asia is of great significance and directly related to the implementation of the “Belt and Road” initiative. The knowledge and research materials of Chinese scholars on modern Central Asia mostly come from Russian literature, which limits the systematicness, comprehensiveness, depth, and breadth of the research. In 2015, the Major Project of the National Social Science Fund, “Collected Translation of Studies on Central Asia Ethnic Relations and Ethnic Conflict” selected and translated 10 English monographs from top experts, covering ethnic relations and political transformation, foreign relations, and geopolitics, and radical Islamic issues. This article first uses the Cite Space software to analyze the academic papers in the field of international Central Asian studies from 2001 to 2019, sorts out the hot issues of great concern to the international academic community, and contrasts with the “collected translation.” It finds out that the topics of “selected translations” are quite representative, reflecting the latest trends and impact of radical Islam. Finally, on the basis of the above discussion, this paper summarizes the significance and enlightenment of the collected translation to the study of Central Asia in China.