The Eighteenth Century England For Chinese Studies

The Sino-Western cultural Communications got to an unprecedented climax during the end of the 17th Century to the 18th Century, a lot of missionaries entered China and wanted to change the belief of the Chinese. They inherited the Accommodation Policy created by Matteo Ricci, learning Chinese, dressing the Chinese scholars' costumes, and studying the Chinese culture, they fed back Europe a great deal of Chinese information and data that promoted the development of the European Continental Sinology. Scholars who study the Sinology of the 17th and 18 th Century always focus on Portugal, Italy, French, Germany, etc., where there were missionaries to China. Britain seemed excluded from this European Sinology circle. In fact, Because of coveting the trading monopoly in the Far-east area for a long time, Britain had been concerned seriously about the European Continental Sinology since the missionaries feeding back the Chinese information to Europe though they had no chance to send their Protestant missionaries to China. In addition, Britain is a Protestant Country that has no inhibition to the publications imposed by the Catholics, so the Sinology works of the Jesuits published in great freedom and made fully used by the British scholars during the period of Chinese Rites Controversy. On the base of the European Continental Sinology, British scholars studied the Chinese Politics, Economy, Characters and Geography in a further step associated with the messages fed back by their own explorers and merchants, proposed the new ideas and produced widely effects. British Sinology formed immediately after European Continental Sinology, and kept almost the same development step with it, and depended on it badly. On the other hand, British Sinology scholars had been suspected with the Jesuits' motives of propagating the Gospel in China, so they insisted on the rule of criticizing and using of their Sinology works. Comparing to the European Continental Sinology, the British Sinology Scholars respected more seriously of their own countrymen's reports on Chinese made on the spot and messages sent back by the East-India Company, emphasized more eagerly on the directed benefits on Sinology, So their studying area and methods totally different from the European Continental Sinology, and got totally different ideas from the circle of European Continental Sinologists, which played the controversial Chinese Impressions' symphony, even affected on the development of the European Sinology, showed the individual discrepancy with European Continental Sinology. According to these efforts, British Sinology scholars did not fall far behind to other European countries in studying Sinology.British Pre-Sinology has already formed during the first two decades of the 17^th Century, and got further development and prosperity during the 18^th Century. On the foundation of synergies of the British Government, the Commercial agencies and the Academics, etc, British Sinology during the 18^th Century completed the transitional course from the Pre-Sinology to the professional modern Sinology, and changed the affiliating relations with the European Continental Sinology and showed the unique characteristics of the British Sinology, so I chose this period of British Sinology to be my thesis title. From the Sociology, the Communications and other interdisciplinary perspectives, my thesis tries to adopt some studying methods such as the measurement history, comparative analysis, etc., to illustrate and analyze the whole process of British Sinology in the 18^th Century in three respects, Firstly, illustrating the British Sinology's main representative and main ideas of the forming period, developing period, transitional period and modern period, to get the typical characteristics of each different times; Secondly, analyzing the associations and discrepancies between British Sinology and European Continental Sinology, to explore the their close relationship of mutual effects; Thirdly, explains the mutual interactive relations between the British Sinology and British politics, economy, diplomacy, trade and culture, etc., as well as its roles and effects on the Sino-British relationship, to show the characteristics of the timeliness and pragmatism all along in British Sinology.