There has been a long history of concern and research on Chinese characters by Western scholars and have achieved fruitful results. According to the current construction of Western Sinology history and the development of Western Chinese Grammatology itself, the history of Western Chinese Grammatology could be divided into five periods: the germination state, the missionary period, the initial stage of specialized Chinese Grammatology in the west, the expansion period of specialized Chinese Grammatology in the west, and the peak period of specialized Chinese Grammatology in the west. The initial stage showed the tendency of specialization, disciplinarity and rationalization. The research subjects included Protestant missionaries, philosophers, politicians and linguists, etc. Systematic research results were obtained in the aspects of characters’ nature, characters’ characteristics, characters’ etymologies, characters’ analysis and characters’ phonology. Under the guidance of comparative linguistics theory, American scholar Peter S. Du Ponceau’s work A Dissertation on the Nature and Character of the Chinese System of Writing has conducted in-depth research and elaboration on the nature and characteristics of Chinese characters, which is representative. This paper attempts to take this work as a representative monograph to describe and analyze from the aspects of research content, thoughts of Chinese characters studies, research methods, academic influence and value, deficiencies and limitations, etc., giving an objective evaluation of its value in the evolution of western Chinese Grammatology in the west.

1. 引言
2. 《論漢字 性質及特徵》的研究內容, 研究方法、漢字學思想、影響與價值、不足與局限
    2.1 研究內容
    2. 2 研究方法
    2. 3 漢字學思想 
    2. 4 影響與價值 
    2. 5 不足與局限 
3. 結語

• 馮曉瑞(鄭州大學國際教育學院講師) | Xiaorui FENG