ABSTRACT
European studies are a relatively new scholarly field in China. Four periods might be discerned in its development.
The 1950s and early 1960s
The first period ranged from the 1950s up to the early 1960s, when few openlypublished academic studies appeared and orthodox ideological concepts derived from the Soviet Union prevailed in people’s thinking about Europe (as in all fields). Immediately after the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), China was denied diplomatic recognition and economic ties with most Western countries.1 Only the Scandinavian countries recognized the PRC. China reacted against this rejection with more or less the same attitude.
