Sinophile

Typical interests

• Sinology
• Chinese culture
• Chinese cuisine
• Chinese medicine
• Chinese architecture
• Chinese characters
• Chinese language and its varieties
• Chinese calligraphy and artwork
• Chinese astrology or horoscopes
• Ancient art of feng shui
• History of China
• Chinese folk religion, such as Daoism
• Chan Buddhism
• Chinese philosophy – Confucianism
• Martial arts, such as variants of kung fu
• Politics of China, the Communist Party of China, the Kuomintang, socialism with Chinese characteristics, Maoism, Dengism, Three Principles of the People, one country, two systems, the Mass Line, politics of Taiwan
• Traditional cultural Han Chinese clothing, and Manchu-influenced Chinese clothing
• Chinese tea culture
• Chinese wine culture and baijiu
• The Chinese arts, encompassing poetry, literature, music, and cinema, as well as Chinese traditional forms of theatrical entertainment such as xiangsheng and operas

  Sinophiles

Albania

• Enver Hoxha, leader of the communist Albanian Party of Labor; considered the People's Republic of China to be Albania's primary ally

  Australia

• Colin Mackerras, Australian sinologist and expert in the fields of Peking opera and Chinese national minorities
• Edwin Maher, New Zealand-born Australian journalist who appeared as a news reader for CCTV-9 following a long career on Australian TV. He retired in 2017.
• Kevin Rudd, the 26th Prime Minister of Australia ; majored in Chinese language and history
• Shaoquett Moselmane, a Member of the Legislative Council of New South Wales; was suspended from the Labor Party for alleged links to the CCP.

  Austria

• Michael Prochazka, Austrian sinologist

  Brazil

• Pepe Escobar, roving correspondent for the Asia Times; covers US foreign policy, Latin American, Middle Eastern, Asian, and especially Chinese affairs
• Paulo Freire, Brazilian Marxist educator and philosopher; praised progressive aspects in Chinese education during the Cultural Revolution

  Cambodia

• Norodom Sihanouk, Cambodian king who sought refuge in China

  Canada

• Dr. Norman Bethune, Canadian physician and surgeon who trained the medics of the Eighth Route Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
• Morris Cohen, Jewish-Canadian soldier and adventurer; aide-de-camp to the Chinese leader Sun Yat-sen
• Joshua A. Fogel, Canadian and American sinologist who specialises in modern Chinese history.
• Mark Roswell, Ottawa native; currently a CCTV personality and celebrity in China
• Jean Chrétien, Canadian politician and the 20th Prime Minister of Canada. Was known to be a Sinophile and an admirer of the People's Republic of China.

  Ecuador

• Rafael Correa, Ecuadorian President and economist whose foreign policies include socioeconomic cooperation with the People's Republic of China with regards to finance and industry, trade and resource development of oil and hydroelectricity, and infrastructure

  France

• Voltaire, French philosopher
• François Quesnay, French economist
• Guillaume Jacques, French sinologist
• Michel Soymié, French sinologist

  Germany

• Max Bauer, military adviser and commander within Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang administration; buried in China
• Adam Schall von Bell, German Jesuit and astronomer; spent most of his life as a missionary in China and became an adviser to the Shunzhi Emperor of the Qing dynasty
• Alexander von Falkenhausen, military adviser and personal friend to Chiang Kai-shek
• Martin Heidegger, attempted to translate the Dao De Jing with Paul Hsiao; may have been more deeply influenced by Daoist thought
• Britta Heidemann, German Olympic champion fencer, studied Asia studies and is fluent in Chinese
• Berthold Laufer, German sinologist
• Gottfried Leibniz, German polymath who was fascinated with Confucius and the I Ching
• John Rabe, German Nazi Party member who saved thousands of Chinese civilians during the Second Sino-Japanese War
• Hans von Seeckt, German military officer who served as one of Chiang Kai-shek's military advisers during the Chinese Civil War
• Helmut Schmidt, former Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany; numerous visits to China both officially and in private, wrote several books about China; befriended former Premier of the PRC Zhu Rongji and ethnic-Chinese Singaporean leader Lee Kuan Yew
• Richard Wilhelm, German sinologist who was known for translating the I Ching, The Secret of the Golden Flower, and other ancient Chinese works
• Gerhard Schröder, former Chancellor of Germany; visited China six times, was the first Western politician to travel to Beijing and apologize after NATO jets had mistakenly bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade in 1999 and also pressed for the lifting of the EU arms embargo on China

  India

• Dwarkanath Kotnis, Indian doctor dispatched to China during the Second Sino-Japanese War
• Yukteshwar Kumar, Indian sinologist

  Ireland

• Des Bishop, Irish-American comedian; spent a year in China learning Chinese and performing comedy in both Chinese and English
• Sean Hurley, Irish sinologist who worked with the British Customs Service in Shanghai

  Italy

• Marco Polo, Venetian merchant and traveler; wrote about his travels in Yuan China; became an imperial official
• Matteo Ricci, Jesuit priest who spent decades in the imperial court of the Ming
• Bernardo Bertolucci, Italian director known for directing the film The Last Emperor which tells the story of the last Emperor of China, Puyi

  Japan

• Konoe Atsumaro, Japanese politician, noble. Father of Konoe Fumimaro
• Date Junnosuke, Japanese noble, descendant of Date Masamune, Chinese warlord during 1930s-1940s. Naturalized as a Chinese.
• Sanzō Nosaka, Japanese politician and one of the founding members of the Japanese Communist Party.
• Hayao Miyazaki, Japanese animator from Studio Ghibli known for films such as Spirited Away
• Saionji Kinkazu, Japanese noble, Chinese politician. Grandson of Saionji Kinmochi.
• Banri Kaieda, Japanese politician, also a Classical Chinese poet.
• Yu Suzuki, Creator of the Shenmue games.

  Korea

• Jang Song-taek, executed uncle of Kim Jong-un
• Kim Jong-nam, assassinated half-brother of Kim Jong-un

  Libya

• Muammar Gaddafi, Libyan revolutionary and politician; emulated some key aspects of Chairman Mao Zedong, as well as borrowing some of his ideology, such as the Three Worlds Theory; under his rule, Libya continued to have positive relations with China up to 2011, which marked the end of the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya

  Mongolia

• Zanabazar, Mongolian sculptor and religious figure who negotiated the Khalkha submission to the Qing, and was the spiritual mentor for the Kangxi Emperor

  Netherlands

• J.J.L. Duyvendak, Dutch sinologist
• J. J. M. de Groot, Dutch sinologist
• Robert van Gulik, Dutch sinologist
• Hans van de Ven, Dutch sinologist

  New Zealand

• Rewi Alley, political activist from New Zealand who was a member of the Communist Party of China

  Norway

• Johan Galtung, mathematician, sociologist, and the founder of the discipline of peace and conflict studies, who praised Chinese rewriting of concepts of an "open society" and "democracy" as well as China's flexibility with diplomacy
• Henry Henne, Norwegian sinologist

  Pakistan

• Imran Khan Niazi, Prime minister of Pakistan

  Philippines

• Rodrigo Duterte, President of the Philippines

  Russia

• Leo Tolstoy, Russian writer widely considered one of the world's greatest novelists
• Dmitri Mendeleev, Russian chemist and inventor
• Faina Chiang Fang-liang, former First Lady of the Republic of China and wife of Chiang Ching-kuo
• Vladimir Putin, Russian president
• Israel Epstein, Jewish journalist born in Warsaw and member of the Communist Party of China.
• Yevgeny Kychanov, Russian sinologist

  Serbia

• Aleksandar Vučić, Serbian president

  Spain

• Juan Antonio Samaranch, Spanish sports administrator. Has a memorial dedicated to him in Tianjin.
• Juan González de Mendoza, Spanish sinologist

  Sweden

• Johan Gunnar Andersson, sinologist
• Bernhard Karlgren, sinologist

  Switzerland

• Liam Bates, performer, television host and adventurer
• Léopold de Saussure, Swiss sinologist
• Gabriele Gaggini , medicine, biomedical science student at Fribourg University, from Lugano, Ticino

  Thailand

• Sirindhorn, Thai princess who studied Chinese

  Tibet

• Songsten Gampo, Tibetan king who was married to the Chinese Princess Wencheng, which brought peace between Tang China and Tibet.
• Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme, Tibetan senior official who served as a Lieutenant General of the People's Liberation Army
• Pandatsang Rapga, Tibetan politician. Translated the Three Principles of the People into Tibetan, and founded the Tibet Improvement Party with the goal of modernisation and incorporation of Tibet into China.
• Thubten Choekyi Nyima, 9th Panchen Lama of Tibet

  Turkey

• 'Ali Akbar Khata'i, Turkish traveller and writer who travelled to China
• Doğu Perinçek, a pro-Chinese politician in Turkey
• Ekrem İmamoğlu, the current mayor of Istanbul, promotes good relations between China and Turkey

  United Kingdom

• Sir David Akers-Jones, former administrator of Hong Kong and advisor to the Chinese government
• Derek Bryan, British diplomat and sinologist
• Aurora Carlson, British television presenter
• Herbert Giles, British diplomat and sinologist
• Reginald Johnston, British diplomat who served as Commissioner of Weihaiwei and personal tutor to Puyi, the last Emperor of China
• Eric Liddell, Scottish rugby player; Olympic track and field athlete; missionary
• Robert Morrison, Scottish missionary
• Joseph Needham, British biochemist best known for his works on the history of Chinese science
• Daniel Newham, British performer working in China
• Andrew West, British sinologist and software developer
• Stephen Wootton Bushell, British sinologist

  United States

• Pearl S. Buck, writer and novelist
• Anson Burlingame, lawyer, legislator and diplomat; appointed in 1861 to be the United States minister in China
• Stephon Marbury, star basketball player who has expressed affinity for the country.
• Ai Hua, television personality, frequent guest on programs on China Central Television
• Henry Kissinger, former secretary of state, frequently visit China since 1970s
• R. L. Kuhn, corporate strategist, investment banker, and intellectual; situated in the pro-China segment of the intellectual community; closely knows many Chinese political leaders
• Owen Lattimore, author, educator, and scholar; served as an adviser, but later a critic, of Chiang Kai-shek, and a proponent to what some consider a precursor of China's cultural and legislative autonomy policies with autonomous regions in the People's Republic of China
• Homer Lea, military advisory and general in the army of Sun Yat-sen during the Boxer Rebellion
• Huey Newton, social activist who was deeply influenced by Maoism and described his time in China as a "psychological liberation", praising Chinese contemporary society throughout his works
• Paul Robeson, baritone singer; film and stage actor; peace and civil rights activist; All-American football athlete; was fluent in Chinese, and compared the struggle of the Chinese to that of the black people in the United States
• John S. Service, diplomat and "China Hand"; born in Chengdu; was persecuted by McCarthyism due to his pro-China views, which also included sympathies with Chinese socialism
• Cordwainer Smith, godson of Sun Yat-sen
• Anna Louise Strong, journalist and peace activist who lived in China
• Wu-Tang Clan, rap group from New York; their songs contain many Chinese cultural themes

  Venezuela

• Nicolas Maduro, Venezuelan President whose foreign policies include socioeconomic cooperation with the People's Republic of China with regards to finance and industry, trade and resource development of oil and hydroelectricity, and infrastructure; personally has very positive views about China's influence and culture.

  Vietnam

• Gia Long, Emperor of Vietnam
• Minh Mạng, Emperor of Vietnam
• Nguyễn Thái Học, Vietnamese politician and founder of the Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng which was based on the Chinese Kuomintang.
• Hoàng Văn Hoan, Vietnamese politician from the Communist Party of Vietnam. Defected to China during the Sino-Vietnamese War.

  Zimbabwe

• Robert Mugabe, former Zimbabwean president
• Emmerson Mnangagwa, current Zimbabwean president, admirer of Deng Xiaoping's economic policies