Sinology is the study of China, which usually requires a foreign scholar to have command of the Chinese language. In China, Sinologists are sometimes admirably and affectionately called "experts of China" (中國通).
Sinology begun with the missionaries that went to China and studied language, cultures and beliefs. They translated some parts of Classical Chinese literature in Latin and other Western languages, and the Bible in Chinese. They wrote also many letters from China that where greedly read when China was considered as politically or economically interesting enough.
Later, some secular scholars replaced missonaries and sinology won its place as classic study in many universities.
In Japan, Sinology (Shinagaku 支那学 in Japanese) was established with an effective combination of traditional Confucian study and Western Sinology. It was later reorganized into Oriental Study.
Famous recognized Sinologists included: