One hundred years of teaching of Chinese language at Sapienza (ca. 1896-1997)

The teaching and study of the Chinese Language at Sapienza began at the tail end of the nineteenth century. Having begun so early, only a few of the first teachers had a practical knowl- edge of Chinese or were able to speak the language. Their interest was mostly focused on translating Chinese philosophical and literary texts. Only with the arrival of Giovanni Vacca did it become poss- ible to extend the scope of teaching to more practical matters, even to the Chinese scientific tradi- tion, and this was an absolute novelty on the scene of new-born modern European sinology.