Kenneth Scott Latourette’s Chinese Studies

Kenneth Scott Latourette, the professor of Missions and Oriental History in Yale University, was born on Aug.6th1884and passed away on Dec.26th1968. Professor Latourette, once served as the president of American History Association in1949, is the trailblazer in American Chinese Studies as well as the most famous historian of Christian Mission and the leading orientalist in the20th century. Involved in the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions, young Latourette had been in China serving as a missionary in Yale-in-China in Changsha from1910to1912. This experience shaped his future career and life work. When American has little knowledge about the Chinese, he had begun his studies in this area and introduced Chinese knowledge to American among others. Prior to the rise of John K. Fairbank and the East Asian Research Center in Harvard University, Latourette had played a leading part from1920s to1950s in Chinese Studies within American academic circle. After the World War Ⅱ, John K. Fairbank created the area study to end the traditional Chinese Study model in America. Cross-subject research highlighted with the Sociology applied to the Chinese study took the place of the traditional Sinology related with the Christian missions. Latourette gradually lost hold of Chinese studies. However, his great contribution to the development of American Chinese studies could not be neglected.Owing to historical reasons and restricted to the limited materials available in China mainland, the scholars at home haven’t undertaken the systematic and profound research on Latourette yet. While, the western scholars focus on his Mission History studies and show little interest in his Chinese Studies. The lack of research on Latourette’s Chinese studies at home and abroad highlight the necessity of this study.This essay is to examine Latourette’ academic and social activity of Chinese Studies and to analyze the dimensions, logics and characteristics of his researches on the basis of historical and cross-cultural analysis. It is to reveal as well his Christian standpoint and his main viewpoints of cultural communication and coactivity between the east and the west. In addiction, the role he played in the evolment from American traditional Sinology to modern Chinese Studies is summarized to enrich our knowledge about the American Chinese Studies’s dynamic, features at the beginning of the20th Century.This essay falls into six chapters in addition to the leading part and the conclusion.The Leading part is to introduce the significance and necessity of this study with a literature review on reseaches at home and abroad on Latourette and his Chinese studies.Chapter one is to examine Latourette’s original motivation to launch his Chinese studies. The influence that his Christian family had on him, together with the education that Yale University offered him, shaped his mind as well as his future career, especially his involvement in SVMFM and his stay in early20th century China open the door for him to begin the Chinese Studies.Chapter two is focused on his study on Chinese history and culture. His masterpieces are to be introduced and his viewpoints and standpoints of Chinese culture and cross-cultural communication are analyzed on the basis of text-reading and cross-cultural analysis.Chapter three is to examine latourette’s works concerning Sino-American relation in different times to analyze his changing attitude towards it and reveal the characteristics, logic and nature of his study.Chapter four is to analyze his masterwork A History of Christian Missions in China to reveal his main viewpoints in Christian missions’development in China and discuss his value orientation and academic preference.Chapter five is to describe the features and status of the American Chinese Studies from1930s to1950s and to locate Latourette’s academic activity in long history which function as the basis of examining his academy activity responding to the time and environment in order to evaluate his academic position and contribution to American Chinese Studies. Additonally, comparative analysis are to be conducted on Latourette and Fairbank from the perspective of their point of views, standpoint and value orientation to reveal Latourette’s limitation which caused him to fade from the academic stage of Chinese studies.Chapter six is to trace his organizing work in promoting Chinese Studies in American academic circle, and to evaluate his great contribution at the early20th century.The conclusion part is the summary of all chapters above. His academic position and characteristics are to be discussed and the deep root for his advantages and limitations of his Chinese studies are to be emphasized which are all the parts of time he lived. His influence upon American modern Chinese studies is also an important part in the conclusion.This study is a case study on the representative of American Chinese study experts at the first half of20th century. Through this study, a more comprehensive and acute evaluation on latourette and his Chinese studies are expected and more details are gained on the development of American Chinese studies prior to World War Ⅱ to enrich our knowledge.