A 16th century Italian Jesuit, Matteo Ricci was the founder of the
Catholic Mission in China and one of the most famous missionaries
of all time. A pioneer in bringing Christianity to China, Ricci
spent twenty eight years in the country, in which time he crossed
the cultural divides between China and the West by immersing
himself in the language and culture of his hosts. Even 400 years
later, he is still one of the best known westerners in China,
celebrated for introducing western scientific and religious ideas
to China and for explaining Chinese culture to Europe.
The first critical biography of Ricci to use all relevant sources,
both Chinese and Western, A Jesuit in the Forbidden City tells the
story of a remarkable life that bridged Counter-Reformation
Catholic Europe and China under the Ming dynasty. Hsia follows the
life of Ricci from his childhood in Macerata, through his education
in Rome, to his sojourn in Portuguese India, before the start of
his long journey of self-discovery and cultural encounter in the
Ming realm. Along the way, we glimpse the workings of the
Portuguese maritime empire in Asia, the mission of the Society of
Jesus, and life in the European enclave of Macau on the Chinese
coast, as well as invaluable sketches of Ricci's fellow Jesuits and
portraits of the Chinese mandarins who formed networks
indispensible for Ricci's success.
Examining a range of new sources, Hsia offers important new
insights into Ricci's long period of trial and frustration in
Guangdong province, where he first appeared in the persona of a
foreign Buddhist monk, before the crucial move to Nanchang in 1595
that led to his sustained intellectual conversation with a leading
Confucian scholar and subsequent synthesis of Christianity and
Confucianism in propagating the Gospels in China. With his
expertise in cartography, mathematics, and astronomy, Ricci quickly
won recognition, especially after he had settled in Nanjing in
1598, the southern capital of the Ming dynasty. As his reputation
and friendships grew, Ricci launched into a sharp polemic against
Buddhism, while his career found its crowning achievement in the
imperial capital of Beijing, leaving behind a life, work, and
legacy that is still very much alive today.
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