ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the development of Chinese Studies in Indonesia. It also argues that a new approach to studying China in Indonesia is required. This new approach is to be able to capture the dynamic relations between a democratic Indonesia and a modern China, instead of one which is shaped by what we see through the lens of our relationship with the ethnic Chinese in Indonesia with its incumbent stereotyping created by socio-economic and political realities. The objective of studying China is to train holistic sinologists who are fluent in Mandarin and at the same time expert in a particular academic discipline, with the ability to impart their knowledge beyond academia. Such sinologists will be able to anticipate the challenges arising from an increasingly complex inter-connected future between Indonesia and China.
