Abstract: The study of the history of the introduction of Western learning into China has experienced a transformation from the "doctrine of one-way culture transmission" to emphasizing mutual communication between the East and the West, and then to a more detailed analysis on the introduction of Western leaning by means of the history of ideas and post-modern methods. The "doctrine of one-way culture transmission" completely examines the cultural exchange between China and the West with the standard of evolvement and science and the traditional culture is taken as a negative object that needs to be transformed. Consequently, the level of the advancement of imported sciences becomes the only measure to judge the success or failure of the knowledge type transformation. After that, some scholars have started to notice that the Chinese tradition is not merely passive in absorbing Western learning but also positive in creating new forms in the process of integration. The study of the interactivity between Chinese and Western ideas has helped us to understand the different meanings of the history of the introduction of Western learning into China.

Key words: introduction of Western learning into China, doctrine of one-way culture transmission, history of reading, history of ideas