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China at the center : Ricci and Verbiest world maps
\"Global exploration in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries led to new interactions between Europe and Asia. Jesuit priests were instrumental in spreading knowledge of the world to China and information about China to Europe. China at the Center focuses on two masterpieces of seventeenth-century map-making that illustrate this exchange of information (and misinformation). The first map is the Kunyu wanguo quantu, or Map of the Ten Thousand Countries of the Earth, also known as the 1602 Ricci map, after Matteo Ricci, the Jesuit priest who helped create it. The second is the 1674 Verbiest world map, which was also made by a Jesuit priest, Ferdinand Verbiest, for the Chinese court. These two maps are among the earliest, rarest, and largest woodblock-printed maps to survive from the period. They will be examined through the lens of the development of cartography in China and through the biographies of the fascinating men who were instrumental in their production. Maps are political objects, and the inclusion of elaborate and extensive notations on both these maps illustrate the fascinating relationships between the Jesuits and the Chinese courts. These maps represent the meeting of two worldviews, and the information they contain provided Europeans with greater knowledge of China and the Chinese with new ideas about geography, astronomy, and the natural sciences. This book accompanies the exhibition China at the Center, at the Asian Art Museum March 4-May 8, 2016, which brings together the 1602 Ricci map from the James Ford Bell Trust in Minneapolis and the 1674 Verbiest map from the Library of Congress in Washington D.C\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
The Role of Love in Ethical Development Beyond Family and Friendship in Confucianism: Insights from Matteo Ricci’s On Friendship
The family is a form of human relationship or organization that has been vital to the Chinese, influencing various aspects of its tradition. At its core lies the parent-child relationship, which emphasizes the virtue of filial piety (xiao 孝) and serves as the beginning of ethical development. Beyond the family, friendship is another form of human relationship that can also contribute to ethical development but is seen only as an extension of the development that begins in the family. This article aims to discuss how friendship, as articulated in Matteo Ricci’s On Friendship (Li Madou 利玛窦, 1552–1610; Jiaoyou Lun 交友论), can deepen or contribute to ethical development that begins in the family and extends into friendship, as understood in the Confucian tradition. The discussion places particular emphasis on the role of love as it emerges in Ricci’s text. The overarching argument of this article is that Ricci’s understanding of love, which is the indispensable element that binds friends together, can contribute to strengthening the ethical development that originates from the family and extends into friendship, as understood in Confucianism.
Journal Article
The Interaction and Clash of Ideas between Matteo Ricci and the Taizhou School
This article explores the interactions between the Taizhou school and Jesuit missionaries during the late Ming dynasty. It reveals the intellectual exchanges between these influential groups in fields such as philosophy and religion and their significance in spreading Western knowledge to the East. The article begins by introducing the complete process of exchanges between Taizhou school representatives like Jiao Hong, Li Zhi, Zhu Shilu, Tang Xianzu, Xu Guangqi, and Jesuit missionaries including Matteo Ricci. It delves into how these interactions influenced the development of their respective thoughts and academic theories. The exchange between the two groups was not a perfect fusion and was filled with contradictions, conflicts, and struggles, particularly on issues such as human nature and cosmology. By studying this process of exchange, we can understand how the intellectual elite of late Ming China accepted and reflected upon Western thought. It also reveals how Western intellectuals used this exchange to comprehend and appreciate Chinese philosophy and culture.
Journal Article
The propagation paths of the Catholic doctrine of the Trinity in the Ming and Qing dynasties
According to historical analysis and textual interpretation, the propagation of the Catholic doctrine of the Trinity in the Ming and Qing dynasties was closely related to Matteo Ricci. When entering China, Ricci put forward the ‘Theory of Buddhist-Daoist Plagiarism’, asserting that Buddhism and Taoism had plagiarised the Catholic doctrine on the triune God. As for Confucianism, he pointed out that the ancient Confucian classics did not contain the doctrine of the Trinity, which he attributed to various facters, leading to what may be termed the ‘Confucian Absence Theory’. Matteo Ricci’s interpretations and propositions regarding the Chinese Trinity paved the way for the ‘Yi-Fo School’, the ‘Bu-Ru School’ and the Figurism, which emerged during the dissemination of the Trinity in the Ming and Qing dynasties. The ‘Yi-Fo School’ advocated replacing the Buddhist Trinity with the Catholic Trinity to complement the perceived absence in Confucianism, thus forming the ‘Bu-Ru School’. In contrast, Figurism advocated for use of Chinese characters and texts as clues to uncover the missing Trinity in Confucian classics. Regarding Matteo Ricci’s viewpoints and the above three paths, Buddhism of that era believed that Catholicism had plagiarised the Buddhist doctrine of the Trinity, and modern Chinese scholars also argued that the views of the Figurism were overly far-fetched. These paths placed the Trinitarian doctrines of Catholicism, Buddhism and Daoism in a cross-linguistic and cross-cultural comparative framework, underscoring the methodological significance of exchanges and mutual learning among civilisations.ContributionThis article examines the nexus between Matteo Ricci and the propagation of the Catholic doctrine of the Trinity in the Ming and Qing dynasties. It also investigates the evolution of three distinct pathway for this doctrinal propagation and assesses the Chinese Populace’s reactions, as well as the interplay of their discourses.
Journal Article
MATTEO RICCI’S UNDERTAKINGS IN CULTURAL DIPLOMACY: STRATEGIC MISSIOLOGIST, SCIENTIFIC APOSTLE, AND FRIEND
The present reflective notes on Matteo Ricci’s cultural and scientific posterity in China stress more upon the role of Ricci as a genuine cultural diplomat than as a militant figure of Catholic missiology in China. Regardless of Ricci’s own intentions and sometimes probably against his will, the acknowledgement of his prominent undertakings in cultural diplomacy as a friendly mate, strategic missiologist and scientific apostle prevails over widespread interpretations of his compromising accommodationism and opportunistic syncretism. In other words, depicting Ricci as an outstanding cultural diplomat could stand as an alternative reading of sweeping apperceptions regarding the overall Jesuit mentality associated with political conspiracies, intransigence and lust. A plausible alternative reading inspired by Ricci’s own life and deeds aptly reveals that (at least) some Jesuit missionaries and defenders of the Christian Catholic faith took a pious posture in their daily lives, and shared unrelentless beliefs in reason, erudition, education and rhetoric excellence. Reading Ricci through such lenses would not only do justice to his posterity but would also elevate his personality to the forefront of early modern cultural diplomacy.
Journal Article
Developing Encounters between Chinese and Western Art: The Contribution of Two Jesuits in China in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
This article explores the introduction and influence of Western art in China during the Ming and Qing dynasties, focusing on the role of the Jesuits—especially Matteo Ricci (1552–1610), one of the founders of Catholic missionary work in China—and the most famous and influential Western figure in China’s art history, Giuseppe Castiglione (1688–1766). The Jesuits recognized art’s potential in their missionary efforts. The article examines the varied responses of Chinese literati to Western art theories in the 17th and 18th centuries, and how Jesuit-introduced artistic concepts were assimilated within different Chinese contexts. It also investigates how Western art merged into Chinese culture, noting the linguistic integration of concepts like chiaroscuro. In Ricci’s time, Western art intrigued the Chinese, but deep acceptance and conceptual transformation were limited. The assimilation of Western techniques was not as widespread as expected. In the 18th century, due to restrictions on Christianity, the religious role of painting diminished. Castiglione’s hybrid style, though influential in the Qing court, faced challenges in gaining cultural acceptance from the Han literati, leading to more criticism than in Ricci’s era. Despite these challenges and varying receptions, the contributions of Ricci and Castiglione to the Sino–Western art exchange are significant, reflecting the complex interplay of art, religion, and cultural dynamics across these periods.
Journal Article
Yunqi Zhuhong’s Thought on Abstaining from Killing and Releasing Life and the Buddhist–Christian Debate in the Late Ming Dynasty
As a major proponent of the Buddhist revival movement in the late Ming dynasty, Yunqi Zhuhong authored works such as Jieshu fayin, Jiesha wen, and Fangsheng wen, which had a profound impact on lay Buddhism. Using the Buddhist six realms of rebirth as a theoretical foundation, he combined doctrinal analysis with narratives of spiritual efficacy to systematically expound upon the Buddhist ethics of refraining from killing, releasing life, and compassionately protecting living beings. During the same period, the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci had come to China and wrote his book Tianzhu shiyi with reference to Catechismus Japonensis and Tianzhu shilu. A comparison of the contents of these three missionary works reveals that Ricci paid particular attention to the Buddhist doctrine and practice of abstaining from killing, and for the first time, he listed it in a missionary work and offered a targeted critique. Afterward, Ricci wrote Jiren shipian, which also included content on “The True Purpose of Fasting and Abstinence Does Not Arise from the Prohibition of Killing”. Relevant letters prove that Zhuhong had already read both of these works by Matteo Ricci as early as the 36th year of the Wanli era (1608), yet he did not immediately offer a direct refutation. At first, it was his disciple Yu Chunxi who wrote articles such as Tianzhu shiyi shasheng bian, initiating a preliminary direct debate with Ricci. As the influence of Catholicism gradually grew and expanded between 1608 and 1615, Zhuhong, after seven years of silence, wrote the three essays of Tianshuo and Tianshuo yu to offer a direct response to Catholicism. When expounding on the doctrine of abstaining from killing and releasing life, Zhuhong adopted new argumentative strategies, both to defend Buddhism and to remind and persuade Confucian intellectuals not to turn to Catholicism.
Journal Article
Rethinking Ricci’s Missionary Strategy: The Disputes between Buglio and Schall
During the late Ming Dynasty period, the Jesuits carried out a cultural accommodation strategy in China, commonly known as Ricci’s Strategy, due to the significant role played by Matteo Ricci (1552–1610) during this process. This strategy encompassed three elements: evangelizing through science and technology, establishing connections with the upper class, and compiling books to spread evangelism, all of which helped Catholicism to be promoted in China and be accepted by the Chinese people collectively. But the strategy also drew a lot of opposition within and outside of the Society of Jesus, some of which even led to the Rites Controversy. The extant literature primarily focuses on the conflicts that arose between the Society of Jesus and other religious orders, as well as the divergent viewpoints within the Society itself, like Niccolò Longobardo (1559–1654)’s well-documented anti-Riccian position. However, this approach largely ignored the disputes that arose within the Jesuit community in Beijing during the 17th century, mainly involving Ludovico Buglio (1606–1682) and Adam Schall (1592–1666) as two key figures on opposing sides. These disputes primarily centered around three points: the inclusion of superstitious elements in the calendar, the identities of the Jesuits in Early Qing, and the approach to inculturating theology. Although these historical events offered new perspectives and materials for the study of Ricci’s Strategy, they have received limited scholarly attention. This paper focuses on the disputes between Buglio and Schall, analyzing how Matteo Ricci’s Strategy was investigated during that time.
Journal Article