The goal of this project is to collect and analyse material on how Westerners who came into contact with China and Japan saw and interpreted the Chinese script. Although there are some sporadic references to Chinese writing in earlier sources, it was really from the late sixteenth century onward that Chinese characters became of interest to European observers. Since then, over four centuries have elapsed yet the nature of the Chinese script remains a highly contraversial topic to this day. This is an attempt to document the various views and trends on the subject and to contrast those how Chinese characters were viewed by the native scholarly tradition. The project is carried out in collaboration with Beijing Normal University.