Finding Norms for the Chinese Mission: The Hat Controversy in the Canton Conference of 1667/1668
- Book Title:
- Norms beyond Empire: Law-Making and Local Normativities in Iberian Asia, 1500–1800
- Book Editor:
- Format:
- Book Chapter
- Year:
- 2022
- Publisher:
- Brill
- Place published:
- Leiden
- Language:
- Abstract:
This chapter studies the production of normativities by European missionaries in China at the end of the 17th century. In January 1665, when Christianity was banned, most missionaries working in the missions were taken to Guangzhou to remain under house arrest. This contribution analyzes the debates about the use of hats that missionaries undertook during this confinement. This aspect, part of the so-called “Canton Conference”, facilitates an understanding of how missionaries discussed new regulations for the missions and how European norms were transformed due to the need of adaptation to local customs. The information provided by the study of unpublished sources of the Archivo de la Provincia del Santo Rosario (Avila, Spain) is explored to analyze the rationale behind those new norms which were influenced by the local conditions, the characteristic early modern jurisdictional pluralism, and the limits in the dialogue between both the European and the Chinese traditions.
- What (Subjects):
- Where (Locations):
- When (Centuries):
- Worldcat URL:
- Publisher URL:
- Page Range:
- 285–328
- ISBN:
- 97890044728399789004472822
- DOI:
- Comment:
- Series: Max Planck Studies in Global Legal History of the Iberian Worlds, v. 3