Accounts of the seventeenth-century Jesuit Mission to China have
often celebrated it as the great encounter of two civilizations.
The Jesuits portrayed themselves as wise men from the West who used
mathematics and science in service of their mission. Chinese
literati-official Xu Guangqi (1562-1633), who collaborated with the
Italian Jesuit Matteo Ricci (1552-1610) to translate Euclid's
"Elements" into Chinese, reportedly recognized the superiority of
Western mathematics and science and converted to Christianity. Most
narratives relegate Xu and the Chinese to subsidiary roles as the
Jesuits' translators, followers, and converts. Imagined
Civilizations tells the story from the Chinese point of view.
Using Chinese primary sources, Roger Hart focuses in particular
on Xu, who was in a position of considerable power over Ricci. The
result is a perspective startlingly different from that found in
previous studies. Hart analyzes Chinese mathematical treatises of
the period, revealing that Xu and his collaborators could not have
believed their declaration of the superiority of Western
mathematics. "Imagined Civilizations" explains how Xu's West served
as a crucial resource. While the Jesuits claimed Xu as a convert,
he presented the Jesuits as men from afar who had traveled from the
West to China to serve the emperor.
General
Imprint: |
Johns Hopkins University Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
October 2013 |
First published: |
2013 |
Authors: |
Roger Hart
|
Dimensions: |
235 x 156 x 29mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Hardcover
|
Pages: |
384 |
ISBN-13: |
978-1-4214-0606-0 |
Categories: |
Books >
Science & Mathematics >
Mathematics >
History of mathematics
|
LSN: |
1-4214-0606-3 |
Barcode: |
9781421406060 |
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