Author: Sun Yuanhua 孫元化, 1581-1632

Zesheng shipian 則聖十篇. [Jap-Sin I, 62. BnF Chinois, 7191]
Date2009
Publish_locationFujian 福建
PublisherJingjiaotang 景教堂
CollectionRicci Institute Library
Edition
LanguageChinese 中文
Record_typeBook (Text in Collection), Digital Book (PDF)
Series
ShelfHallway Cases, Digital Archives
Call NumberBX1665.A24 B526 2009 v.4
Descriptionvol. 4, pp. 181-304 [1 juan]. + dig.pdf
NoteSee vol. 4, 18. Zesheng shipian 則聖十篇 [7191] in Faguo guojia tushuguan Ming-Qing Tianzhujiao wenxian 法國國家圖書館明清天主教文獻 = Chinese Christian texts from the National Library of France = Textes chrétiens chinois de la Bibliothèque nationale de France / edited by Nicolas Standaert 鐘鳴旦, Ad Dudink 杜鼎克, Nathalie Monnet 蒙曦.

N.B. Sun Yuanhua 孫元化, 1581-1632, juren 1612. LC authority record states “d. Chongzhen 6 nian [i.e. 1633]” but Chan, Standaert, & Dudink use 1632. Zesheng 則聖 is the zi of Vagnone. Text is a continuation of Ricci’s Jiren shipian 畸人十篇.

JapSin I, 62
Zesheng shipian 則聖十篇.
By Gao Yizhi 高一志 (Alfonso Vagnone).
One juan (incomplete). Chinese bamboo paper. Printed by the Jingjiaotang 景教堂, the Catholic Church of Fujian. No date of publication.

The cover bears the title in Chinese with the romanization Çe xim xe pien. The Latin inscription reads: “decem Christianae veritates a p. Alph. Vagnoni, S.J.”
Only the beginning of the text has been preserved: the preface (three and one-half folios), the table of contents (one folio) and the first chapter (pian 篇; five folios).
The preface was written by Sun Yuanhua 孫元化 of Wusong 吳淞 (Shanghai). The author’s name is given after the table of contents together with the names of the censors: Li Ningshi 黎寧石 (Pedro Ribeiro), Yang Manuo 陽瑪諾 (Manuel Dias Jr.) and Ai Rulüe 艾儒略 (Giulio Aleni). The permission for publication was given by Manuel Dias Jr., then Vice-Provincial.
There are nine columns in each half folio and nineteen characters in each column. In the middle of each folio the title is given together with the number of the folio. Both the title of the book and the name of the author are given on the first folio.
Zesheng was the zi of Vagnone and he used it as in the title of his book. The style of this book reminds one of the Jiren shipian of Ricci (cf. Jap-Sin I, 52); it is a book of counsel on morality. The book is written in fluent Chinese, probably polished by some scholar friends. The copy now kept in the Roman Jesuit Archives has only one volume and this consists of only one chapter, namely ziyan youyi 訾言有益 (that unfavourable criticisms are good [for one’s own spiritual progress]). Courant (7191) indicates that the Zesheng shipian contains 54 folios. According to Pfister this book was first published in 1626 (Tianqi 6) and later printed in Fuzhou (Fujian). It is a Ming edition, cf. Pfister, p. 92.

Cf. Hsü 1949, p. 99–100; BR, p. XXXII, Couplet, p. 11; JWC 1:154.

Sun Yuanhua (zi 初陽, hao 火東, 1581–1632), official and mathematician, known among the missioners as Dr. Ignatius Sun (or Song), was a native of Jiating, in Nan-Zhili (now Jiangsu province). He studied mathematics and firearms under Xu Guangqi. During the Nanjing persecution in 1616, still a non Christian, he was the protector of Sambiasi whom he kept in his home in Jiating. He was received into the Church in Beijing (1621) and took the name Ignatius. Later he invited the Jesuits to Jiating, where he built a church and residence for them. When Dengzhou fell to the rebels, he being governor of this place was held responsible. He was arrested, court marshalled and executed. Shortly before his death he was assisted by Adam Schall and died as a good Christian.

Cf. JWC 1:234–239; ECCP 2:686.
Source: Albert Chan, S.J., Chinese Books and Documents in the Jesuit Archives in Rome, pp. 116-117.

Full bibliographic citation see: Ad Dudink & Nicolas Standaert, Chinese Christian Texts Database (CCT-Database)
BnF edition online at Gallica.
Dig.pdf. local access [Vagnone-Zesheng shipian.pdf]

SubjectHumanistic ethics Moral education--China--Catholic authors Humanism, Religious