Mapping the Landscape of AI Governance in China: A Literature Review of Academic Discourse (2015–2025)

This study systematically reviews Chinese academic discourse on AI governance by analyzing 3,633 Chinese-language articles published in core academic journals between 2015 and 2025. Combining LDA topic modeling with qualitative thematic interpretation, the study identifies five major thematic clusters: legal institutionalization of AI governance and accountability, corporate responsibility and data–copyright compliance, algorithmic power and human-centered ethics, platform-mediated risks and generative AI governance, and geopolitical competition in global AI governance. The analysis further reveals that Chinese AI governance scholarship has developed several interconnected regulatory logics, including multi-actor collaborative governance, the expansion of governance objects from data and algorithms to generative AI systems, lifecycle-based regulatory interventions, and agile and distributed governance pathways. The findings suggest that, although normative and policy-oriented discussions have become increasingly sophisticated, the field still faces structural limitations in conceptual clarity, empirical validation, and policy implementation. Building on these findings, this article proposes a future research agenda centered on conceptual clarification, theoretical integration, empirical evaluation, and closer attention to implementation dynamics. By mapping the thematic structure and analytical orientations of Chinese AI governance research, the study contributes to a more systematic understanding of how Chinese scholarship conceptualizes the governance challenges posed by rapidly evolving AI technologies.