At the preface of the book Orientalism, Said cited one phrase of Karl Marx :”They cannot represent themselves; they must be represented.” This sentence is extremely sharp, it seems that we have been able to clearly foresee the sensitive contents in this article. We could not ignore the fact: when the power intervenes knowledge, knowledge is often used as a tool to reinforce the power, the power of knowledge is pushed into an impure situation, with an impure purpose. Thus, the mixture of power and knowledge is often controversial and questionable. This controversial topic – knowledge and power – is what Edward Said want to express and discuss in this book. Through the generation and development of the Oriental Studies, Said tried to give the reader a clear overview of Orientalism, but all the discussion is surrounded by the topic of knowledge and power. From the United States to Britain and France, the impurity of the Oriental Studies as a discipline is always obvious. Ideological analysis and the criticism of political power are the manifest characteristics of Said’s Orientalism.

For years, the political overtones in Orientalism is evident, Orientalism is actually an ideological science which involves economics, politics and sociology in its historical evolution. It comes from its intimacy between Britain and France, as a cultural and political fact, it reveals the distinction between the Orient and the Occident and expresses the way the Occident controls the Orient. Orientalism guarantees the superiority of western developed countries over eastern developing countries.

The Orient is an entity of real geography, history and culture, it is not imaginary. Orientalism studies not only the artificial consistency of concepts, but also the structure of power and forces. Cultural hegemony is an important element in the studies, Orientalism is established on the basis of Western consciousness, this kind of discourse is under the control of the transformation and evolution of political power, academic power, cultural power, ethnical power, etc.. Scholars or writers are westerners, their viewpoint is western, the Orientalism is inevitably westernized, Orientalism became a part of western civilization, in which the relationship between the imperialism and the culture is playing a dominant role. Due to political considerations and economic benefits, due to the understanding of the Orient, the Occident entrusted itself the right to interfere in Eastern affairs. So the center of power can transform the knowledge into more power through the control of the Orient, the colonization. The internal relations of colonial hegemony and colonial discourse and the connection between academic studies and political elements in Orientalism become more and more intense due to the superposition of the historical events.

Said thinks this kind of Orientalism is a failure, his Orientalism has a significance of enlightenment, he supports multiculturalism, as to him, the confidence and the subjectivity of the Orient should be established fairly, the Occident should rethink profoundly their colonial oppression of the East. Then the understanding between Eastern and Western people and their cultures will be enhanced and from this perspective, Orientalism will definitely contribute to the world peace.