This paper is a historical survey of west construction of the images of Con-fucianism ranging from the sixteenth century to nineteenth century.The historical process of West version of Confucianism originally was traced back to European missionaries,who played crucial role in collecting Confucian primary sources and praising the ethical and social values of Confucianism. Inspired by the primary sources of Confucianism,Enlightenment scholars represented the image of Confucianism as romanticized ideal of natural theory and practical morality for European culture.However,wests imagination of Confucianism in the nineteenth century shifted from a cultural and political ideal to childish and static tradition inferior to European culture,as emphasized in Hegel and Herders works.All these West images of Confucianism illustrate the historical expressions of European self -presentation, self-confirmation and self-criticism.