Companions in geography : East-West collaboration in the mapping of Qing China (c.1685-1735) /  by Mario Cams.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Situating the Study -- Delineation and Approach -- Cartography and the Jesuit Missions to China -- Chapter Overview --  1. Instruments for the Emperor: New Frontiers, New Practices --  1.1. Instrumental Convergence of Interests --  1.1.1. Academie and the Instrument Market in Paris --  1.1.2. King's Mathematicians' Interest in Cartography --  1.1.3. Paris-made Instruments for the French Mission --  1.2. Improving Cartographies: An Emperor's Quest --  1.2.1. Kangxi Emperor's Cartographic Aspirations --  1.2.2. Qing Statecraft and Cartographic Practice --  1.2.3. Qing Court's Appropriation of Paris-Made Instruments --  1.3. Frontier Matters: New Qing Cartographic Practice --  1.3.1. Integrating the Khalka: Exploring a New Frontier --  1.3.2. 1698 Preliminary Survey --  1.3.3. Re-standardizing the Qing's Most Basic Unit of Length -- Conclusion --  Intermission 1 Missionaries or Mapmakers? The Mapping Project and Its Place in the Mission -- Justifying Missionary Involvement -- Unauthorized Return of Joachim Bouvet -- Conclusion --  2. Of Instruments and Maps: The Land Surveys in Practice --  2.1. Beyond the Passes: Observations and Calculations --  2.1.1. New Qing Cartographic Practice along the Great Wall --  2.1.2. Revisiting the Manchu Homelands and Northern Frontiers --  2.1.3. Strategic Expeditions into Korea and Tibet --  2.2. Logistics in Mapping the Chinese Provinces --  2.2.1. Moving South: Sequence, Timing and Strategies --  2.2.2. Directed from the Center: The Emperor and His Administration --  2.2.3. Team Composition and Local Support --  2.3. Imperial Workshops Connection --  2.3.1. Mapmakers from the Inner Palace --  2.3.2. European Technical Experts and Assistants --  2.3.3. Logistical Centrality of the Imperial Workshops -- Conclusion --  Intermission 2 Missionaries and Mapmakers: Missionary Activity during the Land Surveys -- Restitution of Church Buildings -- Impact of the Chinese Rites Controversy -- Conclusion --  3. Afterlife of Maps: Circulation, Adaptation, and Negotiation --  3.1. Printed Life of the Overview Maps of Imperial Territories --  3.1.1. Woodblock Editions --  3.1.2. Copperplate Editions --  3.1.3. Imperially Commissioned Compilations and Later Renditions --  3.2. European Incorporation of a Qing Atlas --  3.2.1. Early Transmissions and Reception in Europe --  3.2.2. Contracting Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville --  3.2.3. Intercultural Adaptation: d'Anville's Regional Maps --  3.3. Beijing, Paris and Saint Petersburg: Negotiating the Gaps --  3.3.1. d'Anville's General Maps and the Paris-Saint Petersburg Connection --  3.3.2. Saint Petersburg Connection to Beijing --  3.3.3. d'Anville's Maps: Reception and Further Adaptations -- Conclusion -- Annex: Extant Kangxi-era Sheets (Printed) -- Conclusion: Unlocking Dichotomies: Revisiting Cross-Cultural Circulation -- On Qing Imperial Cartography: Traditional vs. Scientific Practice -- On the Role of the Individual: Global vs. Local Networks -- On Instruments and Maps: The Circulation vs. the Production of Knowledge -- On Interculturality: China vs. Europe.

In 'Companions in Geography' Mario Cams revisits the early 18th century mapping of Qing China, without doubt one of the largest cartographic endeavours of the early modern world. Commonly seen as a Jesuit initiative, the project appears here as the result of a convergence of interests among the French Academy of Sciences, the Jesuit order, and the Kangxi emperor (r. 1661-1722). These connections inspired the gradual integration of European and East Asian scientific practices and led to a period of intense land surveying, executed by large teams of Qing officials and European missionaries. The resulting maps and atlases, all widely circulated across Eurasia, remained the most authoritative cartographic representations of continental East Asia for over a century.

Local access dig.pdf. [Cams-Companions.pdf]

Jesuits presented evidence in both French and Chinese to defend Christianity by citation of legal and historical precedents in favor of the "Teaching of the Lord of Heaven" (Catholicism) even after the Yongzheng Emperor's 1724 imperial edict proscribed the religion as a heterodox cult. The Jesuits' strategy is traceable to Matteo Ricci's early missionary approach of accommodation to Chinese culture, which aimed to prove grounds for a Confucian-Christian synthesis based upon complementary points between Christian theology and their interpretation of Yuanru (Original Literati Teaching). Their synthesis involved both written and oral rhetorical techniques that ranged from attempts to show compatibility between different religious values, to the manipulation of texts, and to outright deceit. Personal witness, observation, and interpretation played a key role in Jesuit group translation projects. French and Chinese apologetic texts composed to prove grounds for the repeal of the 1724 proscription edict contain these approaches. The Lettres édifantes et curieuses écrite par des missionnaires jésuites (1702-1776) contain examples of this approach, as well as the Ruijianlu (1735-1737). Memorials in the Ruijianlu cited favorable legal precedents and imperial patronage rendered to Xiyangren (Men from the West). Jesuits presented their case for toleration of Christianity in the Ruijianlu in terms of Chinese notions of hospitality, diplomacy, and defense found in texts from as early as the Zhou dynasty. They cited an enduring Chinese defensive notion of "welcoming men from afar" (rouyuanren), but the court refused to return to this soft policy. The Qianlong Emperor rejected the Kangxi era policy of "welcoming men from afar" regarding established missions. In 1735 the imperial Board of Punishments re-enforced the proscription order against Christianity in military units and also ruled that baptism of abandoned infants by a Chinese convert constituted religious heterodoxy based on the Qing Code (Article 162). The twenty-one Jesuits (not expelled in 1724) remained in imperial service and at liberty to practice their religion among themselves. Officials pursued a severe policy of punishing any cult deemed heterodox according to statutes of the Code. Persecution of Christians increased throughout the eighteenth century, but abated during the reign of the Daoguang Emperor (1821-1851) when most anti-Christian edicts were rescinded and a subsequent imperial edict pardoned those Christians who practiced the faith for moral perfection.