Sinology, or Chinese studies, is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
primarily through
Chinese philosophy
Chinese philosophy originates in the Spring and Autumn period () and Warring States period (), during a period known as the "Hundred Schools of Thought", which was characterized by significant intellectual and cultural developmen ...
,
language
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...
,
literature
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
,
culture
Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Tyl ...
and
history
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...
and often refers to Western scholarship. Its origin "may be traced to the examination which Chinese scholars made of their own civilization."
The field of sinology was historically seen to be equivalent to the application of
philology
Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...
to China and until the 20th century was generally seen as meaning "Chinese philology" (language and literature). Sinology has broadened in modern times to include Chinese history,
epigraphy
Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...
and other subjects.
Terminology
The terms "sinology" and "sinologist" were coined around 1838 and use "sino-", derived from
Late Latin
Late Latin ( la, Latinitas serior) is the scholarly name for the form of Literary Latin of late antiquity.Roberts (1996), p. 537. English dictionary definitions of Late Latin date this period from the , and continuing into the 7th century in t ...
''Sinae'' from the
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
''Sinae'', from the
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
''Sin'' which in turn may derive from ''Qin'', as in the
Qin dynasty
The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first Dynasties in Chinese history, dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin (state), ...
.
In the context of
area studies
Area studies (also known as regional studies) are interdisciplinary fields of research and scholarship pertaining to particular geographical, national/ federal, or cultural regions. The term exists primarily as a general description for what ar ...
, the European and the American usages may differ. In Europe, Sinology is usually known as ''Chinese Studies'', whereas in the United States, Sinology is a subfield of Chinese Studies.
A
China watcher
A China watcher, or, less frequently, Pekingologist, is a person who reports on the politics of the People's Republic of China for western consumption, especially in a Cold War context. "China watching" was coined by analogy to birdwatching, which ...
is a person who monitors current events and power struggles in the
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
.
Japanese sinology
In
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, sinology was known as . It was opposed to
Kokugaku
''Kokugaku'' ( ja, 國學, label=Kyūjitai, ja, 国学, label=Shinjitai; literally "national study") was an academic movement, a school of Japanese philology and philosophy originating during the Tokugawa period. Kokugaku scholars worked to refo ...
, the study of Japan, and
Yōgaku or
Rangaku
''Rangaku'' (Kyūjitai: /Shinjitai: , literally "Dutch learning", and by extension "Western learning") is a body of knowledge developed by Japan through its contacts with the Dutch enclave of Dejima, which allowed Japan to keep abreast of Wester ...
, the study of the West or Netherlands. It is distinguished from the western and modern sinology.
Chinese sinology
In modern China, the studies of China-related subjects is known as "National Studies" (), and foreign sinology is translated as "Han Studies" ().
Western sinology
Beginnings to 17th century
The earliest Westerners known to have studied Chinese in significant numbers were 16th-century Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian missionariesall from either the
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of Cal ...
or the
Society of Jesus (Jesuits)seeking to spread
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
among the Chinese people. An early Spanish Dominican mission in
Manila
Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...
operated a printing press, and between 1593 and 1607 produced four works on Catholic doctrine for the Chinese immigrant community, three in
Classical Chinese
Classical Chinese, also known as Literary Chinese (古文 ''gǔwén'' "ancient text", or 文言 ''wényán'' "text speak", meaning
"literary language/speech"; modern vernacular: 文言文 ''wényánwén'' "text speak text", meaning
"literar ...
and one in a mixture of Classical Chinese and vernacular
Hokkien
The Hokkien () variety of Chinese is a Southern Min language native to and originating from the Minnan region, where it is widely spoken in the south-eastern part of Fujian in southeastern mainland China. It is one of the national languages in ...
.
Dominican accomplishments among the Chinese diaspora pale in comparison to the success of the Jesuits in Mainland China, led by the renowned pioneer
Matteo Ricci
Matteo Ricci, SJ (; la, Mattheus Riccius; 6 October 1552 – 11 May 1610), was an Italians, Italian Society of Jesus, Jesuit Priesthood in the Catholic Church, priest and one of the founding figures of the Jesuit China missions. He create ...
. Ricci arrived in Canton (modern
Guangzhou
Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...
) in 1583 and spent the rest of his life in China. Unlike most of his predecessors and contemporaries, Ricci did not view the Chinese as "idolatrous pagans", but viewed them as "like-minded literati approachable on the level of learning." He studied the Chinese Confucian classics, just like educated Chinese scholars, in order to present Catholic doctrine and European learning to the Chinese literati in their own language.
18th century
During the
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment or the Enlightenment; german: Aufklärung, "Enlightenment"; it, L'Illuminismo, "Enlightenment"; pl, Oświecenie, "Enlightenment"; pt, Iluminismo, "Enlightenment"; es, La Ilustración, "Enlightenment" was an intel ...
, sinologists started to introduce Chinese philosophy, ethics, legal system, and aesthetics into the West. Though often unscientific and incomplete, their works inspired the development of
Chinoiserie
(, ; loanword from French ''wikt:chinoiserie#French, chinoiserie'', from ''wikt:chinois#French, chinois'', "Chinese"; ) is the European interpretation and imitation of China, Chinese and other East Asia, East Asian artistic traditions, especial ...
and a series of debates comparing Chinese and Western cultures. At that time, sinologists often described China as an enlightened kingdom, comparing it to Europe, which had just emerged from the
Dark Ages. Among those European literati interested in China was
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his ...
, who wrote the play ''
L'orphelin de la Chine'' inspired by ''
The Orphan of Zhao
''The Orphan of Zhao'' is a Chinese play from the Yuan era, attributed to the 13th-century dramatist Ji Junxiang (紀君祥). The play has as its full name ''The Great Revenge of the Orphan of Zhao''. The play is classified in the ''zaju'' genre ...
'',
Leibniz
Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz . ( – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat. He is one of the most prominent figures in both the history of philosophy and the history of mathema ...
who penned his famous ''Novissima Sinica'' (News from China) and
Giambattista Vico
Giambattista Vico (born Giovan Battista Vico ; ; 23 June 1668 – 23 January 1744) was an Italian philosopher, rhetorician, historian, and jurist during the Italian Enlightenment. He criticized the expansion and development of modern rationali ...
.
Because Chinese texts did not have any major connections to most important European topics (such as the Bible), they were scarcely studied by European universities until around 1860. An exception to this was France, where Chinese studies were popularized thanks to efforts from
Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Vers ...
. In 1711, he appointed a young Chinese,
Arcadio Huang
Arcadio Huang (, born in Xinghua, modern Putian, in Fujian, 15 November 1679, died on 1 October 1716 in Paris)Mungello, p.125 was a Chinese Christian convert, brought to Paris by the Missions étrangères. He took a pioneering role in the teach ...
to catalog the royal collection of Chinese texts. Huang was assisted by
Étienne Fourmont
Étienne Fourmont (23 June 1683 – 8 December 1745) was a French scholar and Orientalist who served as professor of Arabic at the Collège de France and published grammars on the Arabic, Hebrew, and Chinese languages.
Although Fourmont is r ...
, who published a grammar of Chinese in 1742.
In 1732 a missionary priest of the Sacred Congregation "De propaganda fide" from the
kingdom of Naples
The Kingdom of Naples ( la, Regnum Neapolitanum; it, Regno di Napoli; nap, Regno 'e Napule), also known as the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was ...
,
Matteo Ripa
Matteo is the Italian form of the given name Matthew. Another form is Mattia. The Hebrew meaning of Matteo is "gift of god". Matteo can also be used as a patronymic surname, often in the forms of de Matteo, De Matteo or DeMatteo, meaning " escen ...
(1692–1746), created in Naples the first Sinology School of the European Continent: the "Chinese Institute", the first nucleus of what would become today's
Università degli studi di Napoli L'Orientale, or Naples Eastern University. Ripa had worked as a painter and copper-engraver at the imperial court of the
Kangxi Emperor
The Kangxi Emperor (4 May 1654– 20 December 1722), also known by his temple name Emperor Shengzu of Qing, born Xuanye, was the third emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1661 to 1 ...
between 1711 and 1723. Ripa returned to
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
from China with four young Chinese Christians, all teachers of their native language and formed the Institute sanctioned by
Pope Clement XII
Pope Clement XII ( la, Clemens XII; it, Clemente XII; 7 April 16526 February 1740), born Lorenzo Corsini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 12 July 1730 to his death in February 1740.
Clement presided over the ...
to teach Chinese to missionaries and thus advance the propagation of Christianity in China.
19th century
In 1814, a chair of
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
and
Manchu
The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) and ...
was founded at
Collège de France
The Collège de France (), formerly known as the ''Collège Royal'' or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment (''grand établissement'') in France. It is located in Paris ne ...
.
Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat
Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat (5 September 1788 – 2 June 1832) was a French sinologist best known as the first Chair of Sinology at the Collège de France. Rémusat studied medicine as a young man, but his discovery of a Chinese herbal treatise ...
, who
taught himself Chinese, filled the position, becoming the first professor of Chinese in Europe. By then the first Russian Sinologist,
Nikita Bichurin
Nikita Yakovlevich Bichurin (Никита Яковлевич Бичурин) (29 August 1777 – 11 May 1853, St. Petersburg), better known under his archimandrite monastic name Hyacinth (sometimes rendered as Joacinth), or Iakinf (Иакин ...
, had been living in
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
for ten years. Abel-Rémusat's counterparts in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
and
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
were
Samuel Kidd
Samuel Kidd (1804–1843) was an English Protestant missionary in Malacca, and professor of Chinese at University College, London.
Life
Born 22 November 1804 at Welton, near Kingston upon Hull, he was educated at the village school there. In 181 ...
(1797–1843) and Wilhelm Schott (1807–1889) respectively, though the first important secular sinologists in these two countries were
James Legge
James Legge (; 20 December 181529 November 1897) was a Scottish linguist, missionary, sinologist, and translator
who was best known as an early translator of Classical Chinese texts into English. Legge served as a representative of the London ...
and
Hans Georg Conon von der Gabelentz
Hans Georg Conon von der Gabelentz (16 March 1840 – 11 December 1893) was a German general linguist and sinologist. His (1881), according to a critic, "remains until today recognized as probably the finest overall grammatical survey of the Cla ...
. In 1878, a Professorship of Far Eastern Languages, the first of its kind in the German-speaking world, was created at the
University of Leipzig
Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...
with von der Gabelentz taking the position. Scholars like Legge often relied on the work of ethnic Chinese scholars such as
Wang Tao.
Stanislas Julien
Stanislas Aignan Julien (13 April 179714 February 1873) was a French sinologist who served as the Chair of Chinese at the Collège de France for over 40 years and was one of the most academically respected sinologists in French scholarship.
Ju ...
served as the Chair of Chinese at the Collège de France for over 40 years, starting his studies with Rémusat and succeeding him in 1833. He was notable for his translations not only of classical texts but also works of vernacular literature, and for his knowledge of Manchu.
Édouard Chavannes
Émmanuel-Édouard Chavannes (5 October 1865 – 29 January 1918) was a French sinologist and expert on Chinese history and religion, and is best known for his translations of major segments of Sima Qian's ''Records of the Grand Historian' ...
succeeded to the position after the death of
Marquis d'Hervey-Saint-Denys
A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman wi ...
in 1893. Chavannes pursued broad interests in history as well as language.
The image of China as an essentially Confucian society conveyed by Jesuit scholars dominated Western thought in these times. While some in Europe learned to speak Chinese, most studied written classical Chinese. These scholars were in what is called the “commentarial tradition” through critical annotated translation. This emphasis on translating classical texts inhibited the use of social science methodology or comparing these texts of other traditions. One scholar described this type of sinology as “philological hairsplitting” preoccupied with marginal or curious aspects. Secular scholars gradually came to outnumber missionaries, and in the 20th century sinology slowly gained a substantial presence in Western universities.
20th century and after
The Paris-based type of sinology dominated learning about China until the Second World War even outside France.
Paul Pelliot
Paul Eugène Pelliot (28 May 187826 October 1945) was a French Sinologist and Orientalist best known for his explorations of Central Asia and his discovery of many important Chinese texts such as the Dunhuang manuscripts.
Early life and caree ...
,
Henri Maspero
Henri Paul Gaston Maspero (15 December 188317 March 1945) was a French sinologist and professor who contributed to a variety of topics relating to East Asia. Maspero is best known for his pioneering studies of Daoism. He was imprisoned by the Naz ...
, and
Marcel Granet
Marcel Granet (29 February 1884 – 25 November 1940) was a French sociologist, ethnologist and sinologist. As a follower of Émile Durkheim and Édouard Chavannes, Granet was one of the first to bring sociological methods to the study of ...
both published basic studies and trained students. Pelliot's knowledge of the relevant languages, especially those of Central Asia, and control of bibliography in those languages, gave him the power to write on a range of topics and to criticize in damning detail the mistakes of other scholars. Maspero expanded the scope of sinology from Confucianism to include Daoism, Buddhism, and popular religion, as well as art, mythology, and the history of science. The contribution of Granet was to apply the concepts of
Emile Durkheim
Emil or Emile may refer to:
Literature
*'' Emile, or On Education'' (1762), a treatise on education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
* ''Émile'' (novel) (1827), an autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life
*'' Emil and the Detecti ...
, a pioneer sociologist, to the society of ancient China, especially the family and ritual.
The Russian school of sinology was focused mainly on learning classical Chinese texts. For example, the contribution of the Russian sinologist
Julian Shchutsky
Julian Konstantinovich Shchutsky (russian: Юлиан Константинович Шуцкий, 11 August 1897, Ekaterinburg – February 18, 1938, Leningrad) was a Russian sinologist.
Education and scientific career
Shchutsky's father was of ...
was especially valuable. The best full translation of the ''
I Ching
The ''I Ching'' or ''Yi Jing'' (, ), usually translated ''Book of Changes'' or ''Classic of Changes'', is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. Originally a divination manual in the Western Zho ...
'' (''Book of Changes'') was made by him in 1937. Later his translation was translated in English and other European languages.
After the establishment of the
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
in 1949, the study of China developed along diverging lines. The rise of
Area studies
Area studies (also known as regional studies) are interdisciplinary fields of research and scholarship pertaining to particular geographical, national/ federal, or cultural regions. The term exists primarily as a general description for what ar ...
, the role of
China watcher
A China watcher, or, less frequently, Pekingologist, is a person who reports on the politics of the People's Republic of China for western consumption, especially in a Cold War context. "China watching" was coined by analogy to birdwatching, which ...
s, and the growth of university graduate programs has changed the role of sinology. Funding for Chinese and Taiwanese studies may come from a variety of sources; one prominent source is the
Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation
The Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange (CCKF; ) is a private nonprofit organization located in Taipei, Taiwan, that provides support for research grants on Chinese studies in the humanities and social sciences at ove ...
.
The Area studies approach, especially in the United States, challenged the dominance of classical Sinology. Scholars such as
John King Fairbank
John King Fairbank (May 24, 1907 – September 14, 1991) was an American historian of China and United States–China relations. He taught at Harvard University from 1936 until his retirement in 1977. He is credited with building the field of Chi ...
promoted the "study of China within a discipline," an approach which downplayed the role of philological Sinology and focused on issues in history and the social sciences.
One of the earliest American scholars of
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
China and Sino-American relations was Chinese-American
Tang Tsou
Tsou Tang (; 18 December 1918 – 7 August 1999) was a China-born American political scientist, best known for his book ''America's Failure in China'' (1963) and studies of contemporary Chinese politics. He was on the faculty of University of Chica ...
of the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
. Tsou emphasized the importance of academic objectivity in general and in sinology in particular, stressing that intellectual and academic exchange between China and the West was the only way for both parties to come to a greater understanding of one another.
In 1964 an exchange in the pages of the
Journal of Asian Studies
''The Journal of Asian Studies'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Asian Studies, covering Asian studies, ranging from history, the arts, social sciences, to phil ...
debated the continued relevance of Sinology. The anthropologist
G. William Skinner
George William Skinner (; February 14, 1925 – October 26, 2008) was an American anthropologist and scholar of China. Skinner was a proponent of the spatial approach to Chinese history, as explained in his Presidential Address to the Associat ...
called for the social sciences to make more use of China, but wrote “In recent years the cry has gone up: Sinology is dead; long live Chinese studies!” and concluded that “Sinology, a discipline unto itself, is being replaced by Chinese studies, a multidisciplinary endeavor with specific research objectives.”
Joseph Levenson
Joseph Richmond Levenson (June 10, 1920 – April 6, 1969) was a scholar of Chinese history and Jane K. Sather Professor of History at the University of California, Berkeley.
After graduating from Boston Latin School in 1937 and Harvard Colleg ...
, an historian, went further. He doubted that Sinology was a tool which social scientists would still find useful, while another historian,
Benjamin I. Schwartz
Benjamin Isadore Schwartz (December 12, 1916 – November 14, 1999) was an American academic, political scientist, and sinologist who wrote on a wide range of topics in Chinese politics and intellectual history.
He taught at Harvard his entire ...
, on the other hand, replied that the disciplines were too often treated as ends in themselves. Sinology had its backers.
Frederick W. Mote
Frederick Wade "Fritz" Mote (June 2, 1922 – February 10, 2005) was an American sinologist and a professor of History at Princeton University for nearly 50 years. His research and teaching interests focused on China during the Yuan and Min ...
, a specialist in traditional China, replying to Skinner, spoke up for Sinology, which he saw as a field or discipline in itself. Another specialist in traditional China,
Denis Twitchett
Denis Crispin Twitchett (23 September 192524 February 2006) was a British Sinologist and scholar who specialized in Chinese history, and is well known as one of the co-editors of ''The Cambridge History of China''.
Biography
Denis Twitchett was b ...
, in reply to the back and forth of this debate, issued what he called "A Lone Cheer for Sinology." He did not accept the assumption that there is "some implicit hostility between 'Sinology’ and the disciplines of history and social sciences.” Sinology, he continued, is used in too a wide range of meanings to be so confined:
:At one extreme it is used to characterize a rather ridiculous caricature compounded of pedantry and preoccupation with peripheral and precious subjects of little general significance.... At the other extreme, the definition used by Prof. Mote is so broad and all-inclusive as to mean little more than the humanistic studies in the Chinese field.
During the
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
, China Watchers centered in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
, especially American government officials or journalists. Mutual distrust between the United States and China and the prohibition of travel between the countries meant they did not have access to press briefings or interviews. They therefore adopted techniques from
Kremlinology
Kremlinology is the study and analysis of the politics and policies of the Soviet Union while Sovietology is the study of politics and policies of both the Soviet Union and former communist states more generally. These two terms were synonymous unt ...
, such as the close parsing of official announcements for hidden meanings, movements of officials reported in newspapers, and analysis of photographs of public appearances. But in the years since the opening of China, China watchers can live in China and take advantage of normal sources of information.
Towards the end of the century, many of those studying China professionally called for an end to the split between Sinology and the disciplines. The Australian scholar
Geremie Barmé
Geremie R. Barmé (born 1954) is an Australian sinologist, author, and film-maker on modern and traditional China. He was formerly Director, Australian Centre on China in the World and Chair Professor of Chinese History at Australian National ...
, for instance, suggests a "New Sinology", one which "emphasizes strong scholastic underpinnings in both the classical and modern Chinese language and studies, at the same time as encouraging an ecumenical attitude in relation to a rich variety of approaches and disciplines, whether they be mainly empirical or more theoretically inflected."
Sinologists
Journals
*''
Bulletin de l'École française d'Extrême Orient
The French School of the Far East (french: École française d'Extrême-Orient, ), abbreviated EFEO, is an associated college of PSL University dedicated to the study of Asian societies. It was founded in 1900 with headquarters in Hanoi in wh ...
''
*''Chinese Heritage Quarterly'', China Heritage Project, Australian National University
*''
Euro-Sinica
''Euro-Sinica'' is a scholarly series, published by the European academic publisher Peter Lang. The series focuses primarily on intercultural and transcultural studies, including intellectual history, of Europe and China.
The monograph series wa ...
''
*''
Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies
The ''Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies'' (HJAS) is an English-language scholarly journal published by the Harvard-Yenching Institute. ''HJAS'' features articles and book reviews of current scholarship in East Asian Studies, focusing on Chinese, ...
''
*''
Journal of Asian Studies
''The Journal of Asian Studies'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Asian Studies, covering Asian studies, ranging from history, the arts, social sciences, to phil ...
''
*Journal of the European Association for Chinese Studies
*The (Cambridge) China Quarterly
*''
Journal Asiatique
The ''Journal asiatique'' (full earlier title ''Journal Asiatique ou Recueil de Mémoires, d'Extraits et de Notices relatifs à l'Histoire, à la Philosophie, aux Langues et à la Littérature des Peuples Orientaux'') is a biannual peer-reviewed a ...
''
*''
Late Imperial China
The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC), during the reign of king Wu Ding. Ancient historical texts such as the '' Book of Documents'' (early chapte ...
''
*''
Monumenta Serica
''Monumenta Serica - Journal of Oriental Studies'' (Chin. 華裔學志, Huayi xuezhi) and for the web is an international academic journal of sinology. It is published by Monumenta Serica Institute in Sankt Augustin. The editor-in-chief was unt ...
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Sino-Platonic Papers
''Sino-Platonic Papers'' is a scholarly monographic series published by the University of Pennsylvania. The chief focus of the series is on the intercultural relations of China and Central Asia with other peoples. The journal was established in 19 ...
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T'oung Pao
''T’oung Pao'' (; ), founded in 1890, is a Dutch journal and the oldest international journal of sinology. It is published by the publisher E. J. Brill.
''T'oung Paos original full title was ''T’oung Pao ou Archives pour servir à l’étud ...
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Modern China
The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC), during the reign of king Wu Ding. Ancient historical texts such as the ''Book of Documents'' (early chapter ...
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*''Toho Gakuho''
*''Toyoshi Kenkyu''
See also
*
Sinophile
A Sinophile is a person who demonstrates a strong interest for China, Chinese culture, Chinese language, Chinese history, and/or Chinese people.
Those with professional training and practice in the study of China are referred to as Sinologi ...
References
Sources
*
* Barrett, Timothy Hugh, ''Singular Listlessness: A Short History of Chinese Books and British Scholars'' (London: Wellsweep, 1989). 125 pages. "Published in its original form in F. Wood, ed., British Library Occasional papers, 10: Chinese studies
988
Year 988 ( CMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Byzantine Empire
* Fall – Emperor Basil II, supported by a contingent of 6,000 Varangians ...
p. 9-53.".
* Cayley, John & Ming Wilson ed., ''Europe Studies China: Papers from an International Conference on the History of European Sinology'', London: Han-Shan Tang Books, 1995.
*
* (See also
E.G. Pulleyblank's
review of the work in the ''Journal of the American Oriental Society'', Vol. 122, No. 3 (Jul.-Sep., 2002), pp. 620–624, available through
JSTOR
JSTOR (; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library founded in 1995 in New York City. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary sources as well as current issues of j ...
).
* Mungello, David E.,
Curious Land: Jesuit Accommodation and the Origins of Sinology'', Stuttgart: F. Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden, 1985; rpr. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1989 .
*
* Yang Liansheng, ''Excursions in Sinology'' (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1969).
*
* Zurndorfer, Harriet,
A Brief History of Chinese Studies and Sinology" in
External links
The Sinology InstituteNew Sinology 后汉学/後漢學The China StoryAustralian Center on China in the World
Guoxue
Chinese Text Project
Chinese Civilisation Centre
- City University of Hong Kong
Sinology Project, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
China Heritage Project
- Australian National University
* Torbjörn Lodé
(archived)
Library and research guides
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Chinese culture