JapSin I, (38/42) 40/3
Minzhong Jiangle Xian Qiu xiansheng zhi zhuwei shenfu shu 閩中將樂縣丘先生致諸位神父書.
By Qiu Sheng 丘晟.
Manuscript, six folios. One volume, Chinese bamboo paper, with red ink punctuation. 24 x 14 cm.

The cover bears the title: Shuzha 書札 (letter) and a Latin inscription: “Epistola unius Kiu gin [舉人] Christiani dicti Kieu Chim de Fo Kien, praemissa suo libro circa has controversias sinicas.”
The same epistle is given separately in one and one-half sheet (56 x 24 and 14 x 24 cm). At the end there are two lines of an inscription in Latin: “Epistola unius litterati Christiani in Fo Kien dicti Kieu Chim praemissa libello a se facto.”

Qiu Sheng felt aversion toward those who tried to belittle the teaching of Confucius. He pointed out that the Chinese respected Confucius as a great master because he recognized that there is a God to be served and that there are commandments to be kept, and because his writings exhorted people to do good. In one word, what Confucius teaches all agrees with the Catholic doctrine. For this reason Chinese boys study his books at the age of six or seven.
Finally, Qiu Sheng admitted that he embraced the Catholic faith because he saw that the teaching of the Catholic Church agreed with the teaching of Confucius. Now, if the missioners began to revile Confucius as superstitious, the Chinese scholars will no doubt answer back and cast against the Catholic Church the same accusation. He warns that if one inveighs against the veneration of ancestors and the respect paid to Confucius, one would be closing the door of the church to Chinese scholars. In conclusion, he says, “Your Reverences who study our Chinese books ought to know when to change and adapt (to the Chinese custom). It is not expedient to stick to a word or to a phrase so woodenly to the detriment of the welfare of the mission.” At the end he mentions his book, the Shuwen pian 書文篇 (cf. Jap-Sin I, [38/42] 40/4), which he wrote with the intention of helping the propagation of the Catholic faith.

Qiu Sheng (zi 振新) was a native of Jiangle (Fujian). The family seems to have settled down in Changshu 常熟 (Jiangsu). In Jap-Sin 134, the annual letter of 1663, we read that there was a church of Our Saviour and Our Lady in the town of Changshu in the province of Nanjing. François de Rougement (Lu Riman 魯日滿) was superior of the house and there were more than ten thousand Catholics (folio 345v). In Jap-Sin 112 there is a biography of Qiu Sheng’s father written by Qiu Sheng himself (folios 160–161). This was done at the request of de Rougement. According to this biography Qiu Sheng’s father’s zi was Shuliang 叔良 and his hao was Tianran 天然. From the preface he wrote for Brancati’s Shengjiao sigui 生教四規 (cf. Jap-Sin I, 106) we know that his ming was Yuezhi 曰知. He was baptized in 1638 (Chongzhen 11) by Francesco Sambiasi (Bi Jinliang 畢今梁) and took the name Augustine. For twenty-six years he lived an exemplary life. In 1662 (Kangxi 1) some ungrateful person laid hold of his property and robbed him of his possessions. It seems that this injustice was the result of hatred for the Christian religion. We are told that de Rougement exhorted him to forgive his enemy for God’s sake. This good man took his advice with great resignation. However, the blow was too heavy: overcome by grief he died in the following year (1663). De Rougement himself gave an account of this (see Jap-Sin 112). The Latin inscription on folio 160v informs us that Augustine Qiu was a xiucai 秀才: “Christitiana mors et vita Augustini jîu Xo Leam [Qiu Shuliang] baccalaurei Ecclesiae Cham Xo conscripta meo jussu ab eius filio item Baccalaureo.” About the life of Qiu Sheng himself we have far less information, except that he owed his religion to his father and the missioners (cf. Jap-Sin I, [38/42] 40/4).
Source: Albert Chan, SJ, Chinese Books and Documents in the Jesuit Archives in Rome, pp. 46-48.

JapSin I, (38/42) 40/4
Shuwen pian 述聞篇.
By Qiu Sheng 丘晟.
Manuscript, ninety-two folios. One volume, Chinese bamboo paper. 24 x 14 cm.

The cover bears the title, the author’s name and a Latin inscription: “Xo uen pien sive capita S.^ae legis ex Philosophia Sinica & auctoritatibus demonstrata, auctore Kieu Chim, kiu gin de Fokien Ciam Lo Sien.”

1. Fate.
2. Fortune-telling.
3. Geomancy.
4. The choice of lucky days and divination.
5. Buddhism and Daoism.
6. Witches, wizards and fairies.
7. The disreputability of temples of idols.
8. Angels and demons.
9. There must be a Lord in heaven.
10. Confucius knew how to serve God.
11. The soul must have its final resting place.
12. A repentant sinner can also merit heaven.
13. The Incarnation and Ascension are true facts.
14. Fasting.
15. Western scholars.
16. There should be ceremonies for the worship of ancestors.

In the middle of each folio the first word of each chapter is marked on the top and below the number of the chapter given can be found.
As far as we can see, this manuscript has never been published. In his letters to the missioners (Jap-Sin I, [38/42] 40/3) Qiu Sheng wrote:

The literati of our time keep on arguing and will not embrace the faith, contending that such words (i.e., words of missioners who had studied Chinese writings without thoroughly understanding them) are not convincing. Many doubt about the reality of the Incarnation and Redemption and regard fate, fortunetelling, geomancy etc. as not entirely fictitious. They believe in Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and doubt the Christian fast. For this reason, I did not spare myself but wrote this book, the Shuwen pian, in order to solve one by one the doubts of the Chinese. Some of the things I wrote have already been said by missioners, others are entirely new. They are all written in correct Chinese so as to increase the interest of the readers. . . . Both the doctrine and the expressions were carefully studied to make sure that there should be no errors. There is no need to alter any of the words, to do so might damage the Chinese style. All I plead is to have the manuscript printed as soon as possible so that we may propagate our holy religion. As there are no good engravers in Jiangle [who could make the blocks], we do not intend to do it here. Once it is printed we should like to have some copies for our church at Jiangle. Please drop me a line to let me know your opinion . . .

Source: Albert Chan, SJ, Chinese Books and Documents in the Jesuit Archives in Rome, pp. 48-49.