Portraits of Confucius presents a major collection of Western perspectives on Confucius and Confucianism, stretching from the Catholic missions of the sixteenth century to the dawn of modern cross-cultural scholarship in the early-twentieth century. For scholars and students interested in the life, work, and teachings of Confucius and the West's reception of Chinese philosophy, this is an indispensable reference resource.

With selections from over 100 figures covering the 1560s to the 1960s, this two-volume work features writing from three continents, with sources including Voltaire, Benjamin Franklin, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Max Weber, Bertrand Russell, and Ezra Pound. Arranged chronologically, they represent methodologies that span philosophy, political science, religious studies, sociology, anthropology, economic theory, linguistics, missionary texts, and works of popular moralism. Together they reveal important ideological trends in Western attitudes toward China.