Concerning the understanding on Chinese shoens in Japanese academia (mainly the contrast between 'the basic principle of world history' and European shoens in medieval times), opinions have been divided roughly into two theories and disputed.
日本の学界では中国の荘園に対する理解（主に「世界史の基本原則」及び中世ヨーロッパの荘園との対比）について大きく分けると2説に分かれて論争が行われてきた。