立法會大樓
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地址：香港中區立法會道一號立法會綜合大樓804室
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電話：2537 3267 / 2537 3265
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傳真：2810 0358
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葉劉淑儀議員辦事處
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堅尼地城
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地址：香港堅尼地城卑路乍街6C新城大廈地舖
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電話：2580 0065
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傳真：2818 0065
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海怡
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地址：香港鴨脷洲海怡半島海怡東商場地下G17舖
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電話：2518 3860
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傳真：2518 3850
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置富
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地址：香港薄扶林置富花園H10座富華苑地下A舖
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電話：3797 5656
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傳真：3797 5659
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東涌
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地址：新界東涌逸東二邨傑逸樓D翼地下
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電話：3797 2606
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傳真：3797 2601
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學術與政治有機結合的美國漢學 / The Integration of Academia and Politics in American Sinology
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當南北戰爭在1865年結束後，美國走上了快速發展的道路，並且不斷對外擴張。為適應國內資本市場對外擴張的需要，美國在那時期開始仿效其他老牌西方強國，透過成立海外基督教會，積極傳教及擴張。
來華的傳教士除了本職傳教工作外，亦有份參與美國在華的外交事務，協助美方官員與中方進行交涉。美國不少早期的對華政策都是受這些傳教士影響而制訂的，稱為「傳教士思維的外交政策」（missionary's mind）。
部分傳教士回美後繼續推動漢學研究。比方說，作為美國早期漢學家之一的傳教士裨治文（Elijah Coleman Bridgman）及對華外交官顧盛（Caleb Cushing）就有份牽頭成立美國第一個東方學研究組織「美國東方學會」（American Oriental Society）。受到創會成員影響，學會成立之初已肩負起為美國國家利益服務的政治任務。學會成立的第二年，華府委任顧盛作專使，與清朝談判，迫使其與美國簽訂中美史上第一個不平等條約《望廈條約》。
由上述例子可看出，自草創時期開始，美國漢學研究的主基調就是協助華府制訂對華政策，以便美國進一步向東擴張。與歐洲漢學的純學術研究相比，美國漢學研究有着強烈的政治色彩，研究多聚焦於中國的政經軍事和教育民生等社會領域。
同時，由於美國漢學界崇尚跨學科研究，加上學術氛圍較自由，美國漢學家往往較能提出嶄新的觀點及理論，使其傳播力及影響力亦更為廣泛。得益於此，美國曾一度雲集大批中國專家，成為中國研究的海外重鎮。
The Integration of Academia and Politics in American Sinology
After the end of the American Civil War in 1865, the United States embarked on a path of rapid development and continuous expansion outward. To meet the needs of the domestic capital market's expansion abroad at that time, the US began to establish overseas Christian churches like other established Western powers, actively promoting missionary work and expansion.
In addition to their missionary work in China, the missionaries also participated in the US diplomatic affairs in China, assisting American officials in negotiations with the Chinese side. Many of the US's early China policies were influenced by these missionaries, known as the "missionary's mind" in diplomacy.
Some missionaries continued to promote Chinese studies after returning to the US. For example, Elijah Coleman Bridgman, one of the early American sinologists, and Caleb Cushing, a US diplomat to China, co-led the establishment of the first Oriental studies organization in the US - the American Oriental Society. Influenced by the founding members, the society shouldered the political mission of serving US national interests from the outset. The second year after its establishment, Washington appointed Caleb Cushing as special envoy to negotiate with the Qing Dynasty, forcing it to sign the first unequal treaty between China and the US - the Treaty of Wangxia.
From the above examples, it can be seen that since its inception, the main tone of American Chinese studies has been to assist Washington in formulating policies towards China in order to further expand the US influence eastward. Compared to the pure academic research nature of European Sinology, American Sinology had a strong political color and research tended to focus on China's politics, economy, military and social fields such as education and livelihood.
At the same time, due to the interdisciplinary research favored in the American Chinese studies circle and the relatively free academic atmosphere, American Sinologists were often able to propose new viewpoints and theories, making their influence and dissemination even more extensive. Thanks to this, the US once gathered a large number of Chinese experts and became an overseas stronghold of Chinese studies.
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HKSAR govt must think strategically about what GBA integration really means
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Integration with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has been a top priority of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government ever since the signing of the framework agreement for deepening cooperation between Guangdong, Macao and Hong Kong in July 2017. The prolonged riots from 2019 to early 2020, followed by three years of COVID-19 pandemic-induced closures, forcibly disrupted the process. But soon after Hong Kong reopened to the mainland in early 2023, the cross-boundary movement of people increased by leaps and bounds. The enthusiastic way Hong Kong residents embraced the joys of visiting Shenzhen and other GBA cities upended the local economy.
During the period from March 28 to April 2, a record 3.6 million Hong Kong residents went north via land control points, compared with 860,000 mainland residents who traveled south. On May 1, at the start of the Golden Week, 167,894 Hong Kong residents traveled north compared with 160,559 mainland residents who visited our city, way below pre-pandemic levels. The “hollowing out” effect of mainland attractions has reached crisis proportions for Hong Kong’s retail and low-end catering industries.
The government is pulling out all the stops to increase Hong Kong’s attractiveness. Yet, apart from coping with daily pressures, the government ought to sit back and think strategically about what GBA integration means to Hong Kong.
The government needs to think hard about three questions: How will GBA integration transform Hong Kong? What are the challenges and opportunities posed by GBA integration? How will the government maximize the benefits of GBA integration?
Such pivoting to the GBA would require a radical rethink on the part of the HKSAR government of its population policy, urban and social welfare planning. The private sector would also need to adjust its development plans to adapt to new trends of living and spending
GBA integration will have a long-term transformation effect on Hong Kong. Under the government’s Northern Metropolis development plan, three more railways will be constructed to connect Hong Kong’s northern districts to the mainland. When the construction of these railways is completed, many among the estimated 2.5 million residents in the Northern Metropolis will find it more convenient to travel to the mainland than to Hong Kong Island. As the mainland GBA cities become more sophisticated, more Hong Kong residents might wish to move to the mainland, or live there and commute to Hong Kong on a daily basis.
While some people might worry about the “hollowing out” of Hong Kong, the migration of Hong Kong’s population to the mainland is no bad thing. For a long time, Hong Kong residents have been stuck in congested and expensive housing conditions because they are boxed in by Hong Kong’s artificial boundary, and unable to take advantage of better housing conditions in nearby suburbs. The improvement of transport links, coupled with better medical and schooling facilities in nearby GBA cities, would enable more Hong Kong residents to live comfortably north of the boundary.
Such pivoting to the GBA would require a radical rethink on the part of the HKSAR government of its population policy, urban and social welfare planning. The private sector would also need to adjust its development plans to adapt to new trends of living and spending.
With a total population of 86 million and a combined GDP of $2 trillion, there have been high hopes that the GBA will become the world’s most dynamic region. Given the barriers to the free movement of goods, services, people, capital and data because of Hong Kong’s status as a separate customs and immigration area under the “one country, two systems” principle, Hong Kong needs to work out how to overcome these constraints to take advantage of the abundant resources of GBA cities. The process has not been easy, but the HKSAR government appears to have found ways to work around these constraints to achieve win-win solutions.
To enable more elderly living on social security payments to retire in Guangdong and Fujian provinces, the government relaxed the Hong Kong residential period required under the Guangdong and Fujian retirement programs
The key to unlocking the potential of the region lies in working out ways to complement Hong Kong and the mainland GBA cities in their developmental strategies. For example, Hong Kong lacks land to build residential care homes for the elderly. Both Hong Kong and mainland GBA cities stand to benefit by enabling more elderly people from Hong Kong to retire on the mainland.
To enable more elderly living on social security payments to retire in Guangdong and Fujian provinces, the government relaxed the Hong Kong residential period required under the Guangdong and Fujian retirement programs. The government has taken a further step forward by adding residential care homes jointly operated by Hong Kong and mainland service providers in Guangdong to serve as “recognized service providers” under the “Residential Care Services Scheme in Guangdong”. As of May 6, two more such homes in Foshan and Shenzhen were added, bringing the total of such homes to four. The government is planning to bring residential care homes operated solely by mainland service providers under this program.
The HKSAR government also lacks land to provide quarters for retired junior members of the Disciplined Services and other civil servants. As more junior civil servants are prepared to retire in nearby GBA cities, the government should explore the possibility of buying land or readily available housing units in mainland GBA cities to provide homes for those willing to retire on the mainland.
To relieve our acute labor shortage in many occupations, the government has relaxed labor import programs to enable the Airport Authority, transport operators and the construction industry to import labor from the mainland. Mainland GBA cities can help Hong Kong build the innovation and technology hubs in the Northern Metropolis by sending us their tech talents, engineers, and tech enterprises that want to use Hong Kong as a launchpad for their international operations. These tech entrepreneurs can draw on the deep pool of research in medical and life sciences and other disciplines in Hong Kong’s top universities to enhance their competitiveness.
In return, Hong Kong can help mainland GBA cities further develop their service economies, especially in the financial, business and other professional sectors.
The Shenzhen government reported in January that the city’s “social and consumption expenditure” grew by 7.8 percent and topped 1 trillion yuan ($138 billion) in 2023. Fang Zhou, a noted scholar, estimated that Hong Kong consumers contributed to the growth. Let Hong Kong, Shenzhen and other GBA cities grow together, complementing each other, helping each other remedy their respective shortfalls and weaknesses. By combining their strengths, the GBA stands a good chance of becoming the nation’s dynamo for growth.
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中英互譯，困難重重 / Difficulties in Chinese-English Translation
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19 世紀，得益於傳教士及外交家衛三畏（Samuel Wells Williams）的積極推動，漢學課程得以在美國的大學扎根並培育出多位傑出漢學家，為日後中美兩國關係的發展作出重大貢獻。
美國的漢學研究起步雖較歐洲晚，卻集了歐洲漢學家研究的大成，成為海外漢學研究的重鎮。其中，美國漢學界採納了「威妥瑪拼音」這個歐洲漢學研究的一大重要成果，對後來的美國漢學發展影響深遠。
雖然中國與西方國家早有接觸，但早期的中國人並無意願教授外國人學習中國的語言及文化。即使清朝後來被迫打開國門與西方列強進行貿易，當時官方政策仍然要求所有外國人須由洋行的行商管控，不得進入城內。如外商要進行貿易，需透過地方官吏以「洋涇浜」式英語（pidgin English）代為溝通。但由於雙方都不通曉對方的語言，溝通過程造成不少誤解，往往出現兩方各說各話、爭吵、拘留或各種惡形惡狀的情况。
然而，來華的外商及傳教士很快發現雖然東亞各國的口語並不能互相溝通，但卻可以用漢字互相交流，學習中文對於和東亞人民交流有莫大幫助。這一發現誘使在華外國人開始制訂漢字拼音系統。然而，有關工作困難重重。由於「同音異字」的現象在中文中相當常見，導致漢字和字母間資訊轉換相當困難。
漢學家們一直試圖就有關問題提出自己的解決方案。當中認受性最高的拼音當屬由英國著名漢學家威妥瑪（Thomas Francis Wade）於1859 年推出的威妥瑪拼音。
拼音根據北京話讀音而制訂，主要便於英語人士發音。威妥瑪拼音後由另一名漢學家翟理斯（Herbert Allen Giles）不斷加以修訂完善，最終成為自19 世紀末開始流傳最廣的漢語拼音系統之一。19 世紀末和20 世紀，關於中國的人名、地名及郵政系統等的英文資料，大多都是採用威妥瑪拼音，直至1979 年後才被現時的漢語拼音逐步取代。
Difficulties in Chinese-English Translation
In the 19th century, thanks to the active promotion of missionary and diplomat Samuel Wells Williams, Sinology courses took root in universities in the United States and cultivated many prominent Sinologists, making major contributions to the development of later Sino-American relations.
Although the start of American Sinology research lagged behind Europe, it incorporated the major achievements of European Sinology research and became an important center of overseas Sinology research. Among them, the American Sinology academic circle adopted the "Wade-Giles Romanization" system, an important achievement of European Sinology research, which had a profound impact on the subsequent development of American Sinology.
Although China had early contacts with Western countries, Chinese people at that time had no desire to teach foreigners their language and culture. Even after the Qing Dynasty was later forced to open its doors and conduct trade with Western powers, official policy still required all foreigners to be controlled by trading houses and barred from entering cities. If foreign merchants wanted to trade, they had to communicate through local officials using "Pidgin English." However, due to the lack of a common language, communication between the two sides often resulted in misunderstandings and arguments, detentions, or other unfortunate incidents.
However, foreigners and missionaries in China soon realized that while the spoken languages of East Asian countries could not mutually communicate, writing in Chinese characters allowed for exchange, and learning Chinese was tremendously helpful for communicating with the peoples of East Asia. This discovery prompted foreigners in China to begin devising Chinese character romanization systems. However, the work faced great difficulties. Due to the very common phenomenon of "homophones" in Chinese, converting between Chinese characters and letters proved quite challenging.
Sinologists continued trying to propose their own solutions to these problems. The romanization system that received the highest acceptance was the Wade-Giles Romanization system introduced in 1859 by the famous British Sinologist Thomas Francis Wade.
Based on Beijing dialect pronunciation and primarily for the convenience of English speakers, Wade-Giles was further revised and refined by another Sinologist, Herbert Allen Giles, eventually becoming one of the most widely circulating Chinese romanization systems since the late 19th century. Up until being gradually replaced by today's Hanyu Pinyin system after 1979, English materials about Chinese names, places and postal systems from the late 19th and early 20th centuries mostly used Wade-Giles romanization.
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當南北戰爭在1865年結束後，美國走上了快速發展的道路，並且不斷對外擴張。為適應國內資本市場對外擴張的需要，美國在那時期開始仿效其他老牌西方強國，透過成立海外基督教會，積極傳教及擴張。
來華的傳教士除了本職傳教工作外，亦有份參與美國在華的外交事務，協助美方官員與中方進行交涉。美國不少早期的對華政策都是受這些傳教士影響而制訂的，稱為「傳教士思維的外交政策」（missionary's mind）。
部分傳教士回美後繼續推動漢學研究。比方說，作為美國早期漢學家之一的傳教士裨治文（Elijah Coleman Bridgman）及對華外交官顧盛（Caleb Cushing）就有份牽頭成立美國第一個東方學研究組織「美國東方學會」（American Oriental Society）。受到創會成員影響，學會成立之初已肩負起為美國國家利益服務的政治任務。學會成立的第二年，華府委任顧盛作專使，與清朝談判，迫使其與美國簽訂中美史上第一個不平等條約《望廈條約》。
由上述例子可看出，自草創時期開始，美國漢學研究的主基調就是協助華府制訂對華政策，以便美國進一步向東擴張。與歐洲漢學的純學術研究相比，美國漢學研究有着強烈的政治色彩，研究多聚焦於中國的政經軍事和教育民生等社會領域。
同時，由於美國漢學界崇尚跨學科研究，加上學術氛圍較自由，美國漢學家往往較能提出嶄新的觀點及理論，使其傳播力及影響力亦更為廣泛。得益於此，美國曾一度雲集大批中國專家，成為中國研究的海外重鎮。
The Integration of Academia and Politics in American Sinology
After the end of the American Civil War in 1865, the United States embarked on a path of rapid development and continuous expansion outward. To meet the needs of the domestic capital market's expansion abroad at that time, the US began to establish overseas Christian churches like other established Western powers, actively promoting missionary work and expansion.
In addition to their missionary work in China, the missionaries also participated in the US diplomatic affairs in China, assisting American officials in negotiations with the Chinese side. Many of the US's early China policies were influenced by these missionaries, known as the "missionary's mind" in diplomacy.
Some missionaries continued to promote Chinese studies after returning to the US. For example, Elijah Coleman Bridgman, one of the early American sinologists, and Caleb Cushing, a US diplomat to China, co-led the establishment of the first Oriental studies organization in the US - the American Oriental Society. Influenced by the founding members, the society shouldered the political mission of serving US national interests from the outset. The second year after its establishment, Washington appointed Caleb Cushing as special envoy to negotiate with the Qing Dynasty, forcing it to sign the first unequal treaty between China and the US - the Treaty of Wangxia.
From the above examples, it can be seen that since its inception, the main tone of American Chinese studies has been to assist Washington in formulating policies towards China in order to further expand the US influence eastward. Compared to the pure academic research nature of European Sinology, American Sinology had a strong political color and research tended to focus on China's politics, economy, military and social fields such as education and livelihood.
At the same time, due to the interdisciplinary research favored in the American Chinese studies circle and the relatively free academic atmosphere, American Sinologists were often able to propose new viewpoints and theories, making their influence and dissemination even more extensive. Thanks to this, the US once gathered a large number of Chinese experts and became an overseas stronghold of Chinese studies.
Integration with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has been a top priority of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government ever since the signing of the framework agreement for deepening cooperation between Guangdong, Macao and Hong Kong in July 2017. The prolonged riots from 2019 to early 2020, followed by three years of COVID-19 pandemic-induced closures, forcibly disrupted the process. But soon after Hong Kong reopened to the mainland in early 2023, the cross-boundary movement of people increased by leaps and bounds. The enthusiastic way Hong Kong residents embraced the joys of visiting Shenzhen and other GBA cities upended the local economy.
During the period from March 28 to April 2, a record 3.6 million Hong Kong residents went north via land control points, compared with 860,000 mainland residents who traveled south. On May 1, at the start of the Golden Week, 167,894 Hong Kong residents traveled north compared with 160,559 mainland residents who visited our city, way below pre-pandemic levels. The “hollowing out” effect of mainland attractions has reached crisis proportions for Hong Kong’s retail and low-end catering industries.
The government is pulling out all the stops to increase Hong Kong’s attractiveness. Yet, apart from coping with daily pressures, the government ought to sit back and think strategically about what GBA integration means to Hong Kong.
The government needs to think hard about three questions: How will GBA integration transform Hong Kong? What are the challenges and opportunities posed by GBA integration? How will the government maximize the benefits of GBA integration?
Such pivoting to the GBA would require a radical rethink on the part of the HKSAR government of its population policy, urban and social welfare planning. The private sector would also need to adjust its development plans to adapt to new trends of living and spending
GBA integration will have a long-term transformation effect on Hong Kong. Under the government’s Northern Metropolis development plan, three more railways will be constructed to connect Hong Kong’s northern districts to the mainland. When the construction of these railways is completed, many among the estimated 2.5 million residents in the Northern Metropolis will find it more convenient to travel to the mainland than to Hong Kong Island. As the mainland GBA cities become more sophisticated, more Hong Kong residents might wish to move to the mainland, or live there and commute to Hong Kong on a daily basis.
While some people might worry about the “hollowing out” of Hong Kong, the migration of Hong Kong’s population to the mainland is no bad thing. For a long time, Hong Kong residents have been stuck in congested and expensive housing conditions because they are boxed in by Hong Kong’s artificial boundary, and unable to take advantage of better housing conditions in nearby suburbs. The improvement of transport links, coupled with better medical and schooling facilities in nearby GBA cities, would enable more Hong Kong residents to live comfortably north of the boundary.
Such pivoting to the GBA would require a radical rethink on the part of the HKSAR government of its population policy, urban and social welfare planning. The private sector would also need to adjust its development plans to adapt to new trends of living and spending.
With a total population of 86 million and a combined GDP of $2 trillion, there have been high hopes that the GBA will become the world’s most dynamic region. Given the barriers to the free movement of goods, services, people, capital and data because of Hong Kong’s status as a separate customs and immigration area under the “one country, two systems” principle, Hong Kong needs to work out how to overcome these constraints to take advantage of the abundant resources of GBA cities. The process has not been easy, but the HKSAR government appears to have found ways to work around these constraints to achieve win-win solutions.
To enable more elderly living on social security payments to retire in Guangdong and Fujian provinces, the government relaxed the Hong Kong residential period required under the Guangdong and Fujian retirement programs
The key to unlocking the potential of the region lies in working out ways to complement Hong Kong and the mainland GBA cities in their developmental strategies. For example, Hong Kong lacks land to build residential care homes for the elderly. Both Hong Kong and mainland GBA cities stand to benefit by enabling more elderly people from Hong Kong to retire on the mainland.
To enable more elderly living on social security payments to retire in Guangdong and Fujian provinces, the government relaxed the Hong Kong residential period required under the Guangdong and Fujian retirement programs. The government has taken a further step forward by adding residential care homes jointly operated by Hong Kong and mainland service providers in Guangdong to serve as “recognized service providers” under the “Residential Care Services Scheme in Guangdong”. As of May 6, two more such homes in Foshan and Shenzhen were added, bringing the total of such homes to four. The government is planning to bring residential care homes operated solely by mainland service providers under this program.
The HKSAR government also lacks land to provide quarters for retired junior members of the Disciplined Services and other civil servants. As more junior civil servants are prepared to retire in nearby GBA cities, the government should explore the possibility of buying land or readily available housing units in mainland GBA cities to provide homes for those willing to retire on the mainland.
To relieve our acute labor shortage in many occupations, the government has relaxed labor import programs to enable the Airport Authority, transport operators and the construction industry to import labor from the mainland. Mainland GBA cities can help Hong Kong build the innovation and technology hubs in the Northern Metropolis by sending us their tech talents, engineers, and tech enterprises that want to use Hong Kong as a launchpad for their international operations. These tech entrepreneurs can draw on the deep pool of research in medical and life sciences and other disciplines in Hong Kong’s top universities to enhance their competitiveness.
In return, Hong Kong can help mainland GBA cities further develop their service economies, especially in the financial, business and other professional sectors.
The Shenzhen government reported in January that the city’s “social and consumption expenditure” grew by 7.8 percent and topped 1 trillion yuan ($138 billion) in 2023. Fang Zhou, a noted scholar, estimated that Hong Kong consumers contributed to the growth. Let Hong Kong, Shenzhen and other GBA cities grow together, complementing each other, helping each other remedy their respective shortfalls and weaknesses. By combining their strengths, the GBA stands a good chance of becoming the nation’s dynamo for growth.
19 世紀，得益於傳教士及外交家衛三畏（Samuel Wells Williams）的積極推動，漢學課程得以在美國的大學扎根並培育出多位傑出漢學家，為日後中美兩國關係的發展作出重大貢獻。
美國的漢學研究起步雖較歐洲晚，卻集了歐洲漢學家研究的大成，成為海外漢學研究的重鎮。其中，美國漢學界採納了「威妥瑪拼音」這個歐洲漢學研究的一大重要成果，對後來的美國漢學發展影響深遠。
雖然中國與西方國家早有接觸，但早期的中國人並無意願教授外國人學習中國的語言及文化。即使清朝後來被迫打開國門與西方列強進行貿易，當時官方政策仍然要求所有外國人須由洋行的行商管控，不得進入城內。如外商要進行貿易，需透過地方官吏以「洋涇浜」式英語（pidgin English）代為溝通。但由於雙方都不通曉對方的語言，溝通過程造成不少誤解，往往出現兩方各說各話、爭吵、拘留或各種惡形惡狀的情况。
然而，來華的外商及傳教士很快發現雖然東亞各國的口語並不能互相溝通，但卻可以用漢字互相交流，學習中文對於和東亞人民交流有莫大幫助。這一發現誘使在華外國人開始制訂漢字拼音系統。然而，有關工作困難重重。由於「同音異字」的現象在中文中相當常見，導致漢字和字母間資訊轉換相當困難。
漢學家們一直試圖就有關問題提出自己的解決方案。當中認受性最高的拼音當屬由英國著名漢學家威妥瑪（Thomas Francis Wade）於1859 年推出的威妥瑪拼音。
拼音根據北京話讀音而制訂，主要便於英語人士發音。威妥瑪拼音後由另一名漢學家翟理斯（Herbert Allen Giles）不斷加以修訂完善，最終成為自19 世紀末開始流傳最廣的漢語拼音系統之一。19 世紀末和20 世紀，關於中國的人名、地名及郵政系統等的英文資料，大多都是採用威妥瑪拼音，直至1979 年後才被現時的漢語拼音逐步取代。
Difficulties in Chinese-English Translation
In the 19th century, thanks to the active promotion of missionary and diplomat Samuel Wells Williams, Sinology courses took root in universities in the United States and cultivated many prominent Sinologists, making major contributions to the development of later Sino-American relations.
Although the start of American Sinology research lagged behind Europe, it incorporated the major achievements of European Sinology research and became an important center of overseas Sinology research. Among them, the American Sinology academic circle adopted the "Wade-Giles Romanization" system, an important achievement of European Sinology research, which had a profound impact on the subsequent development of American Sinology.
Although China had early contacts with Western countries, Chinese people at that time had no desire to teach foreigners their language and culture. Even after the Qing Dynasty was later forced to open its doors and conduct trade with Western powers, official policy still required all foreigners to be controlled by trading houses and barred from entering cities. If foreign merchants wanted to trade, they had to communicate through local officials using "Pidgin English." However, due to the lack of a common language, communication between the two sides often resulted in misunderstandings and arguments, detentions, or other unfortunate incidents.
However, foreigners and missionaries in China soon realized that while the spoken languages of East Asian countries could not mutually communicate, writing in Chinese characters allowed for exchange, and learning Chinese was tremendously helpful for communicating with the peoples of East Asia. This discovery prompted foreigners in China to begin devising Chinese character romanization systems. However, the work faced great difficulties. Due to the very common phenomenon of "homophones" in Chinese, converting between Chinese characters and letters proved quite challenging.
Sinologists continued trying to propose their own solutions to these problems. The romanization system that received the highest acceptance was the Wade-Giles Romanization system introduced in 1859 by the famous British Sinologist Thomas Francis Wade.
Based on Beijing dialect pronunciation and primarily for the convenience of English speakers, Wade-Giles was further revised and refined by another Sinologist, Herbert Allen Giles, eventually becoming one of the most widely circulating Chinese romanization systems since the late 19th century. Up until being gradually replaced by today's Hanyu Pinyin system after 1979, English materials about Chinese names, places and postal systems from the late 19th and early 20th centuries mostly used Wade-Giles romanization.