History of Sinology
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History of Sinology
From Jesuit Missionaries to Digital Humanities
Martin Woesler (Ed.)
Hunan Normal University / Witten/Herdecke University
European University Press · First Edition 2026.1 · ~1,000 pages
ISBN 978-3-86515-447-7 (EUP) / 978-1-68202-595-6 (APUSA)
Contributing authors: Hussain Aryan (Afghanistan), Etienne Bankuwiha (Burundi), Sara Cvetanovska (Macedonia), Giray Fidan (Turkey), Maurice Gountin (Benin), Michael Knüppel (Germany), Luo Huiling (Spain), Jorge Malena (Argentina), Ghulam Mustafa (Pakistan), Darya Nechyparik (Russia), A. D. Pavlova (Russia), Tentang Sejarah (Indonesia), Martin Woesler (Germany)
Sinologists interested in contributing to the next edition are welcome to join — simply register as a co-author and start editing.
Available in multiple languages / Mehrsprachig verfügbar / 多语言版本:
- English (this page) -- Complete
- Deutsch -- All chapters translated
- 中文（简体） -- All chapters translated
- 中文（正體） -- Chapters 1, 2, 4 translated; remaining in progress
- Français -- All chapters translated
- Español -- Chapter 1 translated; remaining in progress
- Русский -- Chapters 1, 2, 4, 5 translated; remaining in progress
Translation status: View translation status report
Table of Contents
PART I: ORIGINS AND PRECURSORS
- Chapter 1: Early Encounters — Travelers, Traders, and the First Reports on China
- Chapter 2: The Jesuit Enterprise — From Missionary Linguistics to Proto-Sinology (1582–1773)
PART II: THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SINOLOGY AS AN ACADEMIC DISCIPLINE
- Chapter 4: The Founding of Academic Sinology (1814–1900)
- Chapter 5: The Maturation of Sinology (1900–1945)
- Chapter 6: Cold War Sinology — Divided Fields, Competing Paradigms (1945–1990)
PART III: SINOLOGY BY COUNTRY AND REGION
- Chapter 7: Germany — From Leibniz to Contemporary Chinawissenschaften
- Chapter 8: France — The Collège de France Tradition and the Golden Age of Philological Sinology
- Chapter 9: Great Britain — Diplomats, Missionaries, and the Translator-Scholar Tradition
- Chapter 10: The Netherlands — From the VOC to Leiden’s Global Reach
- Chapter 11: Portugal and Spain — The Iberian Roots of European Sinology
- Chapter 12: Italy — From Matteo Ricci to Contemporary Italian Sinology
- Chapter 14: Scandinavia — Bernhard Karlgren and the Swedish School
- Chapter 15: Eastern Europe — Sinology in Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Macedonia, and Belarus
- Chapter 16: Russia — From the Ecclesiastical Mission to Contemporary Chinese Studies
- Chapter 17: United States — From Friedrich Hirth to the Area Studies Model
- Chapter 18: Australia and New Zealand — Sinology in the Antipodes
- Chapter 19: East Asia — Sinology in Japan, Korea, and Vietnam
- Chapter 20: Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Indonesia — Sinology on the Silk Road and Beyond
- Chapter 21: Africa and Latin America — Emerging Chinese Studies
About This Project
This is a collaborative scholarly book project hosted on the China Studies Wiki. Registered authors and editors can contribute to individual chapters. See Books for more information about the book platform.
Status: 1st edition published 2026.1, 2nd edition in preparation