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."^[1]

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).^[2] Sinology has broadened in modern times to include Chinese history, epigraphy, and other subjects.

Australia

Main page: Category:Australian sinologists

Austria

Michael Prochazka

Belgium

Main page: Category:Belgian sinologists

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

Bulgaria

Snejina Gogova

Canada

Main page: Category:Canadian sinologists

China

Main page: Category:Chinese sinologists

Czech Republic

Main page: Category:Czech sinologists

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

Estonia

Linnart Mäll

France

Main page: Category:French sinologists

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,^[3] 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.^[4]
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

Main page: Category:German sinologists

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

Main page: Category:Hungarian sinologists

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

Main page: Category:Indian sinologists

Ireland

Main page: Category:Irish sinologists

Sean Hurley

Italy

Main page: Category:Italian sinologists

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

Japan

Main page: Category:Japanese sinologists

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.