Missionary Sinological Studies

Author: Zhang Xiping
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-05-01
Features: From legends, Europeans learned about a distant land called China in the East, a land with a long history and unique charm. Europeans, who had a strong interest in the childhood culture of humanity, were deeply attracted, unintentionally forming a trend of admiration for the ancient Chinese civilization. Thus, Sinology emerged in Europe and continued to develop. From the early studies of Chinese characters, supported by the religious spirit of Jesuits, to the establishment of academic Sinology in the 19th century; from the emergence of a group of scholars in the early 20th century who still have a profound impact on today's scholars, to the later rise of American Sinology after World War II and the reflection and re-ascendancy of European Sinology driven by advanced historiography, Western Sinology has left a long and vibrant developmental trajectory, which is also the developmental trajectory of the study of ancient Chinese history in the West. It is along this trajectory that the distance between China and the West has been bridged.