In: 耶穌會羅馬檔案館明清天主教文獻. Chinese Christian texts from the Roman Archives of the Society of Jesus, v. 6.26. Xingxue cushu 性學觕述 / Ai Rulüe 艾儒略 (Giulio Aleni).

Bibliographic citation see: Ad Dudink & Nicolas Standaert, Chinese Christian Texts Database (CCT-Database)

JapSin II, 16
Xingxue cushu 性學觕述.
By Ai Rulue 艾儒略 (Giulio Aleni).
Eight juan. Bamboo paper in three ce bound in one volume, European style. Published by the Catholic church of Fuzhou (Fujian) in 1646 (丙戌).

There is a label with the title on each ce; the first ce bears a Latin inscription: “De Physica | auctore P. Julio Aleni, S.J., 8 tomi.”

The center of the title page gives the title in four large characters; on the right the author’s name is given: 西極艾思及先生譯著; on the left is the name of the publisher: 勑建閩中天主堂刻印. The verso of this folio gives the names of the censors of the book: Li Ningshi 黎寧石 (Pedro Ribeiro, 1572–1640); Yang Manuo 陽瑪諾 (Manuel Dias Jr., 1574–1659); Fu Ruowang 伏若望 (João Fróis, 1591–1638). Permission for printing was given by the Vice-Provincial, Fu Fanji 傅汎際 (Francisco Furtado). Zhu Shiheng 朱時亨 of Jiangyou 江右 (Jiangxi) was the proofreader. The date is given as 二年歲次丙戌. Now, the third year of the Shunzhi reign (1646) was a bingxu 丙戌 year. Apparently the characters Longwu 隆武, which once preceded the characters 二年 (still present in Courant 3409), had been erased. Longwu is the reign-title of the Southern Ming emperor Zhu Yujian 朱聿鍵, who resided in Fuzhou (ECCP 196–198) and who had the church there enlarged; hence the church which published the text was characterized as chijian [束+力]建 (erected by imperial order).
There is a preface by Chen Yi 陳儀 of Fuzhou in ten folios with two seals at the end: 陳儀之印 (seal characters cut in relief) and 庚戌進士 [jinshi of 1610] (seal characters, incised inscription). There is a second preface by Qu Shisi 瞿式耜 in five folios with two seals at the end: 瞿式耜印 (seal characters cut in relief) and 大中丞章 (seal characters, incised inscriptions). The last preface is by Aleni himself in three folios, dated 1623 千六百二十三 and Tianqi jiazi 天啟甲子 (1624). At the end there are two seals: 艾儒略印 (seal characters cut in relief) and a square seal carved with the emblem of the Society of Jesus. The introduction written in 1646 (丙戌) by Zhu Shiheng has two seals at the end: 朱時亨印 (seal characters cut in relief) and 德先父 (seal characters, incised inscriptions).
The table of contents consists of three folios. The main text of juan 1–2 consists of twenty folios altogether, juan 3–6 of fifty-two folios and juan 7–8 of forty-seven folios. Each half folio consists of nine columns with nineteen characters in each column. The recto of folio 1 bears the title of the book with the number of its juan and the name of the author (西海後學艾儒略著).

This book is an introduction to psychology: juan 1–2 deal with the nature of the soul; juan 3 with the question of growth; juan 4 with the five senses; juan 5 with the functions of the senses; juan 6 with the nature of three kinds of souls; juan 7 with the human mind and with dreams; juan 8 with the question of long and short life, etc. Aleni tried to give a general course of psychology as it was studied in Europe; many of the facts were entirely new to his Chinese readers. At the same time he tried to correct wrong ideas which might have been derived from traditional wrong perceptions.
The book is an adaptation (hence the title page speaks of yizhu “translated and composed”) of a Coimbra course on Aristotelian psychology, viz., the first six chapters of De Anima (Coimbra, 1598) and the two last chapters of Parva Naturalia (Lyon, 1594; Lisbon 1598).

Chen Yi, a native of Fuzhou prefecture (Fujian), obtained the jinshi degree in 1610. He was a disciple of Zhao Canlu 趙參魯 (zi 宗傅, hao 心堂), a native of Ningbo (Zhejiang). He met Ricci at the residence of Zhao, when the latter was Minister of Justice in Nanjing. In 1616, when Chen came to Beijing, he met Diego de Pantoja and Aleni. He seems to have become a friend of the missioners, especially of Aleni, whose movements he followed with great interest. In his preface he makes mention of the calendar reform and of the translation of (mathematical and astronomical) books which had been done in 1629, whence we conclude that it must have been written after this date. The introduction by Zhu Shiheng shows that he was a Christian, probably a new convert of Aleni. The preface of Aleni was signed at the Shenxiutang 慎修堂, the Catholic church in Hangzhou. The Chinese date 天啟甲子 (Tianqi 4), however, does not agree with the Western 1623 (千六百二十三). In this case I think it should be 1624. The book was probably written also in Hangzhou.
The Xingxue cushu was reprinted (third edition) by Xujiahui (Zikawei) (Shanghai) in 1922 (one volume, 218 pages). For another edition, see Jap-Sin II, 21.

Cf. Pfister, p. 134, no. 8; Hsü 1949, pp. 210–214.
Source: Albert Chan, S.J., Chinese Books and Documents in the Jesuit Archives in Rome, pp. 295-297.

JapSin II, 16a
Xingxue cushu 性學觕述.
By Ai Rulue 艾儒略 (Giulio Aleni).

This is an exact copy of Jap-Sin II 16
Source: Albert Chan, S.J., Chinese Books and Documents in the Jesuit Archives in Rome, p. 297.

JapSin II, 21
Xingxue cushu 性學觕述.
By Ai Rulüe 艾儒略 (Giulio Aleni).
Eight juan (juan 1–3 are missing). Bamboo paper bound in one volume European style.

The cover bears a label with the title and a Latin inscription: “De natura et | distinctione Animarum | Liber Sinicus editus a Patre | Julio Alenio Soc.^tis Jesu.”

Folio 1r of juan 4 bears the title of the book and the number of the juan with name of the author below. Each half folio has nine columns with nineteen characters in each column. The title of the book is given in the middle of each folio; a variant title Lingxing cushu 靈學觕述 is found on the folios of juan 7 and 8. Below the fish tail are marked the number of the juan and the number of the folio. The folios of juan 4–6 are numbered 5–52; juan 7–8 consist of forty-eight folios.
This edition of the Xingxue cushu is different from that of Jap-Sin II, 16, judging from the difference of folios in these two books. Since the first juan are missing, there is no way of finding out the place and date of the publication.
Source: Albert Chan, S.J., Chinese Books and Documents in the Jesuit Archives in Rome, p. 301.