Western Missionaries and the Study of I Ching in the Early Qing Dynasty: A Dialogue between Chinese and Western Cultures
- Format:
- Journal Article
- Year:
- 2006
- Journal Title:
- Lishi yanjiu
- Issue:
- 3
- Language:
- Abstract:
In the early 18th century, the Chinese Rites Controversy among the Christian missionaries developed into a cultural conflict between the royal court of the Qing Dynasty and the European rites represented by the Vatican. Emperor Kangxi began to rethink his religious policies and the relations of China with the West, so as to make the missionaries follow "Matteo Ricci's principle." It was in such a context that Kangxi invited a few French Jesuit missionaries, including Joachim Bouvet and J.F. Foucquet, to live in the Imperial Palace and study the Chinese Classic I Ching. A dialogue was held with these missionaries, based on their studies. This cultural dialogue revealed not only the contradictions among the Jesuit missionaries sent to China, and the cultural inclination of the Figurists such as Joachim Bouvet, but also Kangxi's strategies for dealing with the Jesuit missionaries in the Rites Controversy, and his attitude toward Western culture and religion.
- Who (Jesuits):
- What (Subjects):
- Where (Locations):
- When (Centuries):
- Other link:
- Page Range:
- 74–85
- ISSN:
- 0459-1909