Global China

Abstract

The contributions to The Routledge Handbook on Global China highlight the diverse and dynamic relations between Global China and multiple actors, contexts and agencies. The relationship between China's international outreach and the effects of Global China is not straightforward, and understanding the nature and implications of China's rise requires acknowledging the multiple sites, voices and faces of Global China. The Handbook reveals epistemic traps that hinder the understanding of Global China, such as othering and strategic narcissism. It argues for a more nuanced approach that embraces alternative perspectives and challenges existing binaries. The Handbook also emphasizes the importance of accounting for positionality and recognizing different perceptions of China as a global actor. It suggests analytical registers of relationality, global capitalist processes, language and discourse power, and planetary scale modernization to guide future research on Global China. By adopting these registers, researchers can better understand the multifaceted factors shaping Global China within the broader global context of competition and crisis.