King's College London

Funding Information: Zhang tries to obtain a research fellowship funded by the University but is told that he is unlikely to get it, partly because his research proposal has academic weaknesses, and partly due to anxieties on the part of China Studies experts serving on the University fellowship selection committee. The University’s China studies department has several large joint research programmes, funded by various Chinese entities, with prestigious universities in China, vulnerable academic partners in China, and Chinese students paying tuition fees at the ‘overseas’ rate. One or two of the University’s academics are also thought to hold lucrative visiting researcher positions in China, but the details of these positions are not known. The University is also considering the establishment of a ‘Confucius Institute’ with Chinese government funding. 5 Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.