Zhong Wen: Reading Ricci’s own description of Xu Guangqi may help us better understand how “the first collision between two very different civilizations” took place—

“In the year 1600 after the birth of Our Lord, while I (Matteo Ricci) was in China’s second capital, Nanjing, I had the good fortune—through the introduction of Fr. João da Rocha—to meet a distinguished Chinese gentleman and great Confucian scholar, Xu Guangqi. He was a man of remarkable intelligence, refined in speech, vast in learning, and notably open-minded toward the Lord of Heaven. In him were fully embodied the many virtues of the Chinese nation.”
—Ricci wrote.

During that gathering in Nanjing, we spent several nights in deep conversation. Our discussions touched on some extremely important questions, which I now record in this letter—

Me (Ricci): “Chinese people avoid speaking directly about death, using expressions like passing away, leaving the world, departing, returning to one’s ancestors, and many other euphemisms.”

Xu: “That is the habit of common, unrefined people. A gentleman does not fear speaking of death.”

Me: “Indeed, not only should one not avoid it—one ought to speak of it often. For everyone knows that death is inevitable, but no one knows when it will come; how can one not seek a clear understanding of it?”

Xu: “People avoid talking about death not out of a desire for evil or indulgence. They simply regard death as inauspicious and do not wish to pronounce it aloud.”

Me: “Yet death can guide people away from evil and toward virtue—nothing is more auspicious than that. Knowing death brings five benefits:

Knowing that all must die and that judgment awaits restrains the passions and turns one toward goodness.
Knowing that wealth cannot be taken into the next life removes greed.
Knowing that worldly praise is useless before divine judgment destroys pride and vanity.
Thinking of the fires of hell extinguishes the fires of desire.
Preparing early removes the fear of death. To face death calmly, without fear or confusion—this is a good death.”

Xu: “How can one attain such a good death?”

Me: “The best preparation lies in the three reconciliations: reconciliation with God, with others, and with oneself.”

During our conversations, I further discovered that Xu Guangqi was not only a man of profound classical learning, but also unusually knowledgeable in the natural sciences—something extremely rare among Chinese scholars. He was especially skilled in agriculture and calendrical studies, and he even spoke of a special machine he was attempting to design—an apparatus that could allow a person to travel through the air. He claimed that such flying devices had been attempted in ancient China.

On the last day of our long talks, Xu told me that he had dreamed the previous night of entering a house containing three rooms. In the first room sat an old man, in the second a youth, and in the third no one at all. At that moment I felt overwhelming joy—for I believed that the deepest mystery of the Christian faith, the Holy Trinity, was finally being grasped by a Chinese mind.

Three years later, Xu Guangqi finally received baptism and became a Christian, taking the name Paul. May the Lord bless this noble believer, who will surely become the greatest Christian in China.

Your faithful servant,
Matteo Ricci
Beijing, October 20, 1605
(In the 1605th year after the birth of Our Lord)

Zhong Wen: The above text is taken from Father Ricci’s Letters to the Vatican and the Pope, almost like a kind of “internal reference document.”

Bo Ya: Though essentially a work report, this account is still of great value. It shows that Xu Guangqi was indeed a man singularly blessed; his descendants also remained faithful to the Lord.

Zhong Wen: Yes. AsiaNews reported on June 4, 2013, that Xu Guangqi’s 13th-generation descendant, Father Xu Delu (Sylvester), a priest of the underground community of Shanghai Diocese, passed away at the age of 68. His funeral Mass was held on June 10 at the Yishan Funeral Home on the outskirts of Shanghai, presided over by underground Auxiliary Bishop Zhu Yude, with about 2,000 people attending.

Father Xu came from a family of ten siblings and was the seventh child. He served in the Suzhou Diocese under Bishop Fan Zhongliang. During the Cultural Revolution, the entire Xu family was persecuted and forced to flee to Gansu and other regions under the protection of his mother.

Ordained in 1989 by Bishop Fan, Fr. Xu served as pastor in Wuxi, Jiangyin, Wujiang, Xiangcheng, Kunshan, Changshu, and Taicang. He was deeply loved and respected by the faithful. One source told AsiaNews: “Father Xu devoted his whole heart to evangelization. He lived extremely frugally—never willing to spend even a single extra yuan.”

The source continued: “Even after being diagnosed with leukemia and undergoing chemotherapy, he continued to travel everywhere to preach. Exhaustion eventually impaired his eyesight until only light perception remained. After four days in a coma, he left this world and returned to the Father.”

When the parishes where he once served learned of his death, believers young and old wept uncontrollably. Many recalled how, even during severe restrictions on church activity, he tirelessly traveled between parish communities. Despite undergoing chemotherapy in the morning, he would celebrate Mass in the afternoon whenever he could walk.

They remembered especially his love for youth and children. Every year he held catechism classes, even though they were repeatedly suppressed by local authorities. He often said, “Whatever God wills to accomplish, no one can stop,” and bravely continued teaching—even when a single 20-day class had to change locations two or three times.

Bo Ya: Looking back four centuries, Xu Guangqi and Ricci together achieved a monumental accomplishment in Sino-Western cultural exchange. Ricci, as a missionary scholar, occupies an irreplaceable position in the intellectual history of East–West interaction. His willingness to study Chinese culture was rare among Europeans of his time. Yet many fail to understand that everything Ricci did in China was done in his vocation as a priest, with the aim of fulfilling his spiritual mission.

Zhong Wen: In Father Fang Hao’s Biographies of Chinese Catholic Figures – Matteo Ricci, there is a brief entry from The True Record of the Holy Religion:

“In the 9th year of Wanli (1581), Father Ricci arrived in China. He first preached in the eastern provinces of Guangdong, then moved into Jiangxi, and later stayed in Jinling (Nanjing). In the 28th year (1600), together with Diego de Pantoja, he presented foreign gifts at court. The emperor bestowed great favor and offered him official rank, which he firmly declined. Granted imperial permission, he settled in the capital. He and Pantoja rented a residence, their daily provisions supplied by the Imperial Household, per imperial command. In the 38th year (1610), Ricci died on the fourth month. By imperial decree he was granted a state funeral and burial at Tenggong Palisade outside Beijing’s Fuchengmen.”

Although this entry records Ricci’s travels, imperial favor, and personal integrity, his sole purpose in coming to China was to proclaim the Gospel of Christ.

Father Nicolas Trigault, who edited Ricci’s diary into a book after his death, wrote: “In publishing this work, I do not claim authorship; the true author is Ricci himself. Everything recorded here concerns his actions and achievements. No one contributed more to the founding and development of this mission. I only hope that these records preserve the story of how our Society of Jesus first entered this vast land long closed to foreigners, and of the first fruits harvested from this noble people.”

Ricci himself wrote: “I hope that by preserving these records, the story of how our Society entered China and harvested its first Christian fruits will not be forgotten. If one day the Lord grants a great harvest from the seed first sown here, future believers may know through whom God worked. And if, by God’s hidden judgment, such a harvest never comes, at least posterity will know how hard we labored to dispel the shadows of unbelief.”

Bo Ya: Some Chinese critics take issue with Ricci’s use of the word “expedition”, imagining military intent. The Catholic Chronicle of China records that on May 1, 1584, the Spanish missionary Sánchez proposed advancing the faith by force; and even the Jesuit superior in Macau advised the Spanish king to conquer China by arms. Yet Sánchez also wrote: “Ruggieri and his companions (Ricci) wrote to us saying that peace negotiations with the governor and the Chinese emperor were possible, although we ourselves had little desire for such talks, knowing they would bear no fruit.” This alone shows that Ricci’s use of the word “expedition” was fundamentally different from the Spanish view—it was a peaceful mission, not a military one.