American attention to study of the Far East and Pacific region,especially of China,followed America's political,economic
and military rise after the Second World War.American academic interest in the new China followed from an overall goal of elevating American
China studies from a purely academic pursuit to one in the service of America's global strategy and national interests.This paper examines China studies in the post\|war US,focusing on the effects of McCarthyism on the field.It describes how the US government funded a major growth of
research on China in the post\|war period.It explains how McCarthyite anti\|communism shaped American understanding of the new China by silencing critics sympathetic to China and by magnifying fears of Chinese aggression.Finally,this paper explains how,despite these setbacks,during the 1950s there was a dramatic growth in American research and publications on China.It explains how the establishment of new journals and research centers at universities laid the way for rapid growth of China studies in the 1960s and 1970s.