As a symbolic mainstream in the imperial China, Traditional Chinese studies is a field which shapes the national identity of traditional Chinese intellects within the insular world until the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Traditional Chinese studies is also a specialization that leads a vast majority of traditional Chinese intellects in the interim seemingly to disdain other specializations and different nationalities, though the traditional Chinese studies per se has been undertaken by the European and American sinologists for a very long period at the same time in another sphere as indicated by the Japanese scholar Ishida Mikinosuke (1891-1974).
In particular, the nineteenth and twentieth centuries marks a watershed in the modern China not only because the westernization make a severe impact on many areas covering language, education, social values and identity in China, but also the traditional Chinese studies itself – the field that the traditional Chinese intellects mostly believe that they can take pride in and find their identity from. Since the May Fourth Movement in 1919, some local Chinese intellects such As Gu Hongming (1858-1928), Chen Yinque (1890-1969), Wang Guowei (1877-1927), Hu Shi (1891-1962) and so forth did contribute Chinese civilization to a new dimension by retaining the western humanities and methodologies into the traditional Chinese studies, but somehow the sinology still remains uncommon that seldom intellects would interest in and take reference to. But interestingly, a dramatic change happened during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Both sinologists and sinology pertaining to traditional Chinese studies have been highly uplifted not merely by the East Asian scholars, but even among the local Chinese scholars within the education system and academia. Doubtlessly, it should be pinpointed that the sinologists do give life to both traditional Chinese studies and Chinese civilization because they all bring certain new perspective and masterful interpretation to traditional Chinese studies, all these help the widespread of Chinese civilization, and the reactivation of academic research. On the other hand, the sinologization itself also leads to the deterioration of some methodologies, spirit of education and so forth proposed by the traditional Chinese studies, under the trend of westernization and globalization in the modern world.
This paper aims at discussing how western sinologization is a threat to the traditional Chinese studies and Chinese civilization.