ABSTRACT
The "discovery" that China was the seat of an ancient and highly developed civilization independent of Europe awakened Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz to the importance of the "Middle Kingdom". While Leibniz was meditating upon the possibilities of the Chinese language, the French had meanwhile become more active in their efforts to gain a leading position in Far Eastern trade. In comparing the civilizations of Europe and China, Leibniz attributes superiority to the former in the theoretical-philosophical sciences and to the latter in moral philosophy. Although Leibniz received a modicum of news about China through Russia, most of his important communications came from the Jesuits in Peking. The influence of Leibniz upon his contemporaries and upon his successors was just as important in the field of Chinese studies as it was in general philosophy and mathematics. According to Leibniz, China should profit from the revealed theology of Europe as exemplified in the Christian tradition.
