The time when Marcel Granet Sinology developed his sociological work is the discovery of China. Therefore, the approach Granet to ancient Chinese thought is to highlight the main themes and patterns that structure the mental universe of the Chinese, their fundamental categories (space, time, Yin and Yang, the Tao, the numbers) and those disciplines that are treated (astronomy, philosophy, mathematics), ending with a thorough analysis of the major sects and schools on issues such as the government, the public good or holiness.

The key Sinology sociology Granet word is "correspondences": "Dominated entirety by the idea of efficiency, the Chinese thought moves in a world of symbols made ​​of correspondences and oppositions enough to mobilize when you want to act or understand" .

If it is still true that "the Chinese have conquered with their customs, their arts, their writing and their wisdom throughout the Far East", it must be admitted that the work of Granet saved, for the reader of today, all its importance as a key to understanding an ancient culture that re-emerges in full postmodernism.