Sinophile

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, a 17th–18th century German polymath who made significant contributions in many areas of physics, logic, history, librarianship, and studied numerous aspects of Chinese culture

A Sinophile (from sino- meaning "Chinese" [originating through Persian and Sanskrit from Late Latin Sinæ] and -philos meaning "loving" [from Greek ϕίλος])^[1] is a person who demonstrates a strong interest and love for Chinese culture or its people.^[2] It is also commonly used to describe those knowledgeable of Chinese history and culture (such as scholars and students), non-native Chinese language speakers, pro-Chinese politicians, and people perceived as having a strong interest in any of the above.

Typical interests of Sinophiles

• Chinese cuisine
• Chinese architecture
• Varieties of Chinese (typically Mandarin or Cantonese)
• Chinese calligraphy and artwork
• Chinese astrology or horoscopes
• Ancient art of feng shui – Daoism
• Chan Buddhism
• Chinese philosophy – Confucianism
• Martial arts, such as variants of Kung fu
• Politics of China, the Communist Party of China, socialism with Chinese characteristics, Maoism, Dengism, one country, two systems, the Mass Line, politics of Taiwan
• Traditional cultural Han Chinese clothing (Hanfu), and Manchu-influenced Chinese clothing (qipao)
• Chinese tea culture
• Chinese wine culture and baijiu
• The Chinese arts, encompassing poetry, literature, music, and cinema, as well as Chinese traditional forms of theatrical entertainment such as crosstalk and operas

Sinophiles

Albania

• Enver Hoxha, leader of the communist Albanian Party of Labor; considered the People's Republic of China to be Albania's primary ally

Australia

• Colin Mackerras, Australian sinologist and expert in the fields of Peking opera and Chinese national minorities
• Edwin Maher, New Zealand-born Australian journalist; begins and signs off anchoring on CCTV-9 with "Ni Hao" and "Zai Jian"; he has caught unfair criticism from the West for being an anchor with Chinese Central Television, despite an arguable imperialist bias being present in Western media
• Kevin Rudd, the 26th Prime Minister of Australia (2007 – 2010, 2013); majored in Chinese language and history

Brazil

• Pepe Escobar, roving correspondent for the Asia Times; covers US foreign policy, Latin American, Middle Eastern, Asian, and especially Chinese affairs
• Paulo Freire, Brazilian Marxist educator and philosopher; praised progressive aspects in Chinese education during the Cultural Revolution

Canada

• Dr. Norman Bethune, medic
• Morris Cohen, Jewish-Canadian soldier and adventurer; aide-de-camp to the Chinese leader Sun Yat-sen
• Mark Roswell (大山), Ottawa native; currently a CCTV personality and celebrity in China

Ecuador

• Rafael Correa, Ecuadorian President and economist whose foreign policies include socioeconomic cooperation with the People's Republic of China with regards to finance and industry, trade and resource development of oil and hydroelectricity, and infrastructure

Germany

• Max Bauer, military adviser and commander within Chiang Kai-Shek's Kuomintang administration; buried in China
• Martin Heidegger, attempted to translate the Dao De Jing with Paul Hsiao; may have been more deeply influenced by Daoist thought
• Gottfried Leibniz, German polymath who was fascinated with Confucius and the I Ching^[3]
• John Rabe, German Nazi party member who saved thousands of Chinese civilians during the Second Sino-Japanese war
• Alexander von Falkenhausen, military adviser and personal friend to Chiang Kai-Shek

Ireland

• Des Bishop, Irish-American comedian; spent a year in China learning Chinese and performing comedy in both Chinese and English

Italy

• Marco Polo (馬可·波羅), Venetian merchant and traveler; wrote about his travels in Yuan China; became an imperial official
• Matteo Ricci (利瑪竇 or 利玛窦), Jesuit priest who spent decades in the imperial court of the Ming

Libya

• Muammar Gaddafi, Libyan revolutionary and politician; emulated some key aspects of Chairman Mao Zedong, as well as borrowing some of his ideology, such as the Three Worlds Theory; under his rule, Libya continued to have positive relations with China up to 2011, which marked the end of the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya

Norway

• Johan Galtung, mathematician, sociologist, and the founder of the discipline of peace and conflict studies, who praised Chinese rewriting of concepts of an "open society" and "democracy" as well as China's flexibility with diplomacy

Russia

• Leo Tolstoy, Russian writer widely considered one of the world's greatest novelists^[4]
• Dmitri Mendeleev, Russian chemist and inventor^[4]

Sweden

• Johan Gunnar Andersson, sinologist
• Bernhard Karlgren, sinologist

Switzerland

• Liam Bates, performer, television host and adventurer

United Kingdom

• Sir David Akers-Jones (鍾逸傑爵士), former administrator of Hong Kong and advisor to the Chinese government
• Derek Bryan
• Aurora Carlson
• Sir Cecil Clementi (金文泰), British colonial administrator and former Governor of Hong Kong
• Sir John Francis Davis (戴維斯/爹核士), Sinologist, diplomat and former Governor of Hong Kong
• Herbert Giles
• Ben Hedges
• Reginald Johnston
• Eric Liddell, Scottish rugby player; Olympic track and field athlete; missionary
• Robert Morrison (馬禮遜/摩理臣), Scottish missionary
• Joseph Needham (李約瑟), British biochemist best known for his works on the history of Chinese science^[5]
• Daniel Newham
• David Wilson, Baron Wilson of Tillyorn (衛奕信/魏德巍), British diplomat and former Governor of Hong Kong
• Sir Edward Youde (尤德), diplomat, sinologist and former Governor of Hong Kong

United States

• David D. Barrett, military officer and commander of the Dixie Mission who received a comparatively lenient form of treatment for being a "China Hand"
• Chloe Bennet, actress and singer
• Pearl S. Buck ( 賽珍珠 or 赛珍珠), writer and novelist
• Anson Burlingame, lawyer, legislator and diplomat; appointed in 1861 to be the United States minister in China
• Jerome A. Cohen, professor of law at New York University School of Law; expert in Chinese law; advisor to Republic of China President Ma Ying-jiu
• John Paton Davies, Jr., one of the major proponents and facilitators of the Dixie Mission, a program that was formed to establish an anti-fascist alliance between the People's Liberation Army and the US
• Ai Hua, television personality, frequent guest on programs on China Central Television
• R. L. Kuhn, corporate strategist, investment banker, and intellectual; situated in the pro-China segment of the intellectual community; closely knows many Chinese political leaders
• Owen Lattimore, author, educator, and scholar; served as an adviser, but later a critic, of Chiang Kai-shek, and a proponent to what some consider a precursor of China's cultural and legislative autonomy policies with autonomous regions in the People's Republic of China
• Homer Lea, military advisory and general in the army of Sun Yat-sen during the Boxer Rebellion
• Huey Newton, social activist who was deeply influenced by Maoism and described his time in China as a "psychological liberation", praising Chinese contemporary society throughout his works
• Ezra Pound, poet who integrated many aspects of Chinese poetry into his writing, and especially advocated for Confucianism^[6][7]
• Paul Robeson, baritone singer; film and stage actor; peace and civil rights activist; All-American football athlete; temporarily resided in China, was fluent in Chinese, and compared the struggle of the Chinese to that of the black people in the United States
• John S. Service, diplomat and "China Hand"; born in Chengdu; was persecuted by McCarthyism due to his pro-China views, which also included sympathies with Chinese socialism
• Cordwainer Smith, godson of Sun Yat-sen
• Edgar Snow, journalist; among the first Westerners to interview Mao Zedong and report on the Long March
• Wallace Stevens, one of the most influential poets of the 20th century
• Anna Louise Strong, journalist and peace activist who lived in China
• Quentin Tarantino, director; fan of martial arts films, and the Shaw Brothers' films in particular
• Theodore H. White, political journalist; was a war reporter in China
• Wu-Tang Clan, rap group from New York; their songs contain many Chinese cultural themes
• Andrew Zimmern, television personality, chef, and adventure traveler
• Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook; an avid Chinese learner

See also

• Asiaphile

References

1. Oxford English Dictionary
2. "Sinophile". The Free Dictionary.
3. Liukkonen, Petri. "Sinophile". Books and Writers (kirjasto.sci.fi). Finland: Kuusankoski Public Library. Archived from the original on 10 February 2015.
4. Alexander Lukin (2003). The Bear Watches the Dragon: Russia's Perceptions of China and the Evolution of Russian-Chinese Relations Since the Eighteenth Century. M.E. Sharpe. pp. 314–. ISBN 978-0-7656-1026-3.
5. Winchester, Simon. (2008). The Man Who Loved China: The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom.. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-088459-8
6. Roth, Harold David; Graham, Angus Charles (2003-01-01). A Companion to Angus C. Graham's Chuang Tzu: The Inner Chapters. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 9780824826437.
7. Xie, Ming (1999-01-01). Ezra Pound and the Appropriation of Chinese Poetry: Cathay, Translation, and Imagism. Psychology Press. ISBN 9780815326236.