It is worthy of note that in recent years, German sinology has gradually turned away from "pure academic sinology" --research directed entirely at studying traditional China--and has incorporated such topics as modern politics, history, sociology, commerce, culture and education to examine practical issues in China. Hot topics of current research include such questions as the relationship between Confucianist thought and China's modernization, and various aspects of Chinese philosophy.
值得一提的是，近年來，德國漢學已有逐漸走出「純學術漢學」﹘﹘即專門研究傳統中國的趨勢，而與現代政治、歷史、社會、文化、教育等課題結合，探討中國現實問題，目前熱門的課題包括：