| John K. Fairbank is the leader of Sinology studies in America. His perception of China reflects the trends of his China studies and acts as his theoretical tools. To understand American people's impression of China, it is important for us to discover the path on the development of knowledge about China. Meanwhile, this research provides us with a good perspective for reviewing the history and reality of our own nation. Former researches on John K. Fairbank tend to focus on overall summarize or detailed observation, thus there is an absence of effective and specialized studies on his perception of China.There was a developing process of Fairbank's perception of China, it came out with a series of publications, which is tightly related with his personal experience and self-examination, as well as America's political environment and the whole academic ideological trend. Therefore, this paper divides Fairbank's perception of China into two parts: formation and adjustment, with analysis for each of them. Finally, the author examines Fairbank's perception of China through academic issues.The main body of this paper is constructed by three chapters:Chapter one expresses itself with an introduction of Fairbank's biography and the definition of"perception of China". The author introduces the school life of Fairbank in America, the United Kingdom and China, his career in Harvard University, academic institution and the U.S government. In addition, this paper introduces about 57 works of Fairbank with a sequence of academic researches, public education, an introduction of his works and synopsis of China, and policy proposals. The definition of"views of China"is a logical initial point of this paper. By learning from other scholars'fruitful work, the author defined the concept of"views of China"and explains its sources and contents.?Fairbank's views of China stands for his perceptions about China all through his life, and they are considered as a series of trends which including thoughts of Chinese government and society. Observations and academic practices in China and America also contribute to build up Fairbank's ideology system. According to his main researches in related fields, this paper defines Fairbank's views of China into three levels: the nature of traditional China, revolutions that changed Chinese society and communications between China and the western world. Furthermore, four instructions are made in order to push the research into a deeper level.Chapter two mainly focuses on the formation and adjustment of Fairbank's views of China. It is divided into three parts: the first part starts from 1929 to 1978. This period is considered as the formation of his views of China. Fairbank studied the Tributary System of China and the western"Treaty System", under which he created his own view of China: the"clash of civilizations"and"impact-response model". The clues of his thoughts are analyzed by his works. In this chapter the very meaning of Fairbank's views of China is concluded, which leads to the points of the second part: analyses for the maturity model of Fairbank's views of China. By different methods, Fairbank point out the differences between Chinese and western civilizations, accomplishing the construction of initiative and passive objects in"impact-response model".Based on these findings, the process, model, results and nature of the mode that western power impacts-China responses are obviously displayed. The third part is a description for the adjustment of Fairbank's views of China, which dates from 1978-1981. When Fairbank wrote the book"The Cambridge History of China, late Ch'ing", he paid greater attention to China instead of the western powers, supporting other scholars'deep research into China's regions and classes, showing an active attitude digging in the interior factors of China's development. This stream grew even stronger in works he published later.Chapter three looks into Fairbank's views of China. Followed by the trails for the forming of his view, the first two sectors are involved with the reasons for its formation and adjustment. Then the third sector gives us some academic criticism on Fairbank's views of China. The reason for its formation contains two parts: the root of experience and the other one of ideology. In terms of personal experience, what Fairbank heard and saw, as well as whom he met in his academic career plays an important role in the basis and framework of his views of China. Strong thoughts from Christianity, Max Weber, Toynbee and the Almanac School are also very important in Fairbank's ideas and deeply influences the way he dealt with first hand materials. When it comes to the adjustment of Fairbank's views of China, America's political environment and academic ideological trend worked a lot: women's movement, anti-racial discrimination and especially anti-war movement against the Vietnam War occurred in America results in doubts about America's advancement among scholars. The detente of Sino-America relationship gave Fairbank a good chance to have a rethink of China without the Cold War mentality. At the meantime, the rising of a movement aiming to investigate the complexity and diversity also helped to review China's role in the whole world. Paul A. Cohen, Schwartz and Frederic Wakeman led the studies into the field of China's domestic development, which caused a great impact among scholars in the U.S. The third sector is an academic criticism on Fairbank's views of China, it emphasizes to point out some problems, such as confusion in its definition, insufficient explanation point and west–centralism.The final part is the epilogue, which summarizes the highlighted points of the paper and underlines both transforming process and its reasons for Fairbank's views of China. The academic principle and reality significance are also claimed in this chapter.?In spite of some defects in his views of China, Fairbank's knowledge of the country provides us with a good tool for self-examination. Meanwhile, understanding what American people think of China also helps to improve our concept of world view.
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