This book analyses the growth of disciplinary knowledge in modern China through Sino-foreign cultural exchange. It examines Western influences and the transformation of Chinese academic thought through “modern scientific disciplines” rather than mere westernization based on the “nationality” of knowledge. Historically, this transformation is not the unidirectional “eastward dissemination of Western learning,” but the “introduction of West learning into China” with more active participation and choice by Chinese scholars. This understanding of the historical process focuses more on the innovation of the medium of knowledge, emphasizing the material and technological background of the dissemination of Western learning.

本书分析了在中外文化交流背景下学科知识在中国的成长，旨在以“分科之学的确立”，而非基于“国别性”的单纯西化的角度,考察西方所产生的影响和近代中国的知识转型。这种转型不是单向的“西学东渐”，而是中国学者主动参与和选择的“援西入中”。本书对于这一历史过程的理解，注重知识生产及传播媒介的革新，强调西学传播的物质因素和技术背景。