eBook - ePub

Mission to China

Name: Mission to China
ISBN: 9780571271788

Matteo Ricci and the Jesuit Encounter with the East

Mary Laven,

English
ePUB (mobile friendly)
Available on iOS & Android

eBook - ePub

Mission to China

Matteo Ricci and the Jesuit Encounter with the East

Mary Laven,

About this book

In the sixteenth century, the vast and sophisticated empire of China lay almost entirely unknown to Western travellers. As global trade expanded, this land of reputedly boundless wealth, pale-faced women, and indecipherable tongues began to feed the fantasies of European merchants and adventurers. The Catholic Church, meanwhile, saw in this great people millions of souls who would be damned unless the Christian message could be brought to them.

In this book, Mary Laven tells the extraordinary story of the first Jesuit mission to China. Confronting enormous challenges, the Italian priest Matteo Ricci and a tiny handful of learned companions travelled thousands of miles from southern Europe to the very heart of the empire. In 1601, they gained permission from the notoriously xenophobic Wanli emperor to settle in the fabled Forbidden City. Living among eunuchs and mandarins, wearing the clothes and reading the books of Confucian scholars, Ricci and his associates strove to master the language and culture of their hosts. At the same time, they energetically preached the virtues of Western art and science.

What were the motives of the carpenters and boatmen, the mothers, fathers and children who burned their idols and were cleansed with the waters of baptism? Mary Laven tries to answer these questions, as she brings this remote world vividly to life.

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Yes, you can access Mission to China by Mary Laven in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & Chinese History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.