Guoxue
/kwɔ̌ˈɕɥěɪ/noun
The study of traditional Chinese culture, literature, philosophy, history, and classical texts.
Did you know?The modern sense of guoxue emerged in the late Qing period partly in response to Western learning and the Japanese intellectual movement known as kokugaku, or “national learning.”
Etymological Timeline
Old Chinese, before 200 CE
Old Chinese
國學
“Learning or scholarship associated with the state; the two characters existed independently before becoming a modern cultural label.”
Han dynasty, 2nd century BCE–2nd century CE
Classical Chinese
國學
“State-sponsored learning and classical education, especially the study of canonical texts.”
Middle Chinese, 6th–10th century
Middle Chinese
國學
“國 was pronounced approximately kuək and 學 approximately haek; together they retained the sense of state or national scholarship.”
Late Qing, late 19th–early 20th century
Chinese
國學
“The term was revived as a designation for traditional Chinese learning in contrast with Western or “new” learning.”
20th century
Mandarin Chinese
guóxué
“A broad field encompassing classical Chinese philosophy, literature, history, philology, and related traditional disciplines.”
Modern English
English
guoxue
“An English loanword used chiefly in academic and cultural contexts for traditional Chinese studies.”
Explore more surprising origins