Abstract: Along with the developments and changes in the Chinese politics over the past seven decades, the Chinese political studies of the US academia have undergone four paradigm shifts. However, the increasingly sophisticated and scientific disciplinary norms and theoretical methods have failed to reliably examine the Chinese practice; instead, they have led to astonishing research findings. The fundamental reason lies in that the role of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the invariable center in the functioning of the Chinese politics, has always been declining in the paradigms of the Chinese political studies. Based on a reflection upon the Chinese political studies of the US academia over the last 70 years, this paper calls for a rediscovery of the CPC in the Chinese political studies, and “taking the CPC as the method” to investigate the real practice of the Chinese politics. This can help solve the dilemma in the current Chinese political studies, and is also favorable for political scientists in China to construct social science discourses rooted in the local practice.

Key words: US academia, Chinese political studies, Communist Party of China

摘要： 70年来伴随着中国政治的发展变化，美国学界的中国政治研究历经了四次范式转变，但日益精细化、科学化的学科规范和理论方法却不能可靠地检验中国实践，反而还得出了令人诧异的研究结论，其根本原因就在于不变的中国政治运作核心中国共产党，在其中国政治研究中的范式地位不断下降。本文在反思70年来美国学界中国政治研究的基础上，呼吁中国政治研究需要找回中国共产党，“以中国共产党为方法”触碰中国政治的实践经验，这不仅有利于解决当前中国政治研究中的现实困境，更有利于中国政治学界构建基于本土实践的社会科学话语表述。

关键词: 美国学界, 中国政治研究, 中国共产党