汉学文化背后的真相

In the minds of many in the west, China remains–even to this day–a bit of a mystery. Having been detached from the European mindset for centuries on the other side of the continent, it wasn't until the travels of Venetian merchant Marco Polo were revealed that the western world really began to take a more formal interest in the place he called Cathay. But the modern study of Chinese history and culture really began with the Jesuit Matteo Ricci who attempted to bring Christianity to China and ended up spending the remainder of his life in China, studying the language and culture. From there, more and more interest was directed toward China, culminating to the point now where there is a whole dedicated academic field to the study of China, known as Sinology. Recently here in China there was a large-scale conference bringing together many of the worlds best-known sinologists.

Ni hao, you're listening to People In the Know, your window into the world around you, online at www.crienglish.com here on China Radio International. In this edition of our show, we'll talk to a pair of Sinologists who took part in that recent conference to garner their thoughts on China and the study of this country. So let us begin.

Because it was an Italian man who is credited with being the first to really begin the field of Sinology, we'll start with a Sinologist working in Italy. On the line with us now is Mr. Wilhelm Muller, Sinologist working with the Universita Urbaniana in Rome.

(Dialogue with Muller)

We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, we'll talk Sinology from a North American perspective.

Ni hao, you're listening to People In the Know, your window into the world around you, online at www.crienglish.com here on China Radio International. I'm Paul James in Beijing. In this edition of our show, we're talking about Sinology, or the study of China. Recently Doctor Kurt Richardson was here in China to take part in a recent Sinology conference. Dr. Richardson is with McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.