衛三畏是早期美國傳教士漢學的代表人物，其著作《中國總論》首次全方位、整體性地描述和介紹中國，成為美國漢學的代表作，地位極高、影響重大。《中國總論》中有關於朱熹的敘述，但並沒有在早期漢學界引起波瀾和關注，這與衛三畏及相關學者對中國思想史認知的局限性、片面性及在傳播中帶來的影響有很大關係。

Samuel Wells Williams was a representative of early American Missionary Sinology. For the first time, his book The Middle Kingdom describes and introduces China in an all-round and holistic way and has become a representative work of American Sinology with a high status and great influence. Some narratives about Zhu Xi in this book did not arouse much attention in the early Sinological circles. This is closely related to the limitation and one-sidedness of Samuel wells Williams and other scholars’ understanding of the history of Chinese thought, and also has a lot to do with the influence of this book in its dissemination.