The evolution of a character-based approach in French sinology: historical analysis of Mandarin textbooks from 1814 to 1914

The primacy of a character-based versus a word-based approach to Chinese linguistics and pedagogy has long been contested, reflecting broader debates on linguistic representation and cultural interpretation. However, the origin and evolution of the character-based approach – particularly as advanced by the French sinological and pedagogical circle in the late 20th century – have received limited scholarly attention. This study focuses on the French academic tradition, analysing the five Mandarin textbooks published and actively used in France between 1814 and 1914. The findings reveal the progressive development of what Bellassen later termed the ‘relative character-based’ approach. By tracing the shift from Abel-Rémusat’s philological experimentation to Courant’s triadic systematic framework, this research repositions French sinology as a precursor to contemporary debates on Chinese linguistic theory and Chinese as a foreign language teaching.