Zhong Wen: On January 14, 1601, after more than ten years of effort, Matteo Ricci was finally allowed to bring tribute into Beijing. The gifts received by the Wanli Emperor fell into two categories: religious and secular. The secular items included “two striking clocks,” “a volume of The Universal Atlas,” and “a Western harpsichord.”

For Ricci, the striking clocks were mainly auxiliary items meant to help him make connections with Chinese scholars and, hopefully, gain entry into the Forbidden City. Unexpectedly, it was precisely because he presented the Wanli Emperor with a striking clock that he was permitted to remain in Beijing as the person in charge of repairing clocks for the imperial household — a result one might call “a fortunate accident.” After bowing before the emperor’s empty throne, he taught imperial craftsmen how to assemble and maintain clocks, labeling every mechanical component with its Chinese name, repeatedly taking the clocks apart and putting them back together to demonstrate how each element worked and how the hands moved with regular precision.

By the late Ming, the Chinese had already begun imitating these striking clocks. By the Qing dynasty, the Imperial Workshop in the Yangxin Hall was able to manufacture and repair them, and Manchu emperors such as Kangxi and Qianlong even “composed” Chinese poems related to clockmaking.

Bo Ya: One might call this progress, I suppose. But since Chinese society had no real need for clocks, the related technologies could not be widely adopted. In Europe, the invention of clocks arose from religious needs — to synchronize Mass and prayer.

Zhong Wen: Because timekeeping is closely related to mathematics, astronomy, and calendrical science, the making, calibration, and repair of striking clocks became extremely important. This also meant that theoretical works on the subject became part of late Ming translations of Western learning. According to The Collected Letters of Matteo Ricci, during Ricci’s intellectual exchanges with Li Zhizao (1565–1630) in Beijing, Li translated works by Ricci’s teacher, Christopher Clavius (1538–1612), namely Epitome of Practical Arithmetic and On Horology. The former was translated as Tongwen Suanzhi (1613), while the latter does not appear in extant bibliographies — perhaps because it was completed but never printed. Even so, their scholarly correspondence shows how seriously Chinese literati regarded clockmaking.

Bo Ya: Yet the literati’s interest in clocks could not change the deep-rooted absence of time consciousness in Chinese society. Even today, when Chinese people attend meetings or appointments, some deliberately arrive late to appear more important. Such people do not know the salvation of God.

Zhong Wen: Still, material incentives always win hearts. For example, the tribute Ricci presented to Wanli clearly played a decisive role:

“…I respectfully offer one image of God, two images of the Mother of God, one book of the Lord’s Prayer, one pearl-inlaid cross, two striking clocks, one volume of The Universal Geography, and one Western harpsichord. Though these objects are not extravagant, they come from the far West and are therefore rare and precious.”

Three religious paintings were offered: a Christ image in a glass case — a gift from the Superior General — and two oil paintings from Rome, one a copy of St. Luke’s Madonna, the other depicting the Virgin Mary holding Jesus with John the Baptist. The last one was accidentally broken into three wooden panels by a porter, which Ricci wryly remarked made it look older and thus even more valuable in Chinese eyes. The Wanli Emperor placed the Christ image in the inner treasury and gave the two Madonnas to the Grand Empress Dowager.

A jeweled cross and a gilt-edged prayer book did not attract much attention. A prism that refracted no colors was considered by some Chinese “a priceless gem,” but it also failed to impress the emperor. What truly captured his interest were the striking clocks and the harpsichord.

One of the clocks was a large, gilded iron striking clock with a pendulum; the other was a small bronze gilt striking clock, spring-driven, only the height of a hand. Compared with traditional Chinese timekeepers, Western striking clocks possessed intricate, compact, durable metal mechanisms; they could be large or small, kept accurate time, and struck the hours audibly — far more convenient and reliable.

The Western harpsichord was a small rectangular instrument plucked by quills rather than played by a keyboard — one of the earliest such instruments to enter China. Wanli took an interest in this novelty and ordered four eunuchs to learn it. Within a month, each learned a piece, marking the earliest known instance of keyboard music instruction in China.

Ricci’s so-called “Universal Geography” was not his Kunyu Wanguo Quantu, but rather a finely bound copy of Ortelius’s World Atlas, using double-hemisphere projection. It introduced modern Western cartographic methods, including equal-area and azimuthal-equidistant projections, breaking the Chinese notion of a round heaven and square earth and showing that China was only a small part of the globe.

Astronomical Instruments

Ricci had studied astronomy under Clavius in Italy and could draw sundials and construct scientific instruments such as celestial globes, astrolabes, quadrants, and compasses. He offered these to officials and scholars to facilitate his mission.

Sundial

An instrument that determines time by the direction and length of a shadow cast by the sun. Noon is when the shadow points due north.

Armillary Sphere

A spherical instrument marked with celestial circles, used in astronomy or astrology. A metal axis runs through the sphere as the celestial pole, and rings represent the meridian and horizon.

Astrolabe

A classical scientific tool used to calculate time and make astronomical observations. The flat astrolabe allowed ancient astronomers to determine the positions of the sun, moon, and stars using engraved scales.

Armillary Instrument

A complex spherical observational device used to model celestial motions using rings representing the ecliptic, equator, meridian, etc.

Moral, Religious, and Scientific Works

Ricci’s writings and translations included:

Ten Discourses by a Strange Man, dialogues on death, the soul, asceticism, moral cultivation, reward and punishment, divination, and wealth.

On Friendship, Ricci’s first Chinese work (1595), a bilingual collection of maxims from Aristotle, Cicero, Augustine, etc., adapted to Chinese literary taste.

The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven, the first systematic presentation of Christian doctrine to the Chinese, harmonizing Christian theology with Confucian thought.

Elements of Geometry, introducing Euclid and deductive reasoning into China.

The Meaning of Heaven and Earth, a natural philosophy work explaining celestial structures and rejecting traditional Chinese cosmology.

Twenty-Five Maxims, a 4,000-character booklet on moral cultivation from a Christian perspective.

Explanation of the Armillary Sphere and Gnomon, a practical astronomy manual jointly produced with Li Zhizao.

Complete Map of the Myriad Countries of the World, Ricci’s world map engraved twelve times in China, famously repositioning the meridian so that China sat at the center — a concession to Chinese cultural pride.

Bo Ya: Ricci moved the prime meridian 170 degrees westward so China would occupy the center — very much like Chinese medicine placing the human heart in the middle of the body. This “politically correct” approach ultimately disappointed many; the Japanese, through anatomical dissection, eventually abandoned their belief in a Chinese-centered worldview.