V knige rassmatrivaetsya odin iz maloizuchennykh voprosov v otechestvennoy istorii - stanovlenie i razvitie rossiyskoy sinologii (XVII-XIX vek). Nauchnyy vklad Russkoy pravoslavnoy dukhovnoy missii i rol' pervykh universitetskikh tsentrov Kazani i Sankt-Peterburga. Osoboe mesto zanimayut voprosy raskrytiya nauchnogo potentsiala pervykh otechestvennykh issledovateley na osnove ispol'zovaniya shirokogo kruga istoricheskikh istochnikov i dokumentov, materialov sredstv massovoy informatsii, a takzhe razlichnoy memuarnoy literatury. Odnoy iz glavnykh zadach bylo pokazat' soderzhatel'nye aspekty issledovaniy uchenykh, kotorye, osnovyvayas' na kitayskoy istochnikovoy baze, pokazali vysokiy uroven' analiticheskoy raboty, vsestoronne proanalizirovali tendentsii i osobennosti razvitiya kitayskoy tsivilizatsii, opredelili put' i napravleniya otechestvennogo kitaevedeniya. Kniga rasschitana na shirokiy krug vostokovedov, nauchnykh rabotnikov, prepodavateley i studentov, zanimayushchikhsya razlichnymi napravleniyami issledovaniy Kitaya, proyavlyayushchikh interes k istorii rossiysko-kitayskikh otnosheniy i stanovleniyu kitaevedeniya v nashey strane.