Jacques Gernet is a French sinophile. Long before the Americans, he had written highly acclaimed books on China’s history.
Buddhism in Chinese Society was written in French between 1951 to 1955 and translated into English in 1995.
A history of Chinese Civilisation was written in French in 1972 and revised in 1990. The English 2nd revised version was published in 1996 based on the 1990 text.