N.B. Description based on Jap-Sin II, 43.

Budeyi bian [Pu-te-i pien] 不得已辯 [辨]
By Nan Huaren 南懷仁 (Ferdinand Verbiest).
One juan. Bamboo paper, bound in European style. No date or place of publication.

The cover bears a Latin title: “Refutatio persecuto | ris Yam Quam Sien | circa res mathemati | ces | a p. Ferdin. Verbiest | S.J.”

In his preface Verbiest states that, after the great persecution of Yang Guangxian against the missioners, Adam Schall had lost the power of speech. Verbiest himself, being a newcomer to China, had been unable to defend himself and he had therefore lived in retirement. This was the occasion for him to reflect and to discover the errors of Yang Guangxian. Verbiest then points out that the calendar method of Yang Guangxian came from the traditional school of the Ming dynasty. Since the establishment of the new regime, the Shunzhi emperor had proclaimed the employment of the new European method, which had been in use for over twenty years and had yielded good results. In Verbiest’s opinion, progress comes from long and careful studies. The longer the studies, the more perfect will be the science of the calendar. Yang Guangxian, however, esteemed the old method and belittled the new one. As the result of his maliciousness eight members of the Imperial Observatory had lost their lives. Yang Guangxian cared only for the principles of calendar making and ignored the practical side. To this Verbiest retorts that to show the validity of the principles one must see them in practice. Wrong principles can never give good results. The disgrace of Yang Guangxian before the Kangxi emperor and his ministers through the failure of his experiments clearly showed that he was ignorant of the principles of calendar making. Finally, Verbiest concludes that although justice had been done in the case of Yang Guangxian, the damage done by Yang’s books still remained. For this reason he still wished to publish his work as a defense of the truth.--Cf. Albert Chan, Chinese Books and Documents in the Jesuit Archives in Rome, pp. 344-346.

For full bibliographic citation see Ad Dudink & Nicolas Standaert, Chinese Christian Texts Database (CCT-Database).

Abstract: Canton Conference (1667-1668) is regarded as an important event in the history of Christianity in China. The Conference was held by missionaries from three religious orders, namely, the Jesuits, Dominicans and Franciscans. Together they tried achieving something common to strive for the prosperity of the China mission. It is true that the background and atmosphere of the Conference was influenced and overwhelmed by the Rites controversy. However, another significant part that the conference covered, in a large portion, dealt with wide pastoral issues in the context of Chinese society. The forty two articles in this Conference demonstrate the open-mindedness and a fairly positive knowledge of an approach to Chinese custom. In addition, some recommendations remain open to further inquiries, in the sense that they were still finding a better way to cope with the indigenous affairs. Analysis of the articles as a whole gives light to various aspects of missionary work at that time beyond the controversial article forty-first.

Appendixes: 4.1 List of the missionaries assembled in Beijing for the imperial inquisition. 4.2 List of the missionaries who were not sent to Canton and remained in Beijing. 4.3 List of the missionaries excluded from the imperial inquisition and Canton exile. 4.4 List of the missionaries who were sent to Canton for detention. 4.5 List of the participants in the Canton Conference. 4.2 Excerpt of the Chinese text “Ordonnances de la sainte eglise” 《聖教規程》

P. Johann Adam Schall von Bell S.J. und die Geheimakten zum Gerichtsprozeß der Jahre 1664-1665 in China / Martin Gimm. Tang Ruowang yu Qingchao mibendang  湯若望與清朝密本檔 /  Ji Mu zhu 嵇穆著.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Johann Adam Schall von Bell S.J. (1592–1666), der sich fast fünf Jahrzehnte in China aufhielt, gilt als einer der wichtigsten und einflussreichsten Persönlichkeiten der Frühgeschichte chinesisch-europäischer Beziehungen. Sowohl auf religiösem wie wissenschaftlichem Gebiet hervorragend ausgewiesen verstand er es, in stets tatkräftigem Einsatz seine Kenntnisse bis hinauf zu dem jugendlichen, ersten Kaiser der neuen manjurischen Qing-Dynastie weiterzugeben.

Martin Gimm entwickelt in seiner Studie auf der Grundlage neu erschlossener Quellen eine revidierte Chronologie des Wirken Schalls. Gleichzeitig gibt er einen Ausblick auf die in den 1660er Jahren in China aufkommenden antieuropäischen Bewegungen und die sich um 1664 aus den Anklagen des berüchtigten Yang Guangxian entwickelnden Strafaktionen gegen Schall, die schließlich zu seinem Todesurteil führten. Gimm wertet hierfür insbesondere die 24 um 1990 neu aufgefundenen manjurischen Geheimakten zum Prozessgeschehen aus, deren wichtiges I. Dokument in Übersetzung vorgelegt wird. Inhalt und Wesen sämtlicher Geheimakten, die Anklagepunkte, die beteiligten Behörden, Institutionen und Personen sowie die ausgesprochenen Strafurteile werden detailliert dargestellt. Abgerundet wird die Untersuchung durch ein ausführliches Quellen- und Literaturverzeichnis und einen Index. --Publisher note.