Countries throughout Europe found themselves in urgent need of large numbers of people who understood the Chinese language and China's history and geography. Thus in 1814 the first lecture courses in sinology and Manchurian were instituted in France at the Imperial Academy of Science.
歐洲各國都急需大批懂中文、瞭解中國歷史地理的人才（即所謂中國通），於是在一八一四年，法國首先成立了第一個漢學與滿文的「講座教授」，這是附設在皇家科學院下的學術性機構。