List of sinologists

A list of sinologists around the world, past and present. Sinology is commonly defined as the academic study of China primarily through Chinese language, literature, and history, 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 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, and other subjects.

Australia

 * Rafe de Crespigny
 * Charles Patrick Fitzgerald
 * Colin Mackerras
 * Robert Henry Mathews
 * John Minford
 * Pierre Ryckmans
 * Yingjie Guo
 * Kevin Rudd

Austria

 * Michael Prochazka

Belgium

 * Simon Leys
 * Roel Sterckx (born 1969)
 * Antoine Thomas
 * Ferdinand Verbiest
 * Dan Vercammen (www.taoiststudies.org)

Bulgaria

 * Snejina Gogova

Canada

 * Timothy Brook
 * Charles Burton
 * Jerome Ch'en (born 1919)
 * Edwin G. Pulleyblank
 * Michael Szonyi
 * Chia-ying Yeh

China

 * James Dyer Ball (1847–1919)
 * Yuen Ren Chao
 * C. T. Hsia
 * Huang Xianfan
 * D. C. Lau
 * Li Xueqin
 * Rao Zongyi
 * Qian Mu
 * Qiu Xigui
 * Wang Li, linguist
 * Wang Tao, archaeologist
 * Wang Zhongshu
 * Xia Nai
 * Yang Bojun

Czech Republic

 * Gustav Haloun (1898–1951)
 * Jaroslav Průšek (1906–1980)

Estonia

 * Linnart Mäll

France

 * Jean-Baptiste Du Halde (1674–1743)
 * Arcade Huang (1679–1717)
 * Étienne Fourmont (1683–1745)
 * Jean Denis Attiret (1702–1768)
 * Jean Joseph Marie Amiot (1718–1793)
 * Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat (1788–1832) – studied languages of the Far East and produced the Essai sur la langue et la littérature chinoises, and the Chinese novel Iu-kiao-li, ou les deux cousines, roman chinois.
 * Stanislas Julien (1797–1873)
 * Séraphin Couvreur (1835–1919)
 * Léopold de Saussure (1886–1925)
 * Léon Wieger (1956–1933)
 * Édouard Chavannes (1865–1918) – best known for his 1) translations from Sima Qian's Shiji, sections of the Hou Hanshu, and the Weilüe 2) studies of Han dynasty stone carvings and Chinese religion, including the groundbreaking study of the worship of Mount Tai in ancient China. His students included Henri Maspero, Paul Pelliot and Marcel Granet.
 * Paul Pelliot (1878–1945)
 * Victor Segalen (1878–1919) – scholar of ancient Chinese sculpture
 * Henri Maspero (1883–1945)
 * Paul Demiéville – studied the Franco-Belgian school of Buddhology. His 1947 work 'Mirror of the Mind' was widely read in the U.S. and inaugurated a series by him on subitism and gradualism.
 * Marcel Granet (1884–1940) – one of the first to use sociological methods
 * Jean Escarra (1885–1955)
 * René Grousset (1885–1952)
 * Étienne Balazs (1905–1963)
 * Nicole Vandier-Nicolas (1906–1987)
 * Jacques Gernet (1921–2018)
 * Jean-Pierre Drège (born 1946)
 * François Jullien (born 1951)
 * Anne Cheng (born 1955)
 * David Gosset (born 1970)
 * Corinne Debaine-Francfort (birth date unknown)
 * Michel Soymié (1924–2002)
 * Joël Bellassen (born 1950)

Germany

 * Hans Georg Conon von der Gabelentz (1807–1874) – linguist; author of comprehensive Chinesische Grammatik.
 * Herbert Franke (1914–2011) – historian of Liao, Jin, and Yuan dynasties.
 * Otto Franke (1863–1946)
 * Wolfgang Franke (1912–2007), son of Otto
 * Emil Krebs (1867–1930) – Polyglot
 * Yu-chien Kuan (1931–2018)
 * Wolfgang Kubin (born 1945)
 * Walter Liebenthal (1886–1982)
 * Klaus Mühlhahn (born 1963)
 * Christian Schwarz-Schilling (born 1930)
 * Erling von Mende (born 1940)
 * Rudolf G. Wagner (born 1941)
 * Richard Wilhelm (1873–1930) – his translations of the I Ching and other philosophical works popularized classical Chinese thought throughout the Western World.

Greece

 * Dimitri Kitsikis (born 1935) Professor of International Relations and Geopolitics at the University of Ottawa

Hungary

 * Ákos Bertalan Apatóczky (born 1974)
 * Étienne Balazs (1905–1963)
 * Imre Galambos (born 1967)
 * Imre Hamar (born 1968)
 * László Ladány (1914–1990)
 * Lajos Magyar (1891–1940)
 * Gábor Kósa (born 1971)
 * Zsolt Tokaji (born 1971)

India

 * Tan Yun-Shan (1898–1983)
 * Tan Chung
 * Yukteshwar Kumar
 * B R Deepak
 * Prabodh Chandra Bagchi
 * Srikanth Kondapalli

Ireland

 * Sean Hurley

Italy

 * Martino Martini (1614–1661)
 * Matteo Ricci (1552–1610)
 * Michele Ruggieri (1543–1607)
 * Giuseppe Tucci (1894–1984)

Japan

 * Masaru Aoki 靑木正兒 (1887–1964)
 * Tetsuji Morohashi 諸橋轍次 (1883–1982)
 * A. Charles Muller
 * D. T. Suzuki 鈴木大拙 (1870–1966)
 * Takakusu Junjirō 高楠順次郎 (1866–1945)
 * Kōjirō Yoshikawa 吉川幸次郎; 18 March 1904 – 8 April 1980)
 * Yoshimi Takeuchi 竹內好 (1910–1977)
 * Naitō Torajirō 內藤虎次郎 (1866–1934)
 * Fukui Fumimasa 福井文雅 (1934–2017)

Kazakhstan

 * Yury Zuev (1932–2006)

Moldova

 * Nicolae Milescu – Moldavian writer, traveler, geographer, and diplomat who was named ambassador of the Russian Empire to Beijing in 1675. He submitted to the Foreign Ministry three volumes of notes of his travels through Siberia and China and later Travels through Siberia to the Chinese borders.

Netherlands

 * J.J.L. Duyvendak (1889–1954)
 * Jan Jakob Maria de Groot (1854–1921), scholar of Chinese folk religion
 * Robert van Gulik (1910–1967)
 * Hans van de Ven
 * Erik Zürcher (1928–2008)

New Zealand

 * Rewi Alley

Norway

 * Henry Henne (1918–2002)

Poland

 * Michał Boym

Portugal

 * Gaspar da Cruz (c.1520–1570), author of the first book on China in Western Europe
 * Bento de Góis (c.1562–1607), historian from China

Philippines

 * Alfredo Co

Qatar

 * Ali bin Ghanem Al-hajiri

Russia

 * Nikita Yakovlevich Bichurin (1775–1853)
 * Pyotr Ivanovich Kafarov (1817–1878)
 * Evgenij Ivanovich Kychanov (1932–2013)
 * Peter A. Boodberg (1903–1972)
 * Julian Shchutsky (1897–1938)
 * Vasiliy Mikhaylovich Alekseyev (1881–1951)
 * Nikolai Iosifovich Konrad (1891–1970)
 * Nikolai Fedorenko (1912–2000)
 * Vyacheslav Rybakov (born 1954)

Singapore

 * Wang Gungwu

Slovenia

 * Jana S. Rošker
 * Mitja Saje

Spain

 * Miguel de Benavides (c. 1552–1605), then based in Spanish Colonial Philippines. (3rd Archbishop of Manila and founder of University of Santo Tomas)
 * Juan Cobo (c. 1546–1592), then based in Spanish Colonial Philippines.
 * Carmelo Elorduy (1901–1989)
 * Juan González de Mendoza (c. 1540–1617), compiler of one of the first European books about China

Sweden

 * Göran Malmqvist
 * Johan Gunnar Andersson
 * Bernhard Karlgren (1889–1978)

Switzerland

 * Jean François Billeter
 * Léopold de Saussure (1866–1925)

Thailand

 * Theraphan Luangthongkum

Turkey

 * 'Ali Akbar Khata'i, the author of an early book of China (completed in Istanbul in 1516)

United Kingdom

 * Edmund Backhouse (1873–1944)
 * Frederick W. Baller
 * Robert Bickers
 * Derek Bryan (1910–2003)
 * Craig Clunas
 * Evangeline Edwards (1888–1957)
 * Mark Elvin
 * Bernhard Fuehrer
 * Herbert Giles (1845–1935)
 * Lionel Giles (1875–1958)
 * A.C. Graham (1919–1991)
 * Henrietta Harrison (born 1967)
 * David Hawkes (1923–2009)
 * Michel Hockx
 * Reginald Johnston (1874–1938)
 * Gregory B. Lee
 * James Legge (1815–1897)
 * Michael Loewe
 * Roderick MacFarquhar
 * Oliver J. Moore
 * Joseph Needham (1900–1995)
 * Jessica Rawson (born 1943)
 * William Edward Soothill (1861–1935)
 * Michael Sullivan (born 1916)
 * James Summers (1828–1891)
 * Tian Yuan Tan
 * Paul Thompson (1931–2007)
 * Denis C. Twitchett (1925–2006)
 * Thomas Francis Wade (1818–1895)
 * Andrew West (born 1960)
 * Arthur Waley (1889–1966)
 * Helen Wang
 * Susan Whitfield
 * Endymion Wilkinson (born 1941)
 * Frances Wood
 * Edward Harper Parker (1849–1926)

United States

 * William Alford
 * Sarah Allan
 * Robert Ashmore
 * Wm. Theodore de Bary
 * Timothy Brook
 * Derk Bodde (1909–2003)
 * James Cahill, art historian
 * Wing-tsit Chan (1901–1994)
 * Kang-i Sun Chang
 * Kwang-chih Chang
 * Jonathan Chaves
 * Anthony E. Clark
 * Jerome Cohen
 * Herlee G. Creel (1905–1994)
 * Pamela Kyle Crossley
 * John DeFrancis (1911–2009)
 * Edward L. Dreyer (1940–2007)
 * Prasenjit Duara
 * Homer H. Dubs
 * Mark Elliott
 * Mark Elvin
 * Joseph Esherick
 * John K. Fairbank (1907–1991)
 * Courtenay Hughes Fenn
 * Henry Courtenay Fenn
 * Joshua Fogel
 * Gail Hershatter
 * David Hinton
 * Dale Hoiberg
 * Cho-yun Hsu
 * Immanuel C.Y. Hsu (1923–2005)
 * Ray Huang (Huang Renyu) (1918–2000)
 * Philip C. C. Huang
 * William Hung (Hong Ye)
 * Charles Hucker
 * Obed Simon Johnson (1881–1970)
 * David Keightley
 * George A. Kennedy
 * David R. Knechtges
 * Owen Lattimore
 * Mark Edward Lewis
 * Li Feng
 * Paul Linebarger
 * E. Perry Link
 * Victor Mair
 * Susan L. Mann
 * Emily Martin
 * Thomas Metzger
 * Frederick W. Mote
 * Jerry Norman (1936–2012)
 * David Nivison
 * Stephen Owen
 * Peter C. Perdue
 * Elizabeth J. Perry
 * Andrew H. Plaks
 * Carlos Rojas
 * Edward H. Schafer
 * Stuart R. Schram
 * Sidney Shapiro
 * Edward L. Shaughnessy
 * Nathan Sivin
 * Jonathan Spence
 * Richard B. Stamps
 * Hugh Stimson (1931–2011)
 * Laurence Thompson
 * Tsien Tsuen-hsuin (T.H. Tsien)
 * Tu Wei-ming
 * Frederic Wakeman (1937–2006)
 * Joanna Waley-Cohen
 * Burton Watson
 * Stephen H. West
 * C. Martin Wilbur
 * Karl August Wittfogel (1896–1988)
 * R. Bin Wong
 * Timothy C. Wong
 * Arthur F. Wright (1913–1976)
 * Mary C. Wright (1917–1970)
 * Yang Lien-sheng(1914–1990)
 * Yu Ying-shih (1930–2021)
 * Ernest P. Young

Venezuela

 * Alfredo Toro Hardy (born 1950)