The Chair in Chinese Intellectual History was created in 2008 at the suggestion of Pierre-Étienne Will, who held the Chair in the History of Modern China from 1991 to 2014, and echoed the Chair in the Social and Intellectual History of China held by Jacques Gernet from 1975 to 1992. Its main mission is to lead the discipline known as " sinologie ", which can be considered a French invention, the very first chair devoted to Chinese studies in Europe having been created at the Collège de France as early as 1814.
Until the middle of the last century, the discipline was modelled on classicist antiquisant studies (Greco-Latin in particular), with a primarily philological approach. Since the post-World War II period and the years 1960-70, the field of knowledge and expertise concerning the Chinese world has broadened to include the human and social sciences, and it is no longer possible to limit oneself to a methodology that takes into account only textual sources.

The question of continuity or discontinuity between a China known as " traditional " or " classical ", and a China known as " modern " and " contemporary " arises everywhere and at all times. It has therefore become essential to consider ancient materials, not only through a scholarly and exegetical reading, but also through their multiple appropriations and reinterpretations in today's China and world. This is what the Chair is striving for, in all aspects of its various activities, which range from bilingual editions of texts in classical Chinese to digital editions of research papers, invited lectures and proceedings of international colloquia, as well as publications of books on various aspects of Chinese intellectual history throughout its long history.