A Study Of The Professorship Of Chinese At King's C Ollege London(1847-1917)

British Sinology entered a stage of professionalization from amateurism in the mid-nineteenth century as Sino-British relations grew closer.However,there was no university in the United Kingdom offering Chinese language courses during this critical period of transition.It was not until King's College London established the professorship of Chinese in 1847 that it filled the gap in the Sinology of the British College.It can be seen that this professorship of Chinese of King's College has played a cornerstone role in the professionalization of British Sinology.Therefore,this paper focuses on the whole process from 1847 to 1917,during which the professorship of Chinese of King's College experienced from establishment to the end that it was moved out of the college.This paper comprises introduction,chapter one,chapter two,chapter three and conclusion.The introduction mainly introduces the significance of the topic selected,the literature reviews as well as the content,ideas and innovation of this research.The first chapter briefly summarizes the history of British Sinology in the nineteenth century as a start.In 1793 and 1816,the British government sent missions to China twice to establish diplomatic relations with the Qing government,expecting to expand the Sino-British trade.However,due to the dispute between the British envoy and the Qing government on the etiquette issue and other reasons,both missions ended in failure.After the Opium War,with the opening of a large number of treaty ports,more and more British were able to enter China and proceed to the inland areas.Coupled with the increasing willingness of the British to understand China,British Sinology developed rapidly in the nineteenth century.In this context,this chapter further sorts out the historical origins of the establishment of King's College.After the Industrial Revolution,the demand for higher education of the new bourgeoisie in the United Kingdom soared,while the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge could not provide the course required by the middle class.Thus the University of London came into being,which did not restrict the religious backgrounds of its faculty or students.In order to confront it,King's College with the background of Anglicanism was born in the collision of traditions and reforms in the nineteenth century.The second chapter outlines the detailed process of establishment of the professorship of Chinese of King's College,through a comprehensive exploration of historical materials such as the memoirs of Sir George Thomas Staunton,the Calendars and Annual Reports of King's College,local newspapers of Britain in nineteenth century,the British National Registers and the like.At that time.Sir Staunton,a politician and sinologist.was the one who owned sufficient political status and academic literacy to establish a Chinese Chair and he deeply realized the necessity of learning Chinese in England because of his experience in China.With his vigorous promotion,a professorship of Chinese was established in King's College.But the recruitment of professor saw various difficulties at the beginning.Finally,Samuel Turner Fearon was recommended by Sir Staunton as the first professor of Chinese at King's College in 1847 thanks to his years of diplomatic work experience in China.Sir Staunton valued Fearon's ability to teach students practical Chinese,and Fearon needed a job to settle down on his return to London from China.They fitted each other's demand so that the Chinese Chair of King's College was establishedThe third chapter introduces the second professor James Summers,the third professor Robert Douglas and the last few Chinese instructors and tutors and their teaching situation based on the first-hand original archives,combined with manuscripts,Reay Report,Annual Reports of King's College and other materials.The young Summers changed his life path with language skills.During his tenure at King's College,Summers vigorously developed teaching and learning of Chinese and trained a large number of interpreters for the Foreign Office.Later,due to his limited knowledge of Mandarin,he could not provide effective guidance for interpreters stationed in Beijing.The Chinese instructions of King's College turned to decline.The teaching focus of several professors and instructors after him was to teach students basic knowledge of Chinese so that they could quickly carry out the work after arriving in China.The Chinese language courses at King's College increasingly emphasized the practical features.In 1917,the British government reformed the teaching of oriental languages and all oriental language courses were transferred to the School of Oriental and African Studies.It was then that the professorship of Chinese at King's College came to an end.This paper mainly applies historical research methods,based on existing research,to supplement the teaching situation during the establishment of the professorship of Chinese at King's College as well as within the previous two professors.Moreover,this paper continues to explore the development of this chair of each professor's tenure afterwards,trying to fully display the history of the professorship of Chinese at King's College and analyze it from various perspectives combined with the historical background,with a view to complementing and perfecting the research of the history of British Sinology in the nineteenth century.