：Comparative studies on development tracks of Chinese and international geopolitical studies are seldom found in contemporary academia. This article reviews the development of Chinese and international geopolitical studies and compares their differences, and examines the prospect of Chinese geopolitical studies. This research found that there are significant differences between Chinese and international geopolitical studies on their essence, goals, contents, and basic understanding. With regard to their ideology and study area, mainstream contemporary international geopolitical studies are critical geopolitical research, and the diversification and generalization of its research subjects are increasingly obvious. Chinese geopolitical studies are practice-focused and mainly serve the national strategies. With regard to research method, international studies emphasize qualitative analysis and field research, and have deep understanding on specific areas. Chinese scholars focus on spatial and quantitative analyses, and pay special attention to macro-level spatial configuration and differentiation. This article concludes that Chinese scholars should investigate the essential relationship between geographic elements and geopolitics, strengthen cross-field research and make the results more reliable and practical, build a global worldview, widen the research fields, and ultimately found geopolitical thoughts with Chinese characteristics to assist the rejuvenation of China.

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