Chinese scholars participated in studies of the stele from the 1980s. Wang Jianqun interviewed local farmers and decided the intentional fabrication had not occurred and the lime was pasted by local copy-making workers to enhance readability. He criticized Lee Jin-hui's claim. He considered 倭 ("Wa") word meaning is not a country but a pirate group, and he also denied Japan dominated the southern part of Korea.[39][40]
