Stefan Messingschlager, M.A.
Associate Researcher
Stefan Messingschlager is a historian and political scientist whose research focuses on contemporary Chinese history and Sino-German relations. He is currently completing his doctoral studies at Helmut Schmidt University in Hamburg.
Academic Background
Stefan Messingschlager studied History and Political Science (B.A. & M.A.) at the University of Konstanz and Peking University (北京大学). Since 2019, he has been a research associate at the Chair of Modern and Contemporary History at Helmut Schmidt University in Hamburg. Alongside his academic work, he has also been engaged in policy consulting since 2022 and, in this context, has been a Non-Resident Fellow at the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) in Berlin since 2025.
His studies were supported, among others, by the German Academic Scholarship Foundation (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes) and the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation. During his doctoral studies, he has additionally received funding from the Fritz Thyssen Foundation and the Academy of Sciences in Hamburg.
Research Interests
His research interests encompass the history and contemporary development of Sino-Western relations, with a particular focus on Sino-German relations since 1949, the history and present state of Western China expertise, and the history of the People's Republic of China from the 1970s onwards. His dissertation explores actors, networks, and practices related to China expertise in West Germany during the 1960s to 1980s.
Selected Publications
(Full publication list available on Stefan Messingschlager’s academia.edu profile)
- “Courting Berlin, Countering Brussels: China’s Twin Track Approach to Germany and the EU,” in: China Observers in Central and Eastern Europe (CHOICE), September 9, 2025, URL: https://chinaobservers.eu/courting-berlin-countering-brussels-chinas-twin-track-approach-to-germany-and-the-eu/.
- “Europe’s Dangerous Gap in China Expertise,” in: The Diplomat, July 2, 2025, URL: https://thediplomat.com/2025/07/europes-dangerous-gap-in-china-expertise.
- “Decoding Xi’s China: The Return of Pekingology,” in: The Interpreter (Lowy Institute), July 1, 2025, URL: https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/decoding-xi-s-china-return-pekingology.
- “China Research, Politics and Expertise in Germany: Some Reflections on a Tension-Fraught Field,” in: ASIEN: The German Journal on Contemporary Asia 170/171 (2024), pp. 65–86.
- “Von Besuchsdiplomatie, Sozialistischem Realismus und Eigenwilligkeit: China-Perzeption und China-Deutung des Künstlers Gustav Seitz in der jungen DDR (1950–1953),” in: Berliner China-Hefte – Chinese History and Society 56 (2024), pp. 133–156.
- “Zur neueren Militärgeschichte Chinas als Forschungsgebiet: Bestandsaufnahme und Perspektiven,” in: Militärgeschichtliche Zeitschrift 83/1 (2024), pp. 133–148.
- “The Sinologist Wolfgang Franke as Researcher and Cultural Broker,” in: CrossAsia Thematic Portal of the Berlin State Library (2024), URL: https://themen.crossasia.org/franke/?lang=en, DOI: https://doi.org/10.48796/20240806-000.
- “German Strategy on China – A Critical Appraisal / 德国对中国战略的批判性评估,” in: ASIEN: The German Journal on Contemporary Asia 166/167 (2023), pp. 140–151.
