From the debate over the city God to the transformation of cosmology: 口鐸日抄 (Kouduo Richao) and the introduction of the Catholic concept of God in late Ming / Wang Shiyu

Published in Religions 2026, 17(1), 102

Abstract:
This paper takes the interaction between late-Ming Jesuits and Chinese City God (chenghuang, 城隍) worship as a case study, employing the “Great Tradition/Little Tradition” framework to examine the confrontation between “humans-becoming-gods” and “God-creating-angels”. It argues that the Confucian Great Tradition integrated popular beliefs through using the divine way to implement moral instruction (shendao shejiao, 神道設教), maintaining state–religion unity and a monistic cosmology. By contrast, Catholicism, centered on monotheism and a transcendent God, reallocated mystical power from imperial and local deities to the Christian God, thus implicitly reconstructing traditional Chinese knowledge systems under an apparent compromise. The article concludes that Catholicism in late Ming China signified not merely religious transmission but also the penetration of a transcendent God-concept and a dualistic cosmology dividing the otherworldly from the this-worldly into China’s this-worldly monistic cosmology, thereby clarifying the intellectual tensions revealed by the Jesuit encounter with Chinese cosmology.

Giulio Aleni, Kouduo richao, and Christian-Confucian dialogism in late Ming Fujian / Song Gang.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [363]-390), index and Chinese summary.
Revision of author's 2006 dissertation entitled Learning from the other (via publisher's email).

From literary dialogue to cultural dialogism -- Aleni, Fujian Mission, and Kouduo richao -- Practical investigations of heaven and earth -- Spiritual and moral cultivation of man -- Salvation before the eyes : objects, images, and liturgies.

"The readers will find in this book a momentous study on Christian dialogic writings that flourished in the Catholic missions in late Ming China. It particularly focuses on the mission work of the Italian Jesuit Giulio Aleni (Ai Rulüe 艾儒略, 1582-1649) in Fujian, and the unique text Kouduo richao 口鐸日抄 (Diary of Oral Admonitions, 1630-1640) recording the religious and intellectual conversations among the Jesuits and local converts. By examining the mechanisms of dialogue in Kouduo richao and other Christian works distinguished by a certain dialogue form, I aim to reveal the formation of a hybrid Christian-Confucian identity in late Ming Chinese religious experience. The book also offers a reconsideration of methodologies used in recent scholarship. My critical reflections will lead to a new approach, i.e., dialogic hybridization. The approach not only treats dialogue as an important yet underestimated genre in late Ming Christian literature, but it also uncovers a self-other identity complex in the dialogic exchanges of the Jesuits and Chinese scholars. The book is a multi-faceted investigation of the religious, philosophical, ethical, scientific, and artistic topics discussed among the Jesuits and late Ming scholars. This comprehensive research echoes what the distinguished sinologist Erik Zürcher (1928-2008) said about the richness and diversity of Chinese Christian texts produced in the 17th and 18th centuries. This book presents another major study featuring a set of new findings beyond the endeavours of Zürcher and other scholars. With the key concept of Christian-Confucian dialogism, it tells an intriguing story of Aleni's mission work and the thriving Christian communities in late Ming Fujian"-- Provided by publisher.

Local access dig.pdf. [Song Gang-Giulio Aleni Kouduo richao.pdf]