Zhong Wen: Our key figure—Matteo Ricci, the “ambassador of cultural exchange” who came to Ming China and was an Italian member of the Society of Jesus—was a deeply learned missionary sent by the Jesuits.

I have outlined Matteo Ricci’s missionary activities in China:

Two Years in Shaozhou & the Shaozhou Bandit Incident

In 1589, Ricci moved from Zhaoqing to Shaozhou. In 1590, he encountered a group of more than 20 bandits. Ricci and three other priests bravely resisted and repelled the attackers, receiving only minor injuries. Afterwards, the father, wife, and children of the criminals all came to kneel before them and beg for forgiveness. Ricci and his companions, in keeping with the Christian teaching of “love your enemies,” also pleaded for mercy. The magistrate sentenced the ringleader to death and the accomplices to three years of hard labor. Residents visited Ricci and the others one after another; the magistrate of Nanxiong sent medicinal herbs; the garrison sent guards. Ricci’s returning good for evil won the affection of the local people.

Two priests passed away in 1591 and 1593; Michele Ruggieri returned to his homeland. Ricci found himself in unprecedented loneliness—an oasis in the desert.

Five Years in Nanchang & Return There

In Nanchang, Ricci received honor and hospitality from the Prince of Jian’an and met him in person. Ricci composed On Friendship, laying the foundation for his later journey to Beijing.

Return to Nanjing

In 1598, Ricci once again arrived in Nanjing. In September of the same year, he came to Beijing for the first time, traveling by the Grand Canal. Not planning to stay permanently, he withdrew to Suzhou for the winter.

He lived in Nanjing again in 1599. In 1600 he met the eunuch Ma Tang, who introduced him to the emperor. In 1601, Ricci received an imperial edict in Tianjin: the emperor provided eight horses, thirty porters, and free passage along the way. Among the gifts Ricci brought:
A painting of God
An ancient painting of the Virgin Mary
Relics of saints, glassware of various colors, crucifixes
A world map
Large and small chiming clocks
A Western clavichord
Pearls, rhinoceros horn
Five bolts of Western cloth
Four large Western silver coins

The emperor marveled at the sacred images, saying, “This is a living Buddha”—meaning the “true God.” He sent the image of the Virgin to the Empress Dowager and stored the rest in the palace treasury.

The chiming clocks especially fascinated Emperor Shenzong. He ordered that from among 20–30 eunuchs skilled in mathematics, four were to learn to adjust the clock within three days. At the end of the third day, the clock chimed. The emperor beamed and promoted all four eunuchs by one rank. He also ordered court painters to paint portraits of the priests.

As for the Western clavichord, four court musicians visited the fathers for instruction. Musicians ranked even higher than mathematicians. Ricci wrote Eight Chapters on the Western Harpsichord, praising moral virtues. It circulated widely, and even in 1640 during Emperor Chongzhen’s reign, when the instrument malfunctioned, Father Johann Adam Schall von Bell was summoned to repair it.

In 1601, the emperor finally granted Ricci permission to reside in Beijing permanently. From then on, a channel of cultural exchange between China and the West was formally opened.

Ricci died in Beijing in 1610 at age 58. Unmarried, childless, living alone, with no one at his side when he died. Later it was discovered he had passed away seated.

Bo Ya: Ricci is known as “science + evangelization.”

In 1583, Ricci landed in Guangdong and preached in southern China for eighteen years. To preach in China required imperial permission, so he began by offering scientific knowledge that interested the emperor.

In 1596, Ricci accurately predicted the solar eclipse of September 22 in Nanchang, whereas official predictions were inaccurate. Thus in January 1601 he finally received approval to enter Beijing. He then predicted the lunar eclipses of June 5 and December 9 in that same year, and another solar eclipse on May 1, 1603. His scientific expertise was precisely what the emperor—wanting wealth and national strength—was looking for.

Ricci translated Euclid’s Elements with Xu Guangqi (baptismal name Paul) and collaborated with Li Zhizao on Tongwen Suanzhi. Other works included Record of Strange Western Instruments, Western Learning for the Eyes and Ears, On Friendship, Method of Sundials, and the world map Map of the Two Hemispheres. Their repeatedly revised world map hung in the imperial palace. They also recommended missionaries to help reform the Chinese calendar.

Ricci presented the emperor with chiming clocks, the world map, a clavichord, and of course the Bible. The Wanli Emperor particularly loved the chiming clocks and allowed Ricci to remain in Beijing partly so someone could maintain them. Ricci studied Chinese, wore Ming official robes, lived according to the law, and with his profound learning, successfully overturned the two-hundred-year-old rule that “foreigners may not reside in the capital.” He even received government stipends like Chinese officials.

His vast knowledge and humble character earned him friendships among scholars and officials eager for new knowledge—a situation very different from the increasingly closed and harsh atmosphere under the Qing.

The Qing was not entirely without merit. In the mid-1990s, a small museum in Southern California exhibited a poem written by Emperor Kangxi: “I am willing to accept the Holy Son and receive the sonship of eternal life.” Unfortunately, for the sake of absolute power, he eventually abandoned Christianity.

Zhong Wen: In the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty, commerce flourished in coastal regions; but northern enemies pressed in, and the court was corrupt. Scholars concerned for the nation hoped to break old conventions and pursue practical reforms to strengthen the country. Practical learning—astronomy, geography, mathematics, agriculture, military science, engineering—became increasingly valued.

Meanwhile, in the West, after internal reform, the Society of Jesus rose and rode the wave of global navigation to the East. The sciences and technologies they brought were exactly what China needed.

Bo Ya: Ricci also discussed the Bible among high-ranking officials. By the 33rd year of Wanli, Beijing already had several hundred Catholic believers, including the influential Minister of Rites and Grand Secretary Xu Guangqi, along with Li Zhizao and Yang Tingyun—known as “the Three Pillars of the Church.”

Together with them, Ricci published numerous works introducing Christianity and Western culture. He gained special imperial permission to build the first Catholic church within Beijing—later known as the South Church (Xuanwumen). His final decade, from 1601 to his death in 1610, was his golden age of ministry. He wrote nineteen letters describing China to Europe and hoping for continued work in China. Later Jesuits mostly followed the “Ricci method.”

But frankly, Ricci’s apparent “smooth success” stood on shaky ground, for he fundamentally “modified” Christianity—“concealing the mystery of the Cross.” This had serious consequences, even leaving traces in the Protestant Chinese Union Version translation, visible in many “variant readings.”

Zhong Wen: Even so, precisely because Ricci adopted a strategy of “harmonizing with Confucianism” and “supplementing Confucianism,” Sino-Western cultural exchange could unfold. Though court regulations required deceased missionaries to be buried in Macau, Emperor Wanli broke precedent and granted land in Beijing for Ricci’s burial. His tomb, inscribed “The Tomb of the Jesuit Father Li Gong”, still stands today inside the Beijing Party School. Nearby lie the tombs of Schall von Bell and Verbiest.

Bo Ya: Non-religious factors also played a role. Jesuits introduced firearms to China. In 1626, when Nurhaci besieged Ningyuan with 130,000 troops, general Yuan Chonghuan deployed “red barbarian cannons.” The Eight Banner cavalry collapsed under fire; Nurhaci was mortally wounded.

Zhong Wen: The Jesuits were highly gifted. Across the Ming and Qing, besides Ricci and Schall, many other Jesuits served as imperial officials: the painter Giuseppe Castiglione; the astronomer and Yuanmingyuan designer Michel Benoist; the glassmaker Bernard-Kilian Stumpf, whose eyeglasses the emperor wore while reviewing memorials; Jesuits who cured Emperor Kangxi’s malaria with quinine; and many court artisans and musicians. From the late 16th to early 18th century, 472 Jesuits labored in China—most silently and anonymously.

Though the hierarchical structure of the Catholic Church may seem similar to the Chinese imperial system, they were fundamentally different. The early Jesuits used a top-down approach combining Western science with cultural adaptation. With imperial permission, they entered Chinese society, helped Chinese understand the West, and established churches. Even Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang and Emperor Kangxi once acknowledged Jesus Christ as Savior.

Bo Ya: In fact, the Catholic diocesan system was a precursor to modern representative democracy.

Zhong Wen: The Jesuits’ efforts to enter China were far more difficult than Protestant missions that followed two hundred years later under the shadow of the Opium War. Jesuit character, diligence, and humility earned public praise. Later missionaries arriving with “unequal treaties” struggled to gain the same trust and therefore mainly preached among the lower classes.

The “Chinese Rites Controversy” stemmed from internal conflict within the Catholic Church. Only in 1939—over two hundred years later—did the Holy See finally reverse its earlier prohibitions.

Boya: Human society and the Church, composed of fallen people, can never be perfect. Yet from the autocracy of medieval popes to the Jesuits’ work in China, progress was made. Today political and ecclesiastical powers face greater oversight, and people enjoy more freedom. We do not forget those steadfast pioneers—the Jesuit missionaries.

Zhong Wen: Records say Ricci never returned home. In his letters he lamented: “We in these lands live as though in voluntary exile, far from our relatives—parents, brothers, kin—and far from Christian nations and our homeland. Sometimes we may spend ten or twenty years without seeing a single European.”

Since his departure from Europe in March 1578, he never saw his homeland again. In far-off China, he sometimes wondered whether dedication to God really required journeying overseas. He never forgot Macerata, where he spent the first sixteen years of his life; it is the only place labeled on the Chinese world map he drew.

Fatefully, he was born in 1552—the year Francis Xavier died near China, unable to realize his dream of evangelizing the mainland.

Ricci’s father, Giovanni Ricci, was a farsighted man who engaged in commerce and managed estates in the Papal States and elsewhere. He was active in local administration and served as district administrator in the Marche region. Matteo Ricci was the eldest of many children (at least seven sons and one daughter).

His father sent him to Rome to study law, but soon after arriving, Matteo began living a strict ascetic life. On August 15, 1571, he entered the Society of Jesus. Knowing his father had other expectations, he wrote home requesting consent. Giovanni was shocked and set out for Rome, but fell ill on the first day of travel. Believing the illness divine providence, he returned home and wrote a letter approving his son’s decision.

Boya: The great voyages of discovery in the 15th century stirred missionary zeal. Ming China appeared to them as a vast, untouched field. After reckless attempts failed, some missionaries believed conversion impossible without force. One wrote: “Trying to enter China without soldiers is like trying to reach the moon.”

But Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, forged a new path. He required missionaries to learn local languages and believed evangelization did not require armies—rather, they should bring agricultural experts, engineers, and physicians. This spirit of cultural adaptation was fully embodied by the Jesuits in China.

Zhong Wen: In autumn 1572, after taking his vows, Ricci entered the Roman College. Hearing about missions to the East, he felt restless and, before completing his studies (he later finished his theology in India), asked to join the mission.

Granted permission to visit Loreto, he was allowed to pass by Macerata to bid farewell to his family. But in his haste, he skipped the visit—never knowing it would be his last chance to see his parents.

In 1578, he and thirteen companions departed Lisbon for the Far East.

For years afterward, he lived a life reminiscent of biblical narratives, wandering alone among countless “heathen.”

Later, Ricci tried to write home once or twice a year. Even sending letters along two routes—via Goa and Manila—many were still lost due to negligence, shipwreck, or pirates. He grew used to a 6–7-year cycle between sending a letter and receiving a reply, which naturally affected his motivation. In 1594, he wrote from Shaozhou that such long delays meant events had changed by the time letters arrived: “And… I often think that I write long letters about the life here, yet the recipient may no longer be alive.”

The saddest news concerned his parents. In 1593, after fifteen years without word, he wrote to his father: “Were it not so difficult, if I could know your situation and whether you are still alive, how happy I would be!” Three years later, a friend told him his parents had died; he held several masses in mourning. But the news was uncertain. In 1605, Ricci learned with astonishment that his father was actually still alive. Overjoyed, he wrote an intensely emotional letter summarizing his achievements in China, ending: “I do not know whether this letter will find you on earth or in heaven: but no matter what, I must write to you.”

In truth it was heaven. By the time the letter reached Macerata, Giovanni Ricci had already died. And when the confirmed news of his death reached China, Matteo Ricci himself had already passed away.

Bo Ya: This story truly moves one to tears. In 2010, the 400th anniversary of Ricci’s death, Pope John Paul II remarked: “Father Matteo Ricci’s greatest contribution was in the field of ‘cultural exchange.’ Through him the Chinese came to know Jesus Christ… In his person he marvellously united the priest and the scholar, the Catholic and the Orientalist, the Italian and the Chinese.”