In fact there's nothing very wrong with this, for after all academic research consists mainly of reading historical materials, raising questions and finding solutions, so the ability to read Chinese and to digest books 'content should be sufficient.
其實這也無可厚非，畢竟，學術研究主要是閱讀史料，提出問題，找出解決的方法，只要有閱讀和消化書籍內容的中文能力便也足夠。