Two-hundred and fifty-seven research articles on China tourism published between 1979 and 2015 in four leading international tourism journals (i.e. Annals of Tourism Research, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Journal of Travel Research and Tourism Management) were reviewed to delineate the status of China tourism research and indicate areas for future academic inquiry. The most common research themes within the body of literature reviewed were identified as tourist behavior, tourism governance and policy issues as well as tourism economics. Methodologically, a balanced distribution of research methods was identified. This review examines the relationship between authorship and fieldwork, and its impact on research interpretations. This review paper calls for more rigorous fieldwork reflecting genuine observations of tourism development and the relevant sociocultural and political developments in transitional China.

为刻画中国旅游研究的现状并为未来的学术研究指明方向，本文回顾了于1979年至2015年间发表在四本领先的国际旅游期刊（分别是：《旅游研究记事》、《可持续旅游学刊》、《旅行研究学刊》和《旅游管理》）的有关中国旅游的257篇研究论文。在所回顾的文献中，最常见的研究主题依次是旅游者行为、旅游治理与政策议题、旅游经济学。在方法论方面，所使用的研究方法的分布较为均衡。本文检视了作者与田野调查之间的关系及其对研究解释的影响。本文呼吁更多能真实反映中国转型期的旅游发展及相关的社会文化与政治发展的严谨的田野调查。