Interpreting the mystic orient---Joseph Edkins' theory of the western origin of the Chinese civilization

This dissertation is to discuss the methods that some Sinologists used to decipher the Chinese civilization by examining Joseph Edkins' works on Chinese language and civilization. Edkins is a missionary and Sinologist who advocated the theory of the western origin of Chinese civilization.Edkins' theory is not completely new. In the 16th century, Jesuits began to interpret Chinese language, history and religion through the theory of the western origin of Chinese civilization. From the second part of the 19th Century to the first years of the 20 th century, this theory became popular, and among many advocates, there are not only westerners like John Chalmers, Joseph Edkins, Terrien de Lacouperie and Thomas Kingsmill, but also Chinese like Zhang Tai-Yan, Liu Shi-Pei and Huang Jie, etc. Meanwhile, various versions evolved from this theory, different from one another in the time and place that civilization came to China from the west. Some of them mix religious faith with academic studies together, and others' opinions are much more like scientific researches. Strange in the sight of scholars nowadays, this theory had its special meaning at the very beginning of western Sinology.Edkins' theory is mainly consisted of two parts, comparative linguistics and researches on religious ideas of ancient Chinese people. At the same time, he also attempted to find western elements in ancient Chinese astrology, astronomy, philosophy and technology. His theory, together with other supporters, formed a special visual angle through which some Sinologists connected the Chinese culture with the main stream of the general history of human civilization constructed by western scholars. It seams to them that the Chinese civilization and the western civilization are not two different systems. To some Sinologists at that tine, whether the Chinese civilization could be correctly understood or not, rests on whether scholars could find its relation with western civilization. After a series of researches, almost all the elements of Chinese civilization were brought into the hermeneutic system of the west. The mystic color of China faded.It seems that Sinologists of the 19th century did not try to describe China as an utter other, totally different from the west. On the contrary, they attempted to eliminate the difference. So this dissertation can also help us to get a deeper insight into the conception of Orientalism.