Zhong Wen: In 1595, Matteo Ricci arrived in Nanchang, where he met Lu Wangai, the Provincial Governor of Jiangxi. Ricci showed him a prism, Western numerical methods, and a clock, and explained the content of Western books. He also lectured local scholars on mathematical problems and on how sundials measure time. That same year, Ricci befriended Prince Jian’an and Prince Le’an in Nanchang. He presented Prince Jian’an with a reclining clock, an armillary sphere, On Friendship, and another book containing several maps, nine astronomical diagrams, illustrations of the four-element combinations, mathematical demonstrations, and explanatory notes.

In 1598, Ricci arrived in Nanjing, where he met Zhao Kehua, the Provincial Inspector of Ying-tian, and Chen Zizhen, the Education Commissioner of Nanjing, with whom he discussed mathematical problems. Chen Zizhen asked Ricci to make astronomical instruments. Ricci’s notable acquaintances in Nanjing also included: Xu Hongji, Duke of Wei (a descendant of Xu Da); Li Huan, Marquis of Fengcheng; the eunuch Feng Bao; Jiao Hong, Deputy Head of the Nanjing Imperial Academy; the scholar Li Zhi; Wang Qiao, Vice Minister of Justice; Ye Xianggao, Vice Minister of Rites;
Guo Minglong of the Imperial Academy; Hanlin scholar Jing Yan; scholar Li Xinzai; and the man of letters Zhu Shilu. Guan Zuohai, Minister of Personnel, printed Ricci’s revised world map; and Guo Qingluo, the Provincial Governor of Guizhou, compiled Categories of Ancient and Modern Counties and States based on Ricci’s maps.

Bo Ya: To live in the world is to make friends—meeting one good person can shape your entire life!

Zhong Wen: Among all of Ricci’s friends in Nanjing, the most important was Xu Guangqi, who later became a Grand Secretary of the Wenyuan Pavilion. Xu Guangqi (1562–1633), courtesy name Zixian, was from Wusong (modern Shanghai). He later became a high-ranking minister. In 1600, Xu Guangqi was serving in Nanjing but had not yet passed the highest civil service exam. After meeting Ricci, he greatly admired the “investigation of things and extension of knowledge” that Ricci taught. As an insightful statesman-scholar, Xu had already realized that the speculative metaphysics of Neo-Confucianism was empty, and that the strength of the Ming dynasty required practical learning aimed at governing the world.

He studied astronomy, calendrical science, mathematics, and measurement with Ricci. Under the influence of Ricci and other missionaries, Xu Guangqi was baptized in 1603. In 1604, he traveled to Beijing for the palace examination and became a Hanlin Academy scholar. After arriving in Beijing, he worked with Ricci on Western learning and translations—most notably the first six books of Euclid’s Elements, completed and printed in 1607. This work had enormous influence on the later development of mathematics and science in China.

Bo Ya: Ricci and Xu Guangqi’s story is truly inspiring.

Zhong Wen: In May 1600, Ricci set out for Beijing. When he reached Linqing in Shandong, he was detained by the eunuch tax inspector Ma Tang and kept inside a temple. After repeated negotiations, he was released. Escorted by Ma Tang’s men, Ricci arrived in Beijing on January 24, 1601. He then presented his gifts to Emperor Wanli—holy images, self-ringing clocks, the Bible, a crucifix, and other items. The emperor ordered the Ministry of Rites to treat Ricci as an honored guest and granted him a residence outside Xuanwu Gate. From then on, Ricci could socialize with officials and continue evangelizing in the capital.

Among the officials Ricci befriended in Beijing, aside from Xu Guangqi, another important figure was Li Zhizao. Li Zhizao (1564–1630), courtesy name Zhenzhi, sobriquet Wocun, was from Renhe in Zhejiang. He passed the imperial exam in 1598 and served as Assistant Director in the Ministry of Works in Nanjing. He was baptized in 1610. Li met Ricci in Beijing in 1601 and once compiled A General Map of the World. After seeing Ricci’s Complete Map of the Myriad Countries of the World, he greatly admired Ricci’s knowledge. He reprinted the map, learned from Clavius how to make sundials and astrolabes, and wrote Explanations of the Armillary Sphere (1607) and On Observing the Heavens (1601). He also worked with Ricci on Western learning and translations—the most important being Tongwen Suanzhi (1614) and Yuanrong Jiaoyi (1614), two mathematical works that profoundly influenced the later development of mathematics in China.

During his years in Beijing, Ricci wrote the astronomical treatise The Structure of Heaven and Earth and the linguistic work The Miracle of Western Writing (1605). Other friends in Beijing included Shen Zimu, official Cao Yubian, Grand Secretary Shen Yiguan, Minister of Justice Xiao Daheng, Vice Minister of Personnel Feng Mingqi, Minister of Personnel Li Dai, Feng Yingjing, and others.

Bo Ya: The first time I saw these precious records was in early 1973 at “China Bookstore” on Fuzhou Road in Shanghai, a place that specialized in old books.

Zhong Wen: In 1601, Ricci established the Hebei mission district in Beijing. Beginning in 1697, he served—by papal appointment—as the head of the China mission until his death in 1610. In 1609, at the Marian Society in Beijing, he created a Christian calendar for China. His missionary achievements were remarkable: by the time he died, there were more than 2,500 Chinese converts, including many scholars, officials, and palace eunuchs.

Bo Ya: I think Ricci placed “making friends” and “making converts” in the same category. This kind of cultural blending actually made Chinese people feel refreshed and open-minded.

Zhong Wen: During the late Ming, Jesuit missionaries came to East Asia one after another. In Manila and Japan, they learned the importance of mastering local languages. Francis Xavier, the regional leader of the Far East, wrote to Ignatius of Loyola saying that language proficiency was essential for evangelizing in China. Macau later established a language school for missionaries to learn Chinese, yet early efforts remained ineffective—mostly due to translation misunderstandings.

The earliest attempts at Chinese writing by Jesuits came from Xavier himself. When he arrived in Japan in 1549, he relied on the Japanese Christian Anjiro—who did not understand European languages—to translate Christian doctrine into Japanese and kanji. Anjiro translated Deus (“God”) as Dainichi, the supreme Buddha of Shingon Buddhism. As a result, when Xavier preached that God created the world, Japanese listeners thought he meant Dainichi created the world. How many misunderstandings must that have caused!

The mistranslation arose because Anjiro interpreted new concepts using his existing religious framework. In his worldview, the highest being was Dainichi; therefore the Christian God must also be Dainichi.

When Xavier wrote Chinese, he relied entirely on translators—hence such errors. It was not until Michele Ruggieri that serious study of Chinese began. In 1579, Ruggieri went from Goa to Macau to learn Chinese and to write in Chinese in order to refute religious ideas found in Chinese books. By 1584, he published The True Record of the Lord of Heaven. To avoid mistranslation, he used obscure characters for phonetic transcription of key terms. He also realized that Chinese thought lacked concepts of a creator God or a supreme first principle. So he used the method of “natural reasoning,” pairing Christian teachings with familiar Chinese stories and analogies.

Ruggieri went further than Xavier in transmitting doctrine, but problems remained—mainly because Ruggieri wore Buddhist robes. Early missionaries often dressed as monks when entering China, hoping to use Buddhism as a cultural bridge or psychological buffer for Chinese people encountering a foreign religion.

In The True Record, Ruggieri even called himself a “monk” and used phrases like “compiled by a monk from India.” This created an inconsistency between the doctrine preached and the outward identity of the preacher. Though missionaries insisted Christianity was not Buddhism, ordinary people saw men in monk robes using Buddhist terms—and naturally interpreted Christianity as a form of Buddhism.

Bo Ya: This problem still hasn’t been fully solved today. Whether “Shangdi” or “Shen,” Chinese terms for the divine often carry traces of ancient non-Christian meanings.

Zhong Wen: Ricci, however, adopted a very different strategy—he rejected Buddhist associations. He learned from the mistakes of earlier missionaries and argued that only by understanding China deeply could one find the correct method of evangelization.

After living in China for some time, Ricci became firmly convinced that honoring Confucianism should be the main missionary strategy. He changed into Confucian clothing and corrected the misuse of “monk” in The True Record. This respect for Confucianism took the form of “rejecting Buddhism and complementing Confucianism”: protecting Confucianism while distancing Christianity from Buddhism.

To Ricci, Buddhism and Daoism were no more than collections of superstitions. He emphasized that what Christianity called “atheism” in China—the denial of a personal God—was the result of Buddhist and Daoist influence. His criticism of Buddhism was part of his effort to harmonize Confucianism with Christianity.

Many Confucian scholars denied the existence of a God. Ricci argued that early Confucianism, founded by Confucius, did acknowledge a supreme deity, and that “Heaven” in the classics corresponded to the Christian God. Only through long centuries—and under Buddhist and Daoist corruption—had the Chinese forgotten the true God.

Ricci used a strategy still common among Chinese intellectuals today: criticizing the present by appealing to the ancient past. He noticed that Chinese people had an almost religious reverence for antiquity—“the older, the more legitimate.” By using this mindset, Ricci created a conceptual bridge between Christianity and Confucianism.

This strategy worked with extraordinary success. During Ricci’s lifetime, Christianity was seldom accused of undermining Chinese tradition.

Bo Ya: It was like “using the red flag to oppose the red flag”—quite clever. Obviously, China’s “God” was not the Western God, and China’s “spirits” were not Western spirits. Yet Ricci’s method produced the illusion that Christianity had existed in ancient China all along!