Prof. Ge Zhaoguang’s  article Absorbing the "Four Borderlands" into "China": Chinese Acdemic Discussions of "China" in the First Half of the Twentieth Century  was published in Chinese Studies in History , Vol.48, No.4.

Abstract:

 As a historical study, this article attempts to objectively describe the state of mordern China， its territories, and its peoples, and the process by which they came into being, focusing on how Chinese acdemic circles participated in reconstructing the historical narrative on "China" and the "Chinese people" in the 1920s and 1930s. It narrates a historical process: how mainstream Chinese acdemic circles participated in the movement to reconstruct “China” and the "Chinese people" after the fall of Qing Dynasty, particularly in the 1920s and 1930s，under the impetus of the historical, political, and social context of modern China. To a certain extent, their efforts to absorb the "four borderlands" into "China" may have hastened the rise of modern China, with its unique territories and people.