At the turn of the 18th-19th century,in the process of developing missionary business in China,there was a debate about the nature of traditional Chinese sacrificial rites among missionaries,that is,whether the tradit...At the turn of the 18th-19th century,in the process of developing missionary business in China,there was a debate about the nature of traditional Chinese sacrificial rites among missionaries,that is,whether the traditional rites of Confucius and Christianity were consistent.With the intervention of the Vatican and the Qing Dynasty,the Chinese rites controversy evolved into the dispute over Chinese imperial power and Roman religious imperial power.The missionary career in China also experienced the transformation from the toleration order,exclusion order and the ticket receiving order to the prohibition order.The sharp opposition between Chinese imperial power and Roman religious imperial power led to the desperate situation of Christian career in China.The missionaries naturally vented their dissatisfaction with China,the good image of China gradually collapsed,and the western image of China began to decline rapidly.展开更多
At the turn of the 18th century, the Kangxi emperor initiated a large project to map the vast territories of the Qing. The land surveys that ensued were executed by teams of Qing officials and European missionaries, m...At the turn of the 18th century, the Kangxi emperor initiated a large project to map the vast territories of the Qing. The land surveys that ensued were executed by teams of Qing officials and European missionaries, most of them French Jesuits first sent to China in 1685 and actively supported by the French crown. Early 18th century Jesuit publications foster a much-heralded claim that these missionary-mapmakers drew on their status of imperial envoys during the surveys to locally advance the position of the Catholic church. This article strives to explore the format/on of such local networks by these missionaries as they passed through the cities and towns of the Chinese provinces. On the basis of archival material, details emerge of contacts with local Qing administrators and Chinese Christians, and of attempts to purchase and recover local churches. This is then discussed against the background of the Rites Controversy, in an attempt to evaluate how such local networks relate to the rivalry between missionaries of different orders. The article emphasizes that there was （and perhaps is） no such thing as ＂pure science＂ by underscoring that important technical achievements such as the Qing mapping project are often shaped by complex networks and historical contingencies.展开更多
基金Sponsored by “Twelfth Five-year Plan” Program of Guangdong Provincial Philosophy and Social Sciences(GD15XLS07)
文摘At the turn of the 18th-19th century,in the process of developing missionary business in China,there was a debate about the nature of traditional Chinese sacrificial rites among missionaries,that is,whether the traditional rites of Confucius and Christianity were consistent.With the intervention of the Vatican and the Qing Dynasty,the Chinese rites controversy evolved into the dispute over Chinese imperial power and Roman religious imperial power.The missionary career in China also experienced the transformation from the toleration order,exclusion order and the ticket receiving order to the prohibition order.The sharp opposition between Chinese imperial power and Roman religious imperial power led to the desperate situation of Christian career in China.The missionaries naturally vented their dissatisfaction with China,the good image of China gradually collapsed,and the western image of China began to decline rapidly.
文摘At the turn of the 18th century, the Kangxi emperor initiated a large project to map the vast territories of the Qing. The land surveys that ensued were executed by teams of Qing officials and European missionaries, most of them French Jesuits first sent to China in 1685 and actively supported by the French crown. Early 18th century Jesuit publications foster a much-heralded claim that these missionary-mapmakers drew on their status of imperial envoys during the surveys to locally advance the position of the Catholic church. This article strives to explore the format/on of such local networks by these missionaries as they passed through the cities and towns of the Chinese provinces. On the basis of archival material, details emerge of contacts with local Qing administrators and Chinese Christians, and of attempts to purchase and recover local churches. This is then discussed against the background of the Rites Controversy, in an attempt to evaluate how such local networks relate to the rivalry between missionaries of different orders. The article emphasizes that there was （and perhaps is） no such thing as ＂pure science＂ by underscoring that important technical achievements such as the Qing mapping project are often shaped by complex networks and historical contingencies.
