Theory and the Study of Modern Chinese History

I think of myself as an empirical historian above all else. The starting point of my own work has always been to identify a substantial body of hitherto unexplored or little explored materials and to generate new empirical information from such materials. I have turned to theory mainly as an aid to develop, through engagement and dialogue with it, my own concepts based on the empirical findings. Epistemologically, I have consciously tried to proceed from empirical research to theory and back to empirical findings rather than the reverse. I do not see myself as a theorist and am not qualified to speak about theory in any theoretical way. All I can write about here is my own experience, the lessons I have drawn, and the issues and questions that have remained for me.