Friendship and hospitality : the Jesuit-Confucian encounter in late Ming China /  Dongfeng Xu.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 245-265) and index.

Introduction -- Part One Friendship and the Jesuits -- 1 Striving for Divine Union: The Wholly Other and the Jesuit Vocation -- 2 Other Rhetoric: Reading Matteo Ricci's On Friendship -- Part Two Hospitality and the Confucians -- 3 The Subject of Hospitality and Sino-centrism: Theory and Chinese Cultural Background -- 4 Situating the Middle Kingdom: Matteo Ricci's World Map, the Wobbling Center, and the Undoing of the Host -- 5 Reforming the Calendar: The Ming Empire's Stairway to Heaven through the Jesuits -- 6 The Confucian Hospitality: Responding to the Jesuits -- Conclusion -- Notes.

Offers a comparative and deconstructive reading of the cross-cultural encounter between the Jesuits and their Confucian hosts in late Ming China.--OCLC note.

Librarian's note: While the focus of this study is on comparative concepts of friendship and hospitality, the text includes in-depth analysis of Ricci's 1602 Mappamondo, its layout, content, and background, and the Chinese critical response to it.  

Local access dig.pdf. [Xu-Friendship and hospitality.pdf]

Local access dig.pdf. [Lopes-Chengshi moyan.pdf]

Abstract: The early seventeenth century is noted for the fruitful cultural, religious, and artistic exchange between Europe and the Chinese imperial court. The missionaries of the Society of Jesus (Societas Iesu) became a prominent bridge connecting the two distinct cultures, where the main differences were, at the same time, the reason for their mutual allure. At that time, Jesuit priests, such as Matteo Ricci (1552–1610), João da Rocha (1587–1639), and Giulio Aleni (1582–1649), contributed significantly not only to the dissemination of Christianity in Beijing, Nanjing, and other important cities beyond the Portuguese administration of Macau, but also to the transmission of Western knowledge and technology. Along with the flow of goods and rare commodities brought from Europe which overwhelmed the Chinese emperors of the late Ming and High Qing courts, Western art was introduced into China as a synthesis of visual science, artistic sophistication, and eloquence, explaining why it became so valuable, particularly during the time of the three Qing emperors, Kangxi (1654– 1722), Yongzheng (1678–1735), and Qianlong (1711–99). The modus operandi in the apostolic ministry of the Society of Jesus around the world is well known for the use of images as a visual explanation of Christian doctrine, particularly in China, India, and Japan. The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola (Exercitia Spiritualia), composed between 1522 and 1524, suggests that the images should be referred to as a reflection on the word, demonstrating the complementary function between text and images in the explanation of Christian teachings. This article discusses the agency of one of the earliest sets of European prints used in the context of the Jesuit mission in China as a visual explanation of biblical teachings. By means of iconographic examination and iconological approach, it examines how Christian prints included in the Chengshi moyuan 程氏墨苑 (The Ink Garden of Mr. Cheng) were used as a visual reasoning of the scriptures, demonstrating that the three biblical prints were linked to each other and purposely put together as a result of a doctrinal program.

Keywords: European prints in China, artistic exchange, Jesuits in China, Matteo Ricci, Chengshi moyuan, Ming dynasty, spiritual exercises

附錄一 ： 利瑪竇著作及書中所附序跋. -- 附錄二 : 利瑪竇的名稱. -- 附錄三 : 《聖教信証》和《柏應理數目》. -- 附錄四 : 利瑪竇著作在明清書目中的分類.