[1] Guignes originated the proposition that the Huns who attacked the Roman Empire were the same people as the Xiongnu mentioned in Chinese records.
The idea has been strenuously debated by central Asianists, including Maenchen-Helfen, Henning, Bailey, and Vaissière.
Guignes maintained that the Chinese nation had originated in Egyptian colonization, an opinion to which, in spite of every refutation, he obstinately clung.
[3][1] He published a number of articles arguing that Egyptian hieroglyphs and Chinese characters were related, one deriving from the other.
Although he was mistaken in that, he is recognized for proving that cartouche rings in Egyptian texts contained royal names, a thesis he developed from a hint previously made by J. J.