A Chinese Jesuit Catechism: Giulio Aleni's Four Character Classic 四字經文 9811596239, 9789811596230

Table of contents :
Acknowledgments
Contents
List of Figures
1 Introduction
Print Culture in Late Imperial China: An Air of Refinement
Giulio Aleni and the Mission in Asia: For the “Welfare of Poor Souls”
Aleni’s Works: Accommodation and the Creation of a Confucian Catechism
The Four Character Classic: A Confucian Primer and Christian Catechism
An Assembly of Voices: Protestant Primers in the Footsteps of Aleni
Conclusion
2 Translation of Wang Yinglin’s Sanzijing 三字經 (Three Character Classic)
Translation
3 Translation of Giulio Aleni’s Sizijingwen 四字經文 (Four Character Classic)
Translation
Giulio Aleni’s Oeuvre
Bibliography
Index

Citation preview

A Chinese Jesuit Catechism Giulio Aleni’s Four Character Classic

Christianity in Modern China

Series Editor Cindy Yik-yi Chu Department of History Hong Kong Baptist University Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong

This series addresses Christianity in China from the time of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties to the present. It includes a number of disciplines—history, political science, theology, religious studies, gender studies and sociology. Not only is the series inter-disciplinary, it also encourages inter-religious dialogue. It covers the presence of the Catholic Church, the Protestant Churches and the Orthodox Church in China. While Chinese Protestant Churches have attracted much scholarly and journalistic attention, there is much unknown about the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church in China. There is an enormous demand for monographs on the Chinese Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. This series captures the breathtaking phenomenon of the rapid expansion of Chinese Christianity on the one hand, and the long awaited need to reveal the reality and the development of Chinese Catholicism and the Orthodox religion on the other. Christianity in China reflects on the tremendous importance of Chinese-foreign relations. The series touches on many levels of research— the life of a single Christian in a village, a city parish, the conflicts between converts in a province, the policy of the provincial authority and state-tostate relations. It concerns the influence of different cultures on Chinese soil—the American, the French, the Italian, the Portuguese and so on. Contributors of the series include not only people from the academia but journalists and professional writers as well. The series would stand out as a collective effort of authors from different countries and backgrounds. Under the influence of globalization, it is entirely necessary to emphasize the intercultural dimension of the monographs of the series. With Christianity being questioned in the Western world, as witnessed in the popularity of Dan Brown’s books since some time ago, the Chinese have surprised the world by their embracement of this foreign religion.

More information about this series at http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14895

Anthony E. Clark

A Chinese Jesuit Catechism Giulio Aleni’s Four Character Classic 四字經文

Anthony E. Clark Whitworth University Spokane, WA, USA

ISSN 2730-7875 ISSN 2730-7883 (electronic) Christianity in Modern China ISBN 978-981-15-9623-0 ISBN 978-981-15-9624-7 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-9624-7 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2021 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover illustration: © Melisa Hasan This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore

Woodblock image of Giulio Aleni, SJ, the author of the Tianzhu shengjiao sizijingwen 天主聖教四字經文 (The Sacred Teaching of the Lord of Heaven Four Character Classic). Fuzhou, 1630. Facsimile, Whitworth University “China Christian Missions Collection”

To Michael Maher, SJ, this work is dedicated. 感恩戴德.

Acknowledgments

The British diplomat and colonial administrator, Lord George Macartney (1737–1806), is known to have once quipped in 1794 that, “Nothing could be more fallacious than to judge China by any European standard.”1 Macartney, despite his catalog of foibles when first encountering China in 1793, struck upon a great truism in this assertion. The Jesuit missionaries already understood this principle when they first entered China; and even more, they knew that China would judge Europe by a Chinese standard. This discovery was the kernel that grew into the topic of this translation of a seventeenth-century children’s primer written by an Italian Jesuit in China. Imbedded beneath the analysis and translation provided in this small book is the awareness that such scholarly endeavors cannot happen without both an audience of other scholars who will appreciate and build upon the spadework of such works at this, with its inevitable merits and demerits, and the persons and agencies that have kindly committed themselves to supporting the slow and peripheral labors of the scholarly community. This research was made possible by the generous support of several grants, as well as the kind assistance of many European archives and their respective staffs. Grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), American Council for Learned Societies (ACLS), the Chiang 1 J. L. Cranmer-Byng, An Embassy to China: Being the Journal Kept by Lord Macartney

during His Embassy to Emperor Ch’ien-lung 1793–1794 (London: Longman, 1962), 219.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Ching-Kuo Foundation, the Whitworth University Research Fellowship, and the Weyerhaeuser Center Research Grant helped facilitate research at several archives, including the Archivio Storico di Propaganda Fide (ASPF, Rome), the Archivum Romanum Societatis Iesu (ARSI, Rome), and the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (BAV, Vatican City). A good number of individuals have enhanced my research and have improved this work either by direct engagement with this study and translation, or through being lively interlocutors as I thought about the implications and meanings of a late imperial Jesuit catechism in China: Eric Cunningham, Anthony and Veronica Fok, Eugenio Menegon, Paul Rule, Claudia von Collani, Gianni Criveller, PIME, David Mungello, Tao Feiya, Li Ji, Robert Entenmann, Joseph Tse-hei Lee, Chlöe Starr, James Fox, Cassie Schmitt, Tanya Parlet, Bruce Tabb, Wang Renfang, Shen Shuyin, Ming Yuqing, Wu Xiaoxin, Nailene Chou Wiest, Jean-Paul Wiest, Shan Yanrong, Robert Carbonneau, CP, Augustine DeNoble, OSB, Thierry Meynard, SJ, Robert Danieluk, SJ, Brian Mac Cuarta, SJ, Antoni Ucerler, SJ, Elias Cerezo, SJ, Robert Bonfils, SJ, and Nicolas Standaert, SJ, who while eating dinner together at Berkeley helped convince me to undertake a translation of an important Jesuit work from the Qing era mission. I also render my deep appreciation to the anonymous reviewers who have kindly read an earlier draft of this work. I am always indebted to Amanda C. R. Clark for her constant encouragement and scholarly help, especially for her careful reading of the manuscript as it came together and for her patience as I read passages to her when certainly she had other duties pressing her for attention. Finally, I am grateful for the long friendship in intellectual conversation of my friend, Michael Maher, SJ, with whom I have often trod the cobblestone streets of the Eternal City where Ricci prepared for his future life in the Middle Kingdom. Our protracted discussions on Jesuit matters reminds me of Ignatius of Loyola’s quip: “Laugh and grow strong.”

Contents

1

2

3

Introduction Print Culture in Late Imperial China: An Air of Refinement Giulio Aleni and the Mission in Asia: For the “Welfare of Poor Souls” Aleni’s Works: Accommodation and the Creation of a Confucian Catechism The Four Character Classic: A Confucian Primer and Christian Catechism An Assembly of Voices: Protestant Primers in the Footsteps of Aleni Conclusion

1 7 12 14 17 32 43

Translation of Wang Yinglin’s Sanzijing 三字經 (Three Character Classic) Translation

45 46

Translation of Giulio Aleni’s Sizijingwen 四字經文 (Four Character Classic) Translation

63 64

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CONTENTS

Giulio Aleni’s Oeuvre

91

Bibliography

93

Index

101

List of Figures

Fig. 1.1

Fig. 1.2

Fig. 1.3

Fig. 1.4

Fig. 1.5

The crucifixion as portrayed in the woodblock edition of Giulio Aleni’s Tianzhu jiangsheng yanjing jilüe 天主降 生出像經解 (The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ). Fujian, 1637. Facsimile, Whitworth University “China Christian Missions Collection” The opening page of Wang Yinglin’s Sanzijing 三字經 (Three Character Classic). N.d. Facsimile, Whitworth University “China Christian Missions Collection” The front matter and folio 1 recto page of Giulio Aleni’s Tianzhu shengjiao sizijingwen 天主聖教四字經文 (The Sacred Teaching of the Lord of Heaven Four Character Classic). Fujian, 1642. Facsimile, Whitworth University “China Christian Missions Collection” The frontispiece of Giulio Aleni’s Tianzhu shengjiao sizijingwen 天主聖教四字經文 (The Sacred Teaching of the Lord of Heaven Four Character Classic). Fujian, 1642. Facsimile, Whitworth University “China Christian Missions Collection” The opening page of Walter Henry Medhurt’s 1832 recension of his Sanzijing 三字經 (Three Character Classic), which uses the Chinese term 神 for “God.” Malacca, 1832. Facsimile, Whitworth University “China Christian Missions Collection”

16

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24

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LIST OF FIGURES

Fig. 1.6

The opening page of Lu Xianba and He Zhenchuan’s Taiping Sanzijing 三字經 (Three Character Classic). The Chinese term 皇上帝, typically used by the Taipings for “God,” is seen in the first couplet. Nanjing 南京: Taiping Tianguo 太平天國, 1853. Facsimile, Whitworth University “China Christian Missions Collection”

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CHAPTER 1

Introduction

Abstract This book is the first scholarly study and translation of the famous Jesuit Chinese children’s primer, the Four Character Classic (Sizijingwen 四字經文), written by Giulio Aleni (1582–1649) while living in Fujian, China. This study and translation of a missionary catechism in China that was published during the Qing provides new insights into an area of the Jesuit mission in early modern China that has so far been given little attention, the education of children. The Jesuit enterprise in China employed the genre of children’s primers for religious instruction, and this work contributes a new dimension to the extensive body of scholarly works that have chiefly analyzed the scientific endeavors of such Jesuits as Johann Adam Schall von Bell (1591–1666) and Ferdinand Verbiest (1623–1688). The Jesuit accommodationist strategy in China disposed the missionaries to produce their texts along traditional Chinese lines, utilizing China’s extant woodblock technology and relying on customary genres of Confucian didactic and pedagogical literature. This chapter considers how Aleni’s Four Character Classic inspired and influenced later missionaries who also imitated this traditional Chinese genre to teach Christian ideas to young Chinese students. Keyword Catholicism in China · Jesuits · China studies · Chinese Christians · Missionary history · Children’s education

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 A. E. Clark, A Chinese Jesuit Catechism, Christianity in Modern China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-9624-7_1

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While it is already well-known that Jesuit print culture during China’s late imperial era largely revolved around its scientific and non-religious works, it was centered mostly upon its religious aims, and the Society’s publications reflect both these objectives. This translation and study of a missionary catechism published during the seventeenth century turns toward an area of the Jesuit mission in China that has so far been given little attention, the education of children. The Jesuit enterprise in China employed the genre of children’s primers for religious instruction, and this work adds new insights into the extensive body of scholarly works that have chiefly analyzed the scientific endeavors of such Jesuits as Johann Adam Schall von Bell (1591–1666) and Ferdinand Verbiest (1623–1688).1 The Society’s accommodationist strategy disposed the missionaries to produce their texts along traditional Chinese lines, utilizing China’s extant woodblock technology and relying on customary genres of Confucian didactic and pedagogical literature. This introduction to the following translations is divided into two sections that consider one of the least-studied publications of the Jesuit polymath, Giulio Aleni (1582–1649), who adapted himself and his literary industry to China’s most entrenched cultural temperaments.2 The first section considers the larger Jesuit mission in China, into which Aleni’s work must be contextualized, and the second section evaluates his Tianzhu 1 Examples of studies focused primarily on the scientific work of the Jesuit mission to China include Nöel Golvers, Ferdinand Verbiest and Jesuit Science in 17th Century China (Leuven: Ferdinand Verbiest Institute, 2009); Nöel Golvers, “A Ray of Light on Private Mathematical Culture in Coimbra in the Mid-17th Century: Francisco Pereira de la Cerda (+1656),” Revista filosófica de Coimbra, Vol. 27, No. 53 (2018): 65–76; and Florence C. Hsia, Sojourners in a Strange Land: Jesuits and Their Scientific Missions in Late Imperial China (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011). Chinese studies of Jesuit scientific work, especially in cartography, have been especially copious. See for example, Han Qi 韓 琦, Tongtian zhi xue: Yesuhuishi he tianwenxue zai Zhongguo de chuanbo 通天之學: 耶穌 會士和天文學在中國的傳播 (Understanding the Heavens: Jesuits and the Dissemination of Astrology Works in China) (Beijing 北京: Sanlian shudian 三聯書店, 2018); and Guo Liang 郭亮, “Yesuhuishi dituzhong de wan Ming shehui yu fengsu” 耶穌會士地圖中的晚 明社會與風俗 (Social Investigations and Map Descriptions of the Late Ming in European Jesuit Cartography) Guoji Hanxue 國際漢學, Beijing Foreign Studies University 北京外 國語大學, No. 19 (2019): 67–77. 2 For a brief précis of Giulio Aleni’s life in China, see Fei Laizhi 費賴之 (Louis Pfister), Ming Qing jian zai Hua Yesuhuishi liezhuan (1552–1773) 明清間在華耶穌會士列傳 (1552–1773) (Biographies of Jesuits in China during the Ming and Qing [1552–1773]) (Shanghai 上海: Tianzhujiao Shanghai jiaoqu Guangqi she chuban 天主教上海教區光啟 社出版, 1997), 147–159.

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shengjiao sizijingwen 天主聖教四字經文 (The Sacred Teaching of the Lord of Heaven Four Character Classic) as a good example of Aleni’s use of normative Chinese print culture to serve the catechetical exigencies of the Jesuit mission, particularly his careful use of Confucian children’s primers to promote decidedly Christian content. This second section also considers how Aleni’s Four Character Classic inspired and influenced later missionaries who also imitated this traditional Chinese genre to teach Christian ideas to young Chinese. Following this introduction is a translation of the traditional Sanzijing 三字經 (Three Character Classic) and Aleni’s Four Character Classic, which will allow the reader to easily compare how he borrowed from a Confucian primer, while also transforming it into a Christian catechism. Benjamin Elman, in his study of Chinese science during the “Jesuit period” (1600–1800) wrote that, “Scholars and churchmen since 1600 have lauded and damned the role of the Jesuits in China.”3 Indeed, ever since the Jesuit missionaries first arrived in China in 1574, both Chinese and Western reviews of their activities have been diverse. Chinese accounts have emphasized their scientific or technological contributions to the Celestial Empire (Tianxia 天下), and thus in Zhang Xiping’s history of Matteo Ricci (1552–1610), we read that Ricci’s, “major task was entering the palace four times a year to repair chime clocks.”4 While some have perceived Ricci’s contribution to be typically in the technical area of clock expertise and cartography, Chinese Buddhists have added Ricci’s name to the roster of Bodhisattvas; Ricci is now known to some as the Bodhisattva protector of clocks. Western scholars have painted the Jesuits as proto-sinologists (Mungello, 1985), one-sided accommodationists (Gernet, 1982), ambassador statesmen (Rowbotham, 1942), learned scientists (Elman, 2005), and “giants” of the Christian faith (Dunne, 1962).5 Comparatively few scholars, however, have dilated on the Jesuit 3 Benjamin A. Elman, On Their Own Terms: Science in China, 1550–1900 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2005), xxvi. 4 Zhang Xiping, Following the Footsteps of Matteo Ricci in China, trans. Ding Deshu and Ye Jinping (Beijing: Wuzhou chuanbo chuban, 2006), 20. 5 See for example David Mungello, Curious Land: Jesuit Accommodation and the Origins

of Sinology (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1985); Jacques Gernet, Chine et christianisme: la première confrontation (Paris: Editions Gallimard, 1982); Arnold Rowbotham, Missionary and Mandarin: The Jesuits at the Court of China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1942); and George H. Dunne, Generation of Giants: The Story of the Jesuits in China in the Last Decades of the Ming Dynasty (London: Burns & Oats, 1962).

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use of print culture as a venue for conversion and instruction. John Parker’s 1977 lecture on Jesuit publications in China focuses predominantly on the Sino-Western interactions precipitated by Jesuit printed works in China, and Rui Loureiro’s 2007 monograph on Jesuit books and engravings in Asia represents an impressive study of Jesuit texts in East Asia, but scarcely considers the religious elements of those works.6 Among the more comprehensive and exacting works on Jesuit print culture in late imperial China is Xu Zongze’s 徐宗澤 (1886–1947) Ming-Qing jian yesuhuishi yizhu tiyao 明清間耶穌會士譯著提要 (Summary of Jesuit Publications During the Ming and Qing Dynasties), first published in 1940.7 This study was completed at Shanghai’s famous Xujiahui Library (Xujiahui tushuguan 徐家匯圖書館) where Xu served as the library’s final Jesuit director, and includes abstracts of the 401 Jesuit Chinese-language works published during the seventeenth century.8 An increasing number of studies on Jesuit libraries, and print culture in general, in late imperial China have appeared in the wake of Xu’s summary of Ming-Qing Jesuit publication, especially by European scholars at Leuven such as Noël Golvers, Adrianus Dudink, and Nicolas Standaert. In 2015, Golvers published a work on the Jesuit “apostolate of the press” that considers the network of Jesuit book collections in China, and in the same year Ad Dudink produced a study of the Lithuanian Jesuit, Andrzej

Other works include Jonathan Spence, The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci (New York: Penguin Books, 1983); Vincent Cronin, The Wise Man from the West (London: Harvill Press, 1999, first edition published by Rupert Hart-Davis, 1955); Rachel Attwater, Adam Schall: A Jesuit at the Court of China (London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1963); and Liam Brockey, Journey to the East: The Jesuit Mission to China, 1579–1724 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2007). The list of works related to the Jesuit mission in China is exhaustive, and the proliferation of new monographs during and after 2010, four centuries after Ricci’s death, was Herculean. 6 See John Parker, Windows into China: The Jesuits and Their Books, 1580–1730 (Boston: Trustees of the Public Library of the City of Boston, 1978); Rui Manuel Loureiro, Na Companhia dos Livros: Manuscritos e Impressos nas Missões Jesuítas Ásia Oriental 1540–1620 (Macao: University of Macao, 2007). 7 See Xu Zongze 徐宗澤, Ming-Qing jian yesuhuishi yizhu tiyao 明清間耶穌會士譯著提 要 (Summary of Jesuit Publications During the Ming and Qing Dynasties) (Shanghai 上 海: Shanghai shudian chubanshe 上海書店出版社, 2006, originally published in 1940). 8 For a catalog of the Western language books formerly held in the Xujiahui Jesuit library in Shanghai, see Shanghai tushuguan xiwen zhenben shumu 上海圖書館西文珍本書 目 (Shanghai Library Catalog of Western Rare Books) (Shanghai 上海: Shanghai shehui kexueyuan chubanshe 上海社會科學院出版社, 1992).

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Rudomina (1596–1631), who lived and collaborated with Giulio Aleni in Fujian, where he published and collected several Chinese books.9 And in 1991, Dudink and Standaert, along with Erik Zürcher, published their Bibliography of the Jesuit Mission in China: ca. 1580-ca. 1680, which serves as an excellent catalog of Jesuit works spanning the late Ming (1368– 1644) and early Qing (1644–1911) dynasties.10 These works have done much to advance our understanding of how Jesuit book collection and dissemination fashioned the contours of China’s intellectual contact with the West, and it is through studying this history of textual exchange that, as Nöel Golvers notes, it is possible to better understand how the “spiritual and pastoral commitments” of the Jesuits in China engendered new ways of envisioning old models of literary production.11 Xu Zongze’s study of Jesuit writings divides their published works into types: “religious and scientific.”12 Xu further distinguishes the kinds of scientific texts produced by Jesuits, such as astronomical calculations (Tiansuan 天算), geography (Diyu 地輿), hydrology (Shuixue 水 學), philosophy (Zhexue 哲理), philology (Xiaoxue 小學), and the material sciences (Xingxiaxue 形下學).13 Notably, philosophy is here classified under the category of science. Under religious works Xu Zongze includes disquisitions on reason (Daoli 道理) and personal cultivation (Xiucheng 修成), as well as published texts on Roman Catholic apologetics (Bianhu 辯護), warding off superstition (Pimi 辟迷), exegetics (Shinan 釋難), and 9 Nöel Golvers, “The Pre-1773 Jesuit Libraries in Peking as a Medium for Western Learning in Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth-Century China,” The Library, Vol. 16, No. 4 (2015): 429–445; Ad Dudink, “The Chinese Books, Sent by Andrzej Rudomina S.J., in the Japonica-Sinica Collection of the Roman Archives of the Jesuits,” Monumenta Serica, No. 60 (2012): 291–307. Also see Pan Fengchuan , “Lu Ande, Ai Rulüe duiyu xinxing lunshuo de chayi yu xiangdui guiding yi Kuoduorichao zuowei genju (Andrzej Rudomina and Giulio Aleni’s Differences and Relative Regulations on the Theory of Mind and Nature Based on the Kouduorichao),” E hu xuezhi , Vol. 54 (2015): 117–150. 10 Erik Zürcher, Nicolas Standaert, and Adrianus Dudink, Bibliography of the Jesuit Mission in China: ca. 1580–ca. 1680 (Leiden: Centre of Non-Western Studies, Leiden University, 1991). 11 Nöel Golvers, “The Jesuit Mission in China (17th–18th cent.) as the Framework for the Circulation of Knowledge between Europe and China,” Lusitania Sacra, No. 36 (July–December 2017): 185. 12 Xu, Ming-Qing jian yesuhuishi yizhu tiyao, 1. 13 Ibid.

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works that elucidate doubts (Jiehuo 解惑).14 Xu’s list of more explicitly Christian books includes those on the lives of the saints (Shengren xingshi 聖人行實) and writings related to the “holy faith,” such as sacred scripture (Shengjiao jingwen聖教經文).15 And while Xu affords significant space to the non-religious publications of the Ming-Qing Catholic mission, he makes special note that the first two Jesuit works in China were catechetical. Michel Ruggieri (1543– 1607) first published his Tianzhu shilu 天主實錄 (True Account of the Lord of Heaven) in 1584, which outlines the nature of God, creation, and the human soul, and provides a brief précis of the Decalogue.16 The second major Jesuit work published in China was Matteo Ricci’s celebrated Tianzhu shiyi 天主實義 (True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven), published in 1603; its original title was Tian xue shiyi 天學實義 (True Meaning of the Study of Heaven).17 Ruggieri’s text was a Chinese translation of a Latin work of Christian apologetics that he had written in 1581. Ricci, on the other hand, more directly engaged China’s religious and philosophical culture, choosing to set an imagined Chinese interlocutor (Zhongshi 中士) against a Western counterpart (Xishi 西士); his intention was to demonstrate the intellectual transcendence of Western thought. Ricci’s work is more understated than Ruggieri’s, and God is not alluded to until the final section, in which the Western interlocutor discloses that the Lord of Heaven saved the world from original sin.18 14 Ibid. 15 Ibid. 16 See Dunne, Generation of Giants, 29. For a useful compendium of biographies of significant persons related to Catholicism in China see Fang Hao 方豪, Zhongguo Tianzhujiao shi renwu zhuan 中國天主教史人物傳 (Biographies of Historical Persons in China’s Roman Catholic History) (Shanghai 上海: Tianzhujiao Shanghai jiaoqu Xu Guangqi chubanshe 天主教上海教區許光啟出版社, 2003). 17 See Xu, Ming-Qing jian yesuhuishi yizhu tiyao, 2. The vacillation in nomenclature reflects the fact that these early texts were produced when the Christian missionaries were not yet settled on appropriate Chinese terms to express Christian ones. 18 Ricci writes: “The Lord of Heaven thereupon acted with great compassion, descended to this world Himself to save it, and experienced everything experienced by men. One thousand, six hundred and three years ago, in the year Geng Shen (庚申) in the second year after Emperor Ai of the Han dynasty had adopted the reigning title Yüan Shou, on the third day following the winter solstice, He selected a chaste woman who had never experienced sexual intercourse to be His mother, became incarnate within her and was born. His name was Jesus, the meaning of which is ‘the one who saves the world.’ He established His own teaching and taught for thirty-three years in the West. He then

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Whatever can be said about the scientific and secular emphasis of much of the Jesuit publication agenda during the Ming and Qing dynasties, Xu Zongze is careful to point out that their first two works were directed toward Christian conversion and instruction. In fact, one might accurately suggest that even the Jesuits’ scientific and secular publications were part of their larger schema to convert China, for by impressing China’s hierarchy and literati class with non-Christian works of science they were, it was hoped, facilitating Chinese acceptance of the Jesuit presence throughout the empire. As Ricci noted in a letter to the viceprovincial, Francesco Pasio (1554–1612), the Jesuit mission in China should proceed, “prudently, without fanfare, and with good books and reasoned arguments, proving to the [Chinese] scholars the truth of our doctrine”; for him, the reason underpinning their presentation of Western science was complimentary to the objective of conversion.19 Whether consciously or not, Matteo Ricci and Michel Ruggieri’s early decision to emphasize print culture as the bedrock of the Jesuit mission in China was intended to support the work of conversion and catechetical instruction through the printed book.

Print Culture in Late Imperial China: An Air of Refinement The book has left a profound mark on the landscape of Chinese culture, both materially and intellectually. Indeed, the material appreciation of printed works in China is such that the famed scholar-painter, Mi Fu 米芾 (1051–1107), wrote in a poem that he savored books to the extent that he hoped to be a bookworm in his next life so he could eat the words he enjoyed reading in this life. Recognizing this, and hoping to enhance their own understanding of the Chinese literary tradition, these early missionaries began to send Chinese texts back to Rome where they were stored in Jesuit and Vatican archives. By 6 March 1581, only seven years after Jesuit incursion into China, Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) visited the ascended again to Heaven. These were the concrete actions of the Lord of Heaven.” In Gianni Criveller, Preaching Christ in Late Ming China: The Jesuits’ Presentation of Christ from Matteo Ricci to Giulio Aleni (Taipei: Ricci Institute, 1997), 109–110. 19 This letter is dated 15 February 1609, the year before Ricci’s death in Beijing. Quoted in Dunne, Generation of Giants, 87. See also Matteo Ricci, Opere Storiche, ed. Pietro Tacchi-Venturi, Vol. 2 (Rome: Giorgetti, 1911), 377–388.

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Vatican repositories and was enchanted by a book “in strange characters,” written on what he described as oddly soft and absorbent paper.20 This is perhaps the earliest record of someone consulting Chinese documents held in the Vatican’s expansive library. Nearly three decades after Montaigne had marveled over Chinese printed works, the Jesuit missionary, Nicolas Trigault (1577–1628), was sent back to Europe from his post in China to, among other tasks, collect secular and religious books which became the seminal codices comprising what later formed the Beitang (北堂 North Church) repository in Beijing.21 Already Ricci and Ruggieri had exhibited their collection of Western works at their house in Zhaoqing, Guangdong, in order to emphasize Europe’s own appreciation of printed texts; certainly, they also intended to ingratiate themselves to the like-minded literati who understood the possession of books to be a mark of one’s education and social status. Another dimension that must be considered regarding the Jesuit interest in China’s print culture is that the authorship and production of printed matter garnered respect, or at least notice, from both the educated elites and merchants who valued more refined culture. To represent themselves as what Jacques Gernet has referred to as “apparent Confucians,” the missioners affiliated themselves with the important intellectual community, and by establishing their own publishing houses they curried favor with the wealthy community that had by then acquired a reputation as bibliophiles and collectors of sizeable personal libraries.22 In his study of China’s sixteenth- and seventeenth-century print culture, Kai-wing Chow notes that:

20 Anthony Grafton, “The Vatican and its Library,” in Rome Reborn, ed. Anthony Grafton (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993), 3. 21 See Gail King, “The Xujiahui (Zikawei) Library of Shanghai,” Libraries and Culture, Vol. 32, No. 4 (Fall 1997): 457. Also see Nöel Golvers, “A la recherche d’une bibliothèque perdue: la bibliothèque des jésuites français à Pékin au XVIIIe siècle,” in Bibliothèques d’écrivains: Lecture et création, histoire et transmission, eds. Olivier Belin and Catherine Mayaux (Torino: Rosenberg & Sellier, 2018); Zhao Daying 趙大瑩, “Beitang tushuguan cang shu de fenliu (1958 nian yihou)” 北堂圖書館藏書的分流 (1958年以後) (The Distribution of the Books from the Beitang Library [after 1958]),” Guoji Hanxue yanjiu tongxun 國際漢學研究通訊, No. 12 (December 2015): 20. 22 For Gernet’s discussion of the Jesuits as “apparent Confucians,” see Jacques Gernet, China and the Christian Impact, trans. Janet Lloyd (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985), 47–57.

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... the expansion of the book market produced publicity for literary professionals whose authority came to rival and challenge the authority of the official examiners.... Editors, critics, and writers were empowered by reputation generated in the market of commercial publishing.23

That is, as the parameters of normative book production expanded beyond the field of official examiners and examinees into the domain of commercial printing, the Jesuits were able to present themselves with a patina of erudition while also facilitating friendships with the materially affluent who collected books for largely aesthetic purposes. The early Ming predominance of Confucian publications such as the hallowed canonical classics and commentaries did expand into other genres during the sixteenth century, but the culture of books retained an air of cultural sophistication. The Ming bibliophile, Hu Yinglin 胡應麟 (1551–1602), noted that four major cities were most known for the vitality of their book culture, Beijing, Nanjing, Suzhou, and Hangzhou, and it was to many of these refined cultural centers that the Jesuits were attracted. One of the principal reasons that the Jesuit mission boasted its successes in the realms of reputation and conversion during the late imperial era was, as Liam Brockey suggests, due to the image they promulgated “via the printed word.”24 As Brockey notes: Knowing the voracious reading habits of his peers, Xu Guangqi had recommended that the missionaries print “thirty thousand” copies of their works and distribute them throughout the empire. In this way, they would ensure that increasing numbers of literati found out about their teachings, helping the Jesuits to “win friends and credit.”25

23 Chow Kai-wing, Publishing, Culture, and Power in Early Modern China (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2004), 2. Anne E. McLaren has also pointed out that just prior to the Jesuits’ arrival to China in the late-sixteenth century, “authors and publishers of vernacular texts realized, probably for the first time in the history of Chinese print culture, that their reading public was no longer restricted to the learned classes.” Anne E. McLaren, “Constructing New Reading Publics in Late Ming China,” in Printing and Book Culture in Late Imperial China, eds. Cynthia J. Brokaw and Kai-wing Chow (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005), 152. 24 Liam Brockey, Journey to the East, 80. 25 Ibid.

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The conversion of Xu Guangqi 徐光啟 (1562–1633) is itself a good example of an educated Chinese literatus who was influenced by the Jesuit publication strategy of late imperial China, for his decision to convert to Roman Catholicism was largely brought about by his reading of Matteo Ricci’s Tianzhu shiyi. Matteo Ricci and his later confreres were impressed by the efficiency with which Chinese block carvers could produce folio-page blocks onto pear or apple wood, which were later conveniently used to reprint further editions. Once the magistrate of Zhaoqing, Wang Pan, 王泮 (fl. 1584) had rendered his approval of Ruggieri’s Tianzhu shilu, the two Jesuits were able to hire printers to run an additional 3,000 copies, after the first edition of 1,200 copies, for their mission.26 In his journals, Ricci noted that: We have derived great benefit from this method of Chinese printing, as we employ the domestic help in our homes to strike off copies of the books on religious and scientific subjects which we translate into Chinese from the languages in which they were written originally. In truth, the whole method is so simple that one is tempted to try it for himself after once having watched the process. The simplicity of Chinese printing is what accounts for the exceedingly large numbers of books in circulation here and the ridiculously low prices at which they are sold. Such facts as these would scarcely be believed by one who had not witnessed them.27

The ease and economy with which the Jesuits could produce books, and the successful use of them to address the educated elite such as Xu Guangqi, certainly solidified their resolve to publish. Once the Jesuit commitment to using books for conversion and catechesis had been well established during the late Ming and early Qing, mission publications became a matter of habit. Up to the suppression of the Jesuits in 1773 by Pope Clement XIV (r. 1769–1774), and after their

26 Fonti Ricciani (FR), in Storia dell’Introduzione del Cristianesimo in Cina, Vol. 1, ed. Pasquale D’Elia (Rome: Libreria dello Stato, 1942), 197. 27 Matteo Ricci, China in the Sixteenth Century: The Journals of Matthew Ricci, 1583–

1610, trans. Louis J. Gallagher (New York: Random House, 1953), 21. I am grateful to Brian Mac Cuarta, SJ, the director of the Jesuit archives in Rome (ARSI), for kindly allowing me to consult the original letters of Matteo Ricci as I prepared this study. For excellent versions of Ricci’s writings see the editions published by Quodlibet, such as Matteo Ricci, Descrizione della Cina (Macerata: Quodlibet, 2015).

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revival in 1814, the number of mission publications steadily increased, as did the Society’s collection of Chinese and European print materials.28 One notable modern example of Jesuit publication productivity in the footsteps of Ricci’s example of emphasizing print culture was the industrious Chinese priest, Li Wenyu 李問漁 (also called Li Di 李 杕, 1840–1911). Both Li and Ma Xiangbo 馬相伯 (1849–1939), were students of Angelo Zotolli (1826–1902), at the Jesuit-run College of St. Ignatius at Shanghai, and Li was the founding editor of the first Catholic periodicals in China, Yiwenlu 益聞錄 (General News Report) and the Shengxinbao 聖心報 (Sacred Heart Messenger).29 Jesuit print culture remained an effective apparatus for the promulgation of the Catholic faith in China from Ricci to Li, and did not really wane until 1949, after the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Perhaps one of the more preeminent figures in the long history of Jesuit print culture in China was Giulio Aleni, who also stands as an excellent example of the Society’s prevailing concern for the spiritual conversion of the Middle Kingdom, and an influential proponent of appropriating the Confucian genre of children’s primers for use in the mission.

28 Nicolas Trigault was among the most significant persons in establishing the Jesuit publication apostolate in China. George Dunne notes that, “In Chiangchow (Jiangzhou) and in Sianfu (Xi’an) he had founded the first Christian printing establishments in China.” Dunne, Generation of Giants, 231. Trigault was indeed an industrious man of the pen; his publication schedule was only rivaled by his emotional investment in the problem of translating Christian terms into Chinese. The internecine debates between others and himself regarding how best to render the word “God” into an appropriate Chinese graph led to his suicide; he finally committed suicide in 1628 from the stress. Letter of André Palmiero (1569–1635) to Muzio Vitelleschi (d. 1645), Macau, 20 December 1629, Archivum Societatis Iesu (ARSI), Jap-Sin 161-II:117r. Trigault had argued, and lost, for “God” to be rendered in Chinese as Shangdi (上帝). 29 See Fang Hao, Zhongguo Tianzhujiao shi renwu zhuan, 650. Also see Gu Weimin 顧衛民, Zhongguo Tianzhujiao biannianshi中國天主教編年史 (Chronology of Catholic History in China) (Shanghai 上海: Shanghai shudian chubanshe 上海書店出版社, 2003), 427–428.

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Giulio Aleni and the Mission in Asia: For the “Welfare of Poor Souls” As I have mentioned, so often the Jesuit publication agenda is discussed as a scientific or secular enterprise, but their incentives were more explicitly motivated by their religious aims as missionaries, and there are abundant works that provide insight into how mission publications served as a venue for non-scientific cultural exchange. When considering the underlying motives for the Jesuit presence in China it is helpful to consult their private letters and journals. In his personal reflections Matteo Ricci wrote, “who can doubt that this whole expedition of which we are now writing is divinely directed, since it is entirely devoted to bringing the light of the Gospel to souls.”30 And on 2 December 1607, the young Giulio Aleni wrote a rather fervent letter to the superior general requesting a missionary assignment abroad in India: Six years have already passed since the Lord pleased on Good Friday, during the meditation on the Passion of the Lord, to call me and to move me with an extraordinary and ardent desire to dedicate all my life to the welfare of the poor souls in India.31

Aleni’s application to be sent abroad was accepted in 1609, though he was dispatched to China rather than India. While the Jesuit vision of conversion was to, as George Dunne asserts, “effectuate an amalgamation of Christian and Chinese culture to produce a Sino-Christian civilization,” other orders were less internally cohesive regarding their approach to evangelizing non-European areas. The Dominican bishop of Manila, Domingo de Salizar (1512–1594), is one example of a missionary with a non-accommodationist view; he held a quite jingoistic vision of converting China. In a letter to King Philip II (r. 1554–1598) of Spain, known for his religious zeal and dynastic self-interest, de Salizar wrote: … you can send an army so strong that the whole power of China will be helpless to injure it, and that this army has the right to enter and traverse the provinces of China; it can impose peace upon those who disturb order;

30 Ricci, China in the Sixteenth Century, 4. 31 In Criveller, Preaching Christ in Late Ming China, 145.

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it can oblige the king and the officials of this realm to allow the Gospel to be preached and to protect its heralds.32

Salizar was not himself a missionary in China, but his vision of a China under Spanish rule was quite passionate, and was only somewhat tempered by his wish for its religious conversion, of which he asserted: “there has not been since apostolic times a spiritual undertaking of such high importance.”33 Despite the differences between the Jesuits and the mendicants, the Dominicans also published several catechisms in Chinese, and thus contributed to the Catholic effort to convert and teach by means of mimicking China’s indigenous print culture.34 From the Jesuit perspective, with few exceptions, the mission in China, including its publication agenda, promoted and conformed to a more Sinified version of Christianity; such colonialist designs were comparatively rare among the Jesuit confreres who wrote and published there. At the risk of redundancy, it is also important to remember that the Jesuits were less focused on secular ambitions as sometimes presumed, as their private writings confirm. Gianni Criveller reminds that, “the Jesuits never forgot that their message was in its essence a spiritual message,” and Liam Brockey writes that the Jesuits who published scientific works, “had ulterior religious motives.”35 These “ulterior motives” resulted in innovative methods of cultural accommodation that prompted a new genre of Sino-Christian print culture.

32 In Pablo Pastells, Catalogo de los documentos relativos a las Indias Filipinas exentes en el Archivio de Indias de Sevilla, por D. Pedro Torres y Lanzas, precedido de una historia general de Filipinas (Barcelona: Imp. de la viuda de L. Tasso, 1925), II, CLVII. Translated in Dunne, Generation of Giants, 234. 33 Ibid. 34 See Claudia von Collani, “Missionaries,” in Handbook of Christianity in China, Volume One, 322. For a study of the Dominican mission to China, see Eugenio Menegon, Ancestors, Virgins, and Friars: Christianity as a Local Religion in Late Imperial China (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2010). 35 Criveller, Preaching Christ in Late Ming China, 158; Brockey, Journey to the East,

15.

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Aleni’s Works: Accommodation and the Creation of a Confucian Catechism Once Giulio Aleni had finally entered China in 1613—an earlier attempt in 1611 had failed—he met Xu Guangqi, who was keen to continue and promote the publication efforts of the Jesuit Fathers in China. Aleni eagerly accepted the charge to publish works in Chinese to advance Western learning and Christianity, and he did so using the traditional woodblock method of printing graphs and illustrations. His works represent well the Jesuit effort to create an organic composition of Chinese print culture and Western ideas. While the Jesuits in Japan had employed movable type there as early as 1590, five years before the Japanese themselves experimented with movable type, the Christian mission in China remained committed to the popular Chinese trend of producing skillfully printed woodblock editions, often adorned with elegant illustrations.36 Notably, Jesuit writers in China, or indigenous Chinese Catholic writers for that matter, purposely required their books to be stitch bound, as was common of Confucian books, rather than bound in the concertina style, as was common of Buddhist texts. Even the aesthetic style of bookbinding preferred by Jesuit missionaries and their converts sought to align their books with those produced by the literati elite. Of Aleni’s twenty-two works printed in China, the predominance was on religious topics, more catechetical and pastoral than philosophical or scientific. While seventeen of his books are religious, only five may be described as secular, and those non-religious works were produced early in his mission before he had relocated to Fujian in 1625, where he directed his literary output increasingly toward pastoral needs. The greatest part of his secular works was printed while he was still in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. In 1623, Aleni collaborated with Yang Tingyun 楊廷筠 (1557–1627) to produce his first Chinese publication, the Wanguo quantu 萬國全圖 (Map of Ten Thousand Things), an illustrated world atlas. This was quickly followed by his Zhifang waiji 職方外紀 (Record of Non-Tributary States) and Xi xue fan 西學凡 (General Account of Western Studies), also published in 1623. And of the eighteen books Aleni produced during his time at Fujian, only two were non-religious, his Jihe yaofa 幾何要法

36 See Thomas Francis Carter, The Invention of Printing in China and Its Spread Westward, second edition (New York: Ronald Press, 1925), 236, n. 28.

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(Essentials of Geometry), published in 1631, and his Xifang dawen 西方 答問 (Questions and Answers Regarding the West), published in 1637. Perhaps one of Aleni’s most famous works is his Tianzhu jiangsheng chuxiang jingjie 天主降生 出像經解 (Illustrated Life of Christ) (Fig. 1.1), published at the capital city of Fujian, Fuzhou, in 1637.37 This work is a veritable tour de force, consisting of two sections divided by text and woodblock illustrations; it is a particularly successful example of Jesuit efforts to combine the Christian message with Chinese aesthetic sensibilities. Inspired by the engravings in Jerome Nadal’s (1507–1580) Evangelicae Historiae Imagines , Aleni hired skilled carvers to produce woodblock prints of the historic episodes representing Christ’s life, beginning with the Annunciation and ending with the Glorification of Mary in heaven.38 St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491–1556), had himself recommended the task of producing an illustrated narrative based on the gospel to Nadal, and the Chinese mission was merely continuing Ignatius’ suggestion.39 In Howard Goodman’s study of Chinese publications held in the Vatican’s Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Goodman notes Aleni’s use of “graphic explanation” to convert souls by means of Christian illustrations, though the majority of his printed works consisted only of text.40 Several of Aleni’s un-illustrated works deliberately emulated the extant Confucian print culture to present books “in a genre that the Chinese themselves recognized.”41 His ability to present himself and his works according to literati sympathies earned him the appellation of “Confucius from the

37 See Gu Weimin 顧衛民, Jiduzongjiao yishu zai Hua fazhan shi 基督宗教藝術在華發 展史 (A History of Chinese Christian Art in China) (Shanghai 上海: Shanghai shudian chubanshe 上海書店出版社, 2005), 133–144. Also see Criveller, Preaching Christ in Late Ming China, 133–153. 38 For information on Nadal’s life and work see, William Bangert, Jerome Nadal, S.J. (1507–1580): Tracking the First Generation of Jesuits, ed. Thomas M. McCoog (Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1992). 39 See Paul Rheinbay, “Nadal’s religious iconography reinterpreted by Aleni for China,”

in Scholar from the West: Giulio Aleni S.J. (1582–1649) and the Dialogue between Christianity and China, eds. Tiziana Lippiello and Roman Malek (Sankt Augustin: Institut Monumenta Serica, 1997), 323–334. 40 Howard L. Goodman, “Paper Obelisks: East Asia in the Vatican Vaults,” in Rome Reborn, 273. 41 Ibid., 274.

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Fig. 1.1 The crucifixion as portrayed in the woodblock edition of Giulio Aleni’s Tianzhu jiangsheng yanjing jilüe 天主降生出像經解 (The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ). Fujian, 1637. Facsimile, Whitworth University “China Christian Missions Collection”

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West” (Xilai Kongzi 西來孔子).42 Perhaps one of the best examples of Jesuit accommodationists’ print culture in late imperial China is Giulio Aleni’s Sizijingwen, or “Four Character Classic,” published in 1642.

The Four Character Classic: A Confucian Primer and Christian Catechism As the Catholic community in China grew, missionaries discerned an urgent need to provide new and old converts with catechetical books; one of them was the Sizijingwen.43 As Nicolas Standaert and Ad Dudink note in their study of the missionary “apostolate through books” in China, there were “two major genres of catechetical writings,” which were divided into the categories of supernatural and natural theology.44 The Dottrina Christiana focused on the area of supernatural, or revealed, theology, while the Catechismus, centered on natural theology; Aleni’s four character primer more properly fits into the second of these categories. One of the most noteworthy aspects of this text is how Aleni contextualized it within the framework of the native Chinese texts it emulates. He conformed the text’s content and structure to the popular genre of qimeng (啟蒙), or mengshu (蒙書), generally translated as “primers,” that expounded elementary Confucian principles, usually didactic in purpose. Another term referring to these “primers” is zishu, (字書) or “character books,” since these works often appear as cleverly 42 Gu Weimin, Jiduzongjiao yishu zai Hua fazhan shi, 133. Scholarly debates have emerged in recent decades regarding whether or not the term “Confucian” is an appropriate nomenclature for the group known in Chinese texts as “Ruist 儒家/儒林.” See, for example, Michael Nylan, The Five “Confucian” Classics (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001). While I am aware of the merits of referring to this group as “Ruists,” this study shall use the more common term “Confucian.” 43 Two works in particular provide important information regarding the Catholic enterprise of producing catechetical books and pamphlets in China: Staf Vloeberghs, et al., eds., History of Catechesis in China (Leuven: Ferdinand Verbiest Institute, 2008); Ad Dudink and Nicolas Standaert, “Apostolate through Books,” in Handbook of Christianity in China, Volume One: 635–1800, ed. Nicolas Standaert (Leiden: Brill, 2001), 600–631. In Staf Vloeberghs’ edited volume appears a comparison of Giulio Aleni’s Sizijingwen and a similar Chinese Roman Catholic children’s primer published in Taiwan in 1935. Gu Weiying 古偉瀛, “Sizijingwen: Benweihua yu Taiwan Tianzhujiao” 四字經文: 本位化 與台灣天主教 (The Four Character Classic: Standardization and Roman Catholicism in Taiwan), in Vloeberghs, History of Catechesis in China, 319–337. 44 Dudink and Standaert, “Apostolate through Books,” 609.

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written rhyming books that facilitate the memorization of a substantial number of characters. In the context of late imperial China, which was largely concerned with the requisite textual mastery to become qualified for the official exams, these books were expected to teach children the fundamentals of reading and moral behavior. The most famous of these qimeng texts was the Sanzijing 三字經 (Three Character Classic) putatively by Wang Yinglin 王應麟 (1223–1296), a work including 1,062 characters—512 not counting repeated characters (Fig. 1.2).45 Thus, a young reader would learn to recognize more than 500 characters through studying this primer. Primers were in fact among the most popularly sold books after the Song (960–1279), the most popular being, besides the Sanzijing , the Baijiaxing 百家姓 (Hundred Family Surnames, anonymous ninthcentury text), and the Qianziwen 千字文 (Thousand Character Classic, by Zhou Xingsi 周興嗣 [d. 521]). The popular term, “laobaixing,” 老百 姓 meaning “commoners,” derives from the title of the primer, Baijiaxing .46 These works consisted usually of three, four, and five word rhymed phrases that inculcated the readers with the cultural and literary allusions felt important to a young learner or adult beginner. In a sense, these primers socialized the readers into late imperial Chinese society, centered as it was on Confucian and Neo-Confucian tenets. Generally speaking, after the thirteenth century qimeng texts were placed in the category of ertong wenxue (兒童文學) or “children’s literature.”47 Not all of these qimeng works were topically confined to subjects deemed necessary for boys. Girls and women were also encouraged to read character

45 A convenient English translation of the Sanzijing is San Tzu Ching: Elementary Chinese, trans. Herbert A. Giles (Shanghai: Messrs. Kelly & Walsh, 1900). For the original see, Wang Yinglin 王應麟, et al., Sanzijing , Baijiaxing , Qianziwen 三字經, 百家姓, 千字 文 (Three Character Classic, Hundred Family Surnames, and Thousand Character Classic) (Nanjing 南京: Dongnan daxue chubanshe 東南大學出版社, 2014). 46 The term 老百姓 literally means, “the old hundred surnames.” See Dorothea Hayward Scott, Chinese Popular Literature and the Child (Chicago: American Library Association, 1980), 51. 47 For general descriptions and studies of ertong wenxue see William G. Nienhauser, ed.,

The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature, Vol. 2 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998), 31–37; Zhang Shengyu 張聖瑜, Ertong wenxue yanjiu 兒童文學 研究 (Research on Children’s Literature) (Shanghai 上海: Shangwu yin shuguan 商務印 書館, 1928); and Lin Wenbao 林文寶, Ertong shige yanjiu 兒童詩歌研究 (Research on Children’s Rhymes) (Gaoxiong 高雄: Fuwen chubanshe 復文出版社, 1988).

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Fig. 1.2 The opening page of Wang Yinglin’s Sanzijing 三字經 (Three Character Classic). N.d. Facsimile, Whitworth University “China Christian Missions Collection”

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books to instruct them in the expected Confucian duties of a wife and mother.48 Before discussing how Giulio Aleni borrowed from the popular qimeng genre to support his missionary efforts, it will serve to consider the content of Wang Yinglin’s Sanzijing by means of comparison. In the opening of the text the reader is immediately confronted with a highly Mencian form of instruction, beginning with the two couplets: 人之初, 性本善。 Humans at birth—have an originally good nature. 性相近, 習相遠。 Their nature is similar—but their training is different.49 Human nature is of course intrinsically good in this model, and resonating with Mencius’ 孟子 (372–289 BCE) “Ox Mountain” metaphor the reader is informed that humans are either corrupted or advanced by what comes after their birth: viz., their training.50 These couplets are followed by two more that emphasize the importance of study. 苟不教, 性乃遷。 If they are not taught—their nature will become corrupt. 教之道, 貴以專。 The way of learning—is to stress whole-hearted devotion to it.51 In essence, Wang’s text encourages study in order to prevent one’s original good nature from deteriorating, a notion quite unlike the Augustinian Christian doctrine of original sin (Yuanzui 原罪), which holds that humans are born with the stain of fallen nature. And immediately

48 See, for example, the zishu primer, Funüjiaxun 婦女家訓 (Instructions for Women) (Shanghai 上海: Guangyi shuju 廣益書局, ca. 1910). 49 In Giles, San Tzu Ching, 2–3. Unless noted, all translations from the Chinese of Wang’s Sanzijing and Aleni’s Sizijingwen are my own. 50 For Mencius’ allegory of “Ox Mountain” to describe the corruptibility of human nature, see Yang Bojun 楊伯峻, ed., Mengzi yizhu 孟子譯註 (Translation and Commentary on the Mencius) (Taipei 台北: Wunan tushu chubanshe 五南圖書出版社, 1992), 359–360. 51 In Giles, San Tzu Ching, 4–5.

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following the Sanzijing ’s definition of human nature and exhortation to study, the primer alludes to Liu Xiang’s 劉向 (77–6 BCE) famous “Meng mu san qian” 孟母三遷 account in his Lienüzhuan 列女傳 (Collected Biographies of Women): 昔孟母, 擇鄰處。 Long ago Mencius’ mother—chose a neighborhood in which to live. 子不學, 斷機杼。 Her son did not study—so she cut the web from the loom.52 Once again, the theme of how context influences one’s nature is emphasized in the classical account of how Mencius’ mother moved near a school to provide a proper environment for her son’s education and cut her loom to demonstrate the importance of constant application.53 The Sanzijing , then, is a work thoroughly anchored in Song Neo-Confucian tenets, replete with allusions to the hallowed texts and paragons of the literati elite from China’s ancient past. Giulio Aleni carefully emulated and transformed the indigenous qimeng tradition. Once he had read through China’s textual corpus he began to formulate strategies of catechizing newly converted native Chinese, and keeping in line with the accommodationist approach adopted by most Jesuits of his era, he naturally borrowed from the content and structure of the character-book tradition (Fig. 1.3).54 These zishu were conveniently set into easily memorized syntax, relying on clever 52 Ibid., 7–8. 53 See Liu Xiang劉向, Lienüzhuan 列女傳 (Collected Biographies of Women), ed.

Zhang Jing 張敬 (Taipei 台北: Taiwan shangwu yin shuguan 臺灣商務印書館, 1996). For the “Meng mu san qian” 孟母三遷 section, see pp. 35–37. 54 Beyond the early Jesuit impulse to accommodate Christianity to its new Chinese context by emulating extant textual genres such as zishu children’s primers, was perhaps the realization that China did not share the West’s long history of learning Latin. Whereas children in the West might have studied Latin as part of their educational process, children in China commonly mastered Classical Chinese. Thus, in Ren Yanli’s 任延黎 study of Catholicism in China, he remarks that, “The differences between Chinese and Latin are rather vast. Regardless of whether the Western missionaries learn Chinese or the Chinese study Latin, many people acknowledged that this is a [language process] problem that required a long period of time.” Ren Yanli, 任延黎 Zhongguo Tianzhujiao jichu zhishi 中國天主教基礎知識 (The Intellectual Foundation of Chinese Catholicism) (Beijing 北 京: Zongjiao wenhua chubanshe 宗教文化出版社, 2005), 41–42. The Jesuit answer was therefore not only accommodationist, but also pragmatic given the linguistic challenges of forcing Latin onto the incipient Chinese Church.

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Fig. 1.3 The front matter and folio 1 recto page of Giulio Aleni’s Tianzhu shengjiao sizijingwen 天主聖教四字經文 (The Sacred Teaching of the Lord of Heaven Four Character Classic). Fujian, 1642. Facsimile, Whitworth University “China Christian Missions Collection”

rhymes and parallel couplets. Since Chinese children were already accustomed to studying in this format it was a sensible strategy to imitate Wang Yinglin’s Sanzijing and produce a Christian zishu, the Sizijingwen. Eugenio Menegon has speculated that Aleni’s primer might have even been used as a teaching aid in the charitable school and catechism classes established by the famous Catholic literatus, Yang Tingyun.55 While several libraries and archives hold copies of Aleni’s character book, 55 Eugenio Menegon, “The Catholic Four-Character Classic (Tianzhu shengjiao sizijing 天主聖教四字經): A Confucian Pattern to Spread a Foreign Faith in Late Ming China,” unpublished paper (1992) provided to Anthony E. Clark by the author, 28 July 2020. See pg. 7.

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I have consulted primarily two editions, the original 1642 woodblock book held at the Vatican Archives, and a later edition published by the Printing Office of Nazareth (Nazale jingyuanyin 納匝肋靜院印) in 1903, a Catholic publishing house in Hong Kong that reprinted and redistributed several rare Vatican works in the early twentieth century (Fig. 1.4).56 Perhaps the most apparent difference between Giulio Aleni’s qimeng text and those produced by native Chinese, is that while Chinese works begin with the topic of the origin of human nature, the Sizijingwen begins with what would have been curiously foreign to native Chinese readers. For example, Wang’s Sanzijing begins with the original goodness of human nature, while Aleni’s Sizijingwen begins with the Christian Creation account, alluding to passages in the bible as well as Dante Alighieri’s (1265–1321) Commedia. Aleni’s Sizijingwen begins with a theological description of God, the “Lord of Heaven” (Tianzhu 天主): 全能天主, 萬有真原。 The Lord of Heaven is omnipotent—the true origin of all things. 無始無終, 常生常王。 He is without beginning and without end—ever living and ever ruling. 無所不在, 無所不知。 He is all places—and all knowing. 無所不能, 萬物之始。 He can do all things—and is the beginning of all things. 無性無聖, 靈性妙用。 Without form or sound—and His spiritual works are subtle. 萬萬榮福, 萬萬美善。 Boundless are His glorious blessings—and boundless is His goodness.

56 The thin Vatican editions of Giulio Aleni’s 1642 Sizijingwen are folio books with block-printed graphs on the recto and verso sides of each page. The frontispiece has displayed an elaborate Jesuit insignia with the letters “IHS” and “SJ” cleverly intertwined together; flames surround the insignia (Fig. 1.4). For an exhaustive list of where original and facsimile copies of Aleni’s《天主聖教四字經文》can be located, see the online “Christian Texts Database” (CCT-Database), hosted by the Université Catholique de Louvain.

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Fig. 1.4 The frontispiece of Giulio Aleni’s Tianzhu shengjiao sizijingwen 天主聖教四字經文 (The Sacred Teaching of the Lord of Heaven Four Character Classic). Fujian, 1642. Facsimile, Whitworth University “China Christian Missions Collection”

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惟一至尊, 無以加尚。 He alone is most honored—and nothing can add to His eminence.57 Such abstract definitions of an omnipotent being would not have seemed too out of the ordinary if they were expressed in more orthodox Chinese terms. The opening lines of the Daodejing 道德經 (Way and Virtue Classic) are at least as abstruse, which begin with an assertion of the ineffability of the Dao (道), or “Way”: “The Way that can be Way-ed is not the constant Way, and the name that can be named is not the constant name.”58 Despite the familiarity of the more educated classes with the abstractions of the Daodejing and Zhuangzi 莊子 (Master Zhuang), the topics of these Daoist texts are quite unlike those in the Sizijingwen. The opening passage of Aleni’s Sizijingwen must have appeared peculiar to the non-Christian reader: 未有天地, 先有天主。 When there was not yet Heaven and Earth—first there was the Lord of Heaven. 一天主父, 二天主子。 Lord of Heaven the Father is first—Lord of Heaven the Son is second. 三曰聖神, 三位一體。 The third is called the Holy Spirit—and [these form] the Holy Trinity. 生天生地, 生神生物。 He created heaven and He created earth—He created spirits and He created objects. 生我初人, 為人類祖。 He created the first people—to be ancestors of all humans. 萬品從生, 真大父母。

57 Giulio Aleni 艾儒略, Tianzhu shengjiao sizijingwen 天主聖教四字經文 (The Sacred Teaching of the Lord of Heaven Four Character Classic) (Fujian, 1642), BAV, Borgia Cinese: 334, 26˚, 1 recto & verso. A facsimile edition is held in the Whitworth University “China Christian Missions Collection.” 58 Feng Dafu 馮達甫, ed., Laozi yizhu 老子譯注 (Translation and Commentary on the Laozi) (Taipei 台北: Shulin chuban 書林出版, 1999), 1.

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Once the myriad things had been created—[came] the truly great [first] parents. 造化神工, 六日迺備。 The divine work of creation—was finished in six days. 第一日生, 絕頂高天。 On the first day of creation—He divided the peak of high heaven. 無數天神, 泥沌水地。 There were countless angels—and from the inchoate mass, water and earth. 地經地緯, 俱九萬里。 The longitude and latitude of the earth—extended through the myriad expanse.59 A first-time native Chinese reader would likely have been rather confounded with the Trinitarian message of this passage, not to mention the question of what the tianshen (天神), “heaven spirits,” or “angels,” alluded to, since this term was a Jesuit neologism in late imperial China.60 Aleni’s four character primer continues describing the center of the earth, and other places not mentioned in Chinese mythogeographies such as the Shanhaijing 山海經 (Mountains and Seas Classic).61 地之中心, 有四大穴。 In the center of the earth—there were four great caverns. 一曰永苦, 二曰煉獄。 The first is called eternal suffering [hell]—and the second is called the prison of refinement [purgatory]. 59 Aleni, Tianzhu shengjiao sizijingwen, 1 verso – 2 recto. 60 Common usage presently renders “angel” as 天使 rather than Aleni’s 天神. This shift

in usage is significant in light of the fact that 天使 is a typically Buddhist term for “divine messengers,” particularly those of Yama, or the lord of death. Yama’s three lictors 三天 使 in the Chinese Buddhist pantheon are old age, sickness, and death, and are nothing like the benevolent angels usually referred to in Jesuit writings. See Su Erci 蘇爾慈 and Hao Deshi 郝德士, Zhongying Foxue cidian 中英佛學辭典 (Chinese-English Dictionary of Buddhist Studies) (Taipei 台北: Fojiao wenhua fuwuqu 佛教文化服務區, 1962), 143. 61 See the Shanhaijing jianshu 山海經箋疏 (Commentary on the Mountains and Seas Classic) (Taipei 台北: Han jing wenhua shiye youxiangongsi 漢京文化事業有限公司, 1983). A convenient English translation is The Classic of Mountains and Seas, trans. Anne Birrell (London: Penguin Books, 1999).

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三曰孩所, 四曰靈薄。 The third is called the limbo of unborn children—and the fourth is called the limbo of the Fathers.62 This passage requires little explanation to the Western reader: it clearly refers to Dante’s vision of hell, fashioned like a funnel that reaches the earth’s center. Placed beneath the city of Jerusalem there are caverns containing the damned and suffering souls in hell, purgatory, and limbo. This vision of hell is not actually unimaginable in light of the Chinese notion of diyu (地獄), or an “underground court” in the earth consisting of several levels of chambers wherein souls are sent to atone for earthly wrongdoings. Nonetheless, the contents of the Jesuit character book depart widely from the more common Confucian works in the same format. It is similar enough to count as emulation, but dissimilar enough to arouse suspicion among the educated elite for promulgating what might at first glimpse appear to be heterodoxy. While, as Erik Zürcher points out, some Fujian Confucians viewed Aleni’s work to be useful to reinforcing their own notions of orthodoxy, it was also the case that many, perhaps the majority, of Chinese literati held Christian teachings such as those in Aleni’s Sizijingwen to be patently heretical (yiduan 異端).63 It is notable that it was a Confucian convert to Christianity catechized by Giulio Aleni, Li Jiubiao 李九標 (d. 1646), who most adamantly supported the orthodoxy of Aleni’s publications. In his Kouduo richao 口鐸日抄 (Diary of Oral Admonitions), Li wrote of Confucian “friends” who asked Aleni to, “translate numerous books on Heavenly Studies [Christian works] and widely publish them so that they will enable the elimination of heterodoxy and the promotion of orthodoxy.”64 Zürcher is careful to acknowledge that the Christian message circulated ideas that “remained a source of perplexity” to traditional Confucians, such as the Trinity, Jesus’ virgin birth, and so

62 Aleni, Tianzhu shengjiao sizijingwen, 2 recto & verso. 63 See Erik Zürcher, “Confucian and Christian Religiosity in Late Ming China,” The

Catholic Historical Review, Vol. 83, No. 4 (October 1997): 620–622. 64 Li Jiubiao 李九標, Kouduo richao 口鐸日抄 (Diary of Oral Admonitions), ARSI, Jap. Sin., I.81, 55. For an alternative translation of this passage, see Li Jiubiao, Kouduo richao: Li Jiubiao’s Diary of Oral Admonitions, A Late Ming Christian Journal, Vol. 1, trans. Erik Zürcher (Sankt Augustin: Monumenta Serica, 2007), 217.

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forth.65 Other, more mainstream literati in Fujian, such as Xie Gonghua 謝宮花 (fl. 1630), had strong reactions against such Jesuit works as the Sizijingwen, and published Confucian rebuttals against what they perceived as heterodox ideas. Xie wrote in the Poxie ji 破邪集 (Anthology of Exposing Heresy) that it was Jesus’ heterodox teachings that caused his arrest and execution: “The Lord of Heaven, Jesus, confused the masses with his odd speech, and was thus condemned by the law to be nailed to a cross and die.”66 Lin Jinshui’s analysis of Aleni’s efforts to accommodate Christian beliefs to Confucian tenets notes that while “Aleni tried by every means to tint the Christian doctrine with colors of Confucianism or traditional Chinese culture,” he nonetheless could not evade the suspicions and accusations against the orthodoxy of his assertions.67 Other passages in the Sizijingwen beg attention since they touch upon two of China’s most hallowed cultural domains: cosmology, which concerns the Chinese explanation of the cosmos, and historiography, which concerns the Chinese explanation of their own past. The most ensconced Chinese cosmological explanation of the structure of the material world, with the possible exception of the yin yang (陰陽) model, is the wuxing (五行), or “Five Phases,” paradigm. Wang Aihe describes the theory in this way: “Wuxing is a cosmology symbolized by the five material elements – Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. It is a system of classification that became predominant over other systems, synthesizing and standardizing the other systems through these five categories.”68 To put it another way, the dominant and ancient Chinese view of the cosmos was based on the understanding that all material existence was comprised of, and operated by means of, these Five Elements/Phases. In his Sizijingwen, Guilio Aleni writes:

65 Zürcher, “Confucian and Christian Religiosity in Late Ming China,” 623. 66 Xie Gonghua 謝宮花, Poxie ji 破邪集 (Anthology of Exposing Heresy) (1640), 4:

428. 67 Lin Jinshui, “A Tentative Study on Aleni’s Adaptation method for Evangelization,” in Scholar from the West”: Giulio Aleni, S.J. (1582–1649) and the Dialogue between Christianity and China, eds. Tiziana Lippiello and Roman Malek (Sankt Augustin: Monumenta Serica, 1997), 362. 68 Wang Aihe, Cosmology and Political Culture in Early China (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 3.

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火氣水土, 名四元行。 Fire, Ether, Water, and Earth—are named the four vital Elements.69 From Aleni’s Western training in Hellenic physics, he was correct to describe the material universe as consisting of only four elements; the Chinese reader, however, would read this line as either an error—it lacks Metal—or a novel revision of the accepted Wuxing model. In another passage we find Aleni displaying his Jesuit, perhaps protoFigurist, understanding of history, a historical view quite unpalatable to many of China’s scholar-officials who viewed themselves as the repositories of China’s historical legacy, one in which the Western world held no significant role. Like his more explicitly Figurist confreres, such as Joachim Bouvet (1656–1730), Jean-François Foucquet (1665– 1741), and Joseph Henri Marie de Prémare (1666–1736), Giulio Aleni promoted rather eccentric historical views of China, largely concerning the ancestry of non-Western peoples.70 Rather than highlight the two most honored figures of China’s distant antiquity, Yao 堯 and Shun, 舜 Aleni writes this in his Sizijingwen: 迺發洪水, 殄滅人物。 Then [God] sent forth the floodwaters—and abolished mankind. 四十日後, 降罰已畢。 After forty days—[God’s] punishment was finished. 諾厄父子, 復居陸地。 Noah and his sons—returned to the land. 長子名生, 次子名岡。 His oldest son was named Shem (Sheng)—and the second was named Ham (Gang). 其第三子, 名雅彿德。 And his third son—was named Japheth (Yafude). 其後子孫, 分居各方。 His later descendants—dispersed and dwelled in every land. 亞細亞國, 皆生之後。 69 Aleni, Tianzhu shengjiao sizijingwen, 3 recto. 70 For an example of Jesuit Figurism and its Christianized reading of Chinese histo-

riography, see Nicolas Standaert, Intercultural Weaving of Historical Texts: Chinese and European Stories About Emperor Ku and His Concubines (Leiden: Brill, 2016), especially Chapter 4.

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The countries of Asia—are all descended from Shem.71 Yao and Shun, indeed among the most esteemed names other than Confucius 孔子 (551–479 BCE) and the Duke of Zhou 周公 (d. 1035 BCE), are not mentioned at all in Aleni’s text, and instead the entire Chinese race was said to have descended from Shem, a biblical patriarch hitherto not heard of in Chinese sources.72 While Giulio Aleni’s Sizijingwen effectively appropriated the structure and aesthetic of literati print culture, it was topically divergent from a classical Confucian understanding of human nature, origins, and history in general. This was not the only Jesuit work to provoke suspicion or negative attention in China. The illustration of the crucifixion in Aleni’s Tianzhu jiangsheng chuxiang jingjie was similarly problematic to the indigenous scholar-elites.73 The noted Buddhist monk, Xingqian 性潛 (1602–1670), wrote quite pejoratively of such Jesuit depictions of Christ’s execution in his Ranxi 燃犀 (Lighting the [Rhinoceros] Horn). He asserts that the crucifixion was contrary to the hallowed five Confucian virtues, stating that “his image with disheveled hair and a naked body which gives him [the appearance] of a malicious devil is not proper [ 禮],”74 By and large, however, Aleni’s Sizijingwen attempts to adhere to the hortatory expectations of literati zishu primers, and for that reason the Christian community, at least, was comfortable with its use as a primer. 71 Aleni, Tianzhu shengjiao sizijingwen, 6 recto & verso. 72 Aleni’s Sizijingwen not only rendered an unconventional history from the Chinese

point of view, but may have also included details later (or concurrently) rejected by the Church. For example, in his discussion of Moses, Aleni writes that he, “was resurrected one thousand – five hundred and fifty [years later]” 復至一千, 五百五十. Aleni, Tianzhu shengjiao sizijingwen, 7 verso. This passage was revised, however, in the Hong Kong recension of the Sizijingwen to suggest that Christ lived 1,492 years after Moses’ death, rather than that Moses was “resurrected.” Another interpretation of this line is that Aleni is referring to Christ’s transfiguration (cf. Matthew 17:1-13), wherein Christ is transfigured, appearing with Moses and Elijah. In the end, Aleni is unclear about what he means by 復 in this couplet. 73 See Anthony E. Clark 柯學斌, “Jinshi chuqi Zhongguo minju dui xifang xuanjiao shengxianghua de fanying, 僅是初期中國民聚對西方宣教聖象畫的反應 (Initial Responses to Christian Cross Imagery in China),” Guoji Hanxue 國際漢學, Beijing Foreign Studies University 北京外國語大學, No. 12 (2017): 37–45. 74 Quoted in Criveller, Preaching Christ in Late Ming China, 385.

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Moreover, the general nature of Aleni’s exhortative writing is not like Confucian primers, for books were from his perspective best used for conversion and catechetical instruction rather than to prepare young boys for the official exams. The closing couplets of his Sizijingwen, for example, are quite suffused with Christian meaning: 生為聖人, 所獲平安。 Those who are holy persons in life—will obtain eternal peace. 死同天神, 永享真福。 Those who die like angels—will enjoy an eternity of true blessings. 萬世常生, 豈不大樂。 Living forever, age after age—how could this not be great felicity? 若不奉教, 忘天主恩。 If you do not accept the Faith—and forget the Lord of Heaven’s favors. 生是惡人, 死墜地獄。 Those who are evil persons in life—will descend into hell when they die. 道之大原, 實出於主。 The great origin of the truth—actually comes from the Lord. 讀了神書, 明了經旨。 Having read spiritual writings—you will understand the meaning of the scriptures. 得大根本, 斯真學問。 Having obtained the great essentials—this is being truly learned. 一非不間, 萬德全渾。 Maintaining at all times—that you are entirely virtuous. 人勉之哉, 人勉之哉。 People, exert yourselves to this!—People, exert yourselves to this!75

75 Aleni, Tianzhu shengjiao sizijingwen, 28 verso – 29 verso. Eugenio Menegon notes that Aleni’s booklet ends with eight summary admonitions, which include “the grace of creation,” “the grace of the Incarnation,” “the grace of the passion,” and so forth. See Eugenio Menegon, Un Solo Cielo, Giulio Aleni, S.J. (1582–1649): Geographia, Arte, Scienza, Religione dall’Europa alla Cina (Brescia: Grafo, 1994), 162. Criveller notes that these “eight admonitions are not in the edition I consulted.” Criveller, Preaching Christ in Late Ming China, 259, n. 11. I have likewise been unable to locate these admonitions; they do not appear in the Vatican or Hong Kong editions.

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The theme of Christian conversion and instruction is unequivocal in this passage; the choice of heaven or hell is cogently, even resolutely, expressed. Gianni Criveller describes this Jesuit zishu well: “What is Confucian here is only the external form, while the content is totally alien to traditional education and belongs totally to the new religion of the Lord of Heaven.”76 While a modicum of the Sizijingwen’s content overlaps with Confucian sentiments, Criveller is correct; the text looked quite Chinese but diverged in substance.

An Assembly of Voices: Protestant Primers in the Footsteps of Aleni When Giulio Aleni imitated the structure of Wang Yinglin’s Sanzijing in order to Christianize the Confucian genre of children’s primers, he popularized a new form of Chinese Christian writing that reached beyond the realm of Roman Catholic catechetics. Aleni’s 1642 Sizijingwen inspired an energetic Protestant response to produce similar character classics, though these later primers departed widely in tenor and doctrine. Aleni added an additional character to each line, transforming the Three Character Classic into a Four Character Classic, while the Protestant primers that followed retained the more common three-character line tradition. By the end of the Qing dynasty there were around thirty such Christian character primers that were almost entirely written and published by Protestants. As Zheng Yangwen notes, Protestant writers continued to publish in the tradition “begun by the Jesuits, and left us a large repertoire of works.”77 Despite the ways in which Protestant primers followed in Aleni’s footsteps, there are several areas in which these later character classics more closely conformed to Wang’s Confucian precedent. And it hardly needs to be said that the Protestant primers also express Christian beliefs according to post-Reformation theology. Two examples of Protestant Three Character Classics effectively illustrate how these versions of Christianized children’s primers reflect different sensibilities. The first example is the 1823 Sanzijing produced by the London Missionary Society bible translator, Walter Henry Medhurst (1822–1885), and the

76 Criveller, Preaching Christ in Late Ming China, 257. 77 Zheng Yangwen, Ten Lessons in Modern Chinese Christianity (Manchester: Manchester

University Press, 2018), 55.

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second is the 1853 Sanzijing written by the two Taiping writers, Lu Xianba 盧賢拔 (fl. 1851) and He Zhenchuan 何震川 (fl. 1851–1854). Some passages of the Taiping Sanzijing , such as the descriptions of Hong Xiuquan’s 洪秀全 (1814–1864) visions and his role as the second son of God the Father, are radically unlike other Protestant primers, but it still serves to show how Aleni’s Sizijingwen influenced Christianized character classics that followed his own.78 The English Congregationalist, Walter Medhurst, first arrived at Southeast Asia in 1819, where he worked as a missionary translator among the Chinese diaspora. As a Congregationalist, his theological sensibilities largely aligned with John Calvin (1509–1564), and thus Calvin’s beliefs regarding human nature punctuate the lines of Medhurst’s Sanzijing . He is most known for his collaborative translations of the bible into Chinese, working mostly with the German Lutheran China missionary, Karl Gützlaff (1803–1851), a project that was complete in 1847.79 This 1847 Chinese bible was the edition used by the Taiping rebels, though the Taiping redaction revised the biblical text to better conform to their own doctrine and ecclesiology. Medhurst’s Chinese teacher was a classically trained literatus named Wang Tao 王韜 (1828–1897), and like most other missionaries, including Giulio Aleni, his translations and other Chinese writings, such as his Sanzijing , were imbued with the textual flavor of the Confucian tradition. Scholars have almost unanimously agreed that, as Jost Oliver Zetzsche has put it, “Wang’s decisive influence on the style” of such missionary works as the Chinese translation of the bible and other tracts helped to render the final recensions of these works more accessible and better

78 On the topic of whether Taiping beliefs can be described as Christian, Daniel Bays writes: “Scholars will debate whether the Taipings had an ideology that was essentially Christian or not. Probably most would say definitely not, but I think we should consider the formal Taiping articles of faith to be Christian enough.” Daniel H. Bays, A New History of Christianity in China (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012), 54. 79 Bays, A New History of Christianity in China, 49. As an aside, Medhurst’s son, Sir Walter Henry Medhurst (1822–1885), was British Consul in Hankou and Shanghai, and was, unlike his father, more involved in Sino-British diplomacy than the missionary enterprise. See R. G. Tiedemann, ed., Handbook of Chinese Christianity, Volume Two: 1800–Present (Leiden: Brill, 2010), 312.

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suited to Chinese readers.80 Chlöe Starr notes that Medhurst was among those, such as William Milne (1785–1822), who “valued acceptability in Chinese and Chinese idiom over a more literal rendering,” an approach easily detected in Medhurst’s Chinese children’s primer.81 Despite efforts to render Christian ideas into accessible and elegant Chinese, Medhurst, like the Jesuit missionaries before him, struggled to settle upon appropriate Chinese characters for Christian concepts and names, especially a Chinese name for “God.” The Protestant pioneers of bible translation, Robert Morrison (1782–1834) and Joshua Marshman (1768–1837), chose to translate “God” using the Chinese character Shen, 神 while Medhurst settled on the term Shangdi 上帝.82 Curiously, when Medhurst drafted the second version of his Sanzijing into Chinese; he chose to use Morrison and Marshman’s Shen, rather than Shangdi, and I suspect that this was due to the fact that Shangdi would occupy two of three of the character spaces, whereas Shen only occupies one of three (Fig. 1.5). I also suspect that Aleni used four, rather than three, character lines in his Sizijingwen because the Catholic word for God is Tianzhu, which occupies two of the four character spaces per line. In both of these choices, by shortening the name used for God in one case, and lengthening the number of characters per line in another, more could be conveyed in each line of their respective primers. One line taken from each of these two primers serves to illustrate this point. The opening four characters in Aleni’s Sizijingwen read, Quanneng Tianzhu, 全能天主 or “The Lord of Heaven is omnipotent,” and the second page of Medhurst’s Sanzijing contains a three-character line that states, Shen wei ling, 神為靈 or “God is [pure] spirit.”83 In both of these examples, it is clear that both the Chinese term used for “God” and the choice of character length per line figured heavily in what could be expressed per couplet.

80 Jost Oliver Zetzsche, The Bible in China: The History of the Union Version or the Culmination of Protestant Missionary Bible Translation in China (Sankt Augustine, Germany: Monumenta Serica Institute, 1998), 92. 81 Chlöe Starr, Chinese Theology: Text and Context (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016), 257. 82 Monica Romano, “Translating and Transplanting the Word God in Chinese,” in ed. Zheng Yangwen, Sinicizing Christianity (Leiden: Brill, 2017), 174. 83 Aleni, Tianzhu shengjiao sizijingwen, 2 recto, and Medhurst, Sanzijing , 2 verso, respectively.

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Fig. 1.5 The opening page of Walter Henry Medhurt’s 1832 recension of his Sanzijing 三字經 (Three Character Classic), which uses the Chinese term 神 for “God.” Malacca, 1832. Facsimile, Whitworth University “China Christian Missions Collection”

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The major differences, however, between Aleni’s character primer and the one later produced by Walter Medhurst are predictably theological and ecclesiological. While Aleni includes much in his Sizijingwen about the foundation and nature of the Christian Church, Medhurst showed almost no concern for the history and structure of the Church, focusing largely on soteriology and the total depravity of human nature. In fact, even when discussing the bible, Aleni’s primer shows more interest in historical matters than theological ones. For example, when discussing the creation Aleni devotes more than twenty-seven couplets to the topic, outlining what was created on each of the six days. He even manages to insert a description of the Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory between the first and second days of creation. Aleni writes: 第一日生, 絕頂高天。 On the first day of creation—He divided the peak of high heaven. 無數天神, 泥沌水地。 There were countless angels—and from the inchoate mass, water and earth. 地經地緯, 俱九萬里。 The longitude and latitude of the earth—extended through the myriad expanse. 地之中心, 有四大穴。 In the center of the earth—there were four great caverns. 一曰永苦, 二曰煉獄。 The first is called eternal suffering [hell]—and the second is called the prison of refinement [purgatory]. 三曰孩所, 四曰靈薄。 The third is called the limbo of unborn children—and the fourth is called the limbo [of the Fathers]. 第二日生, 九重諸天。 On the second day of creation—He made the nine celestial spheres and all of the heavens.84 Medhurst, in contrast, passes over the creation on a single page before elucidating the nature of God at great length. Medhurst writes:

84 Aleni, Tianzhu shengjiao sizijingwen, 3 recto – 3 verso.

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化天地, 造萬有。 [He] created heaven and earth—and made everything that exists.85 及造人, 真神主。 [He] then created man—the true Lord God. 無不在, 無不知。 [He] is all places—and [He] is all knowing. 無不能, 無不理。 [He] is all capable—and [He] is in control of all.86 This Protestant version of the Sanzijing begins, like Aleni’s, with the creation and the nature of God, but the number of couplets devoted to these points is considerably different, underscoring the divergent, and sometimes opposing, interests of Roman Catholic and Protestant missionaries. Perhaps the most noticeable distinction between Aleni’s Catholic character primer and Medhurst’s Protestant one is how human nature and salvation are discussed. Aleni dedicates very little of his primer to the question of human nature after the fall, confining himself to the most basic explanation. 逐出地堂, 是以有死。 [God] cast them out of paradise—and thus there is death. 因有原罪, 延及子孫。 Accordingly there is original sin—that extends through all human descendants.87 Because of their fall in the Garden of Eden, the descendants of Adam and Eve inherited original sin; little more is said about the corrupted nature of human beings than this in Aleni’s primer. Medurst’s Sanzijing , keeping in line with Calvin’s doctrine of total depravity, has much more to say about nature after the fall. 85 Based on Medhurst’s use of the character 化 one could render the first line as,

“Transforming heaven and earth,” though in this case it appears more accurate to translate 化 here as “create.” 86 Walter Medhurst 麥都思, Sanzijing 三字經 (Three Character Classic) (Malacca, 1832), 1 recto. This 1832 edition is the first one in which Medhurst used the character 神 for “God.” 87 Aleni, Tianzhu shengjiao sizijingwen, 5 verso.

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After committing eight couplets to the account of Adam and Eve’s transition from a blissful life in the Garden to succumbing to the Demon’s temptation and consuming the one forbidden fruit in paradise, Medhurst asserts that: 此一錯, 壞人性。 This single mistake—ruined human nature. 皆為惡, 無為聖。 [Making it] entirely evil—and nothing [in it] is holy. 始祖惡, 生後代。 The evil of the first ancestors [Adam and Eve]—is transmitted through birth to later generations.88 Medhurt’s Congregationalist education exposed him to Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion, which affirms that, “your life is wickedly corrupt,” and “you cannot behold him unless you acknowledge him to be the fountainhead and source of every good,” a view that does not align well with Aleni’s Catholic understanding of human nature’s sanctification by being created imago Dei, in the image of God.89 In a later pair of couplets, Medhurst writes that, “Not a single man – is entirely without transgression,” 無一人, 總無愆 and “With selfish appetites – he is entirely filled” 以私慾, 俱充滿.90 Nowhere in Aleni’s Sizijingwen are such assertions made. The question of human salvation is also expressed in quite different terms in the two primers. Aleni confines his discussion of salvation to a brief account of the final judgment as described in the book of Revelation. 幽微暗昧, 一一顯露。 Remote and hidden [sins]—will one after the other be revealed. 億兆人前, 真可羞惡。 Before countless people—[one will] truly be ashamed of his evil deeds. 天神奉命, 陟降善惡。 88 Medhurst, Sanzijing , 3 recto – 3 verso. 89 John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, Vol. 1, trans. Ford Lewis Battles

(Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1975), 42. 90 Medhurst, Sanzijing , 4 recto.

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The angels shall receive the command—to promote and demote the good and evil. 地裂獄開, 震懼危恐。 The earth shall split apart and open hell—and terror and dread will menace. 邪魔惡人, 墜受永殃。 Pernicious demons and evil men—shall be received down into eternal affliction. 審判已畢, 主與諸聖。 Once the Judgment is complete—the Lord and all the holy. 榮升天堂, 永享真福。 Will gloriously ascend into heaven—to receive true eternal blessings.91 Aleni’s succinct description of salvation is largely hortatory, merely informing his readers that they will eventually be judged for their actions and then separated into heaven or hell. Medhurst’s primer offers a more theological account of Christian salvation, one that occupies several pages of text. Medhurst writes: 致信者, 可得球。 Those who have faith—can attain salvation. 萬罪人, 古而今。 The myriad sinful men—from the past to the present. 必悔罪, 信福音。 Who repent of their sins—and believe in the gospel. 凡信者, 全無疑。 Believing entirely—without any doubt. 可得球, 無須懼。 Can attain salvation—without fear.92

91 Aleni, Tianzhu shengjiao sizijingwen, 26 recto – 26 verso. Also see Revelation. 20:11-

15. 92 Medhurst, Sanzijing , 7 verso – 8 recto.

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The emphasis in Medhurst’s Sanzijing is laid upon salvation through faith in Jesus and the gospel rather than the hortative strategy employed in Aleni’s Sizijingwen. Even while imitating Aleni’s use of the Confucian qimeng genre to impart Christian teaching, Medhurt’s denominational views led him to produce a Protestant iteration of his Christianized character primer. Aleni’s first use of the qimeng genre to produce his Sizijingwen inspired a remarkable sequence of Christian imitations that passed through the presses of Western Protestant missions, eventually returning to a native Chinese press operated by the Taiping followers. Aleni inspired Medhurst to create a Christian primer, and Medhurst’s Sanzijing in turn inspired the Taiping Sanzijing published in 1853 (Fig. 1.6). Yao Dadui notes that one of the differences between the Taiping character primer and the ones produced by Giulio Aleni and Walter Medhurst is that it was

Fig. 1.6 The opening page of Lu Xianba and He Zhenchuan’s Taiping Sanzijing 三字經 (Three Character Classic). The Chinese term 皇上帝, typically used by the Taipings for “God,” is seen in the first couplet. Nanjing 南京: Taiping Tianguo 太平天國, 1853. Facsimile, Whitworth University “China Christian Missions Collection”

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as political as it was religious. Yao has argued that the Taiping primer was “neither a Protestant work nor merely a product of traditional Chinese sources,” but was rather, “a new type of propaganda text that draws from both Chinese sources and Protestant writings.”93 While this is largely true, the Taiping Sanzijing is as catechetical and doctrinal as its Roman Catholic and Protestant antecedents. Certainly, Wang Yinglin’s Sanzijing purported to both teach children how to read and to inculcate its readers with Confucian orthodoxy. Aleni and Medhurst’s primers maintained the same goals, as did the Taiping character primer, though the Taiping Sanzijing also delivered an additional message to align its readers with Taiping political rule. In Taiping-controlled areas of China, children were only allowed to read Taiping-approved works such as the Taiping Sanzijing .94 The Christian purpose of the Taiping primer, however, emerges strongly when comparing its contents to the Confucian one by Wang Yinglin. Wang’s Sanzijing is divided into five main themes, such as Confucian ontology, an excursus of China’s imperial history before the Song, a description of the aims of Confucian learning, and an exhortation to diligence in study. The Taiping Sanzijing is divided into seven principal themes that are almost entirely intended to convey the central beliefs of Taiping Christianity. These sections focus on such topics as the Genesis account of creation, an account of Moses imparting the Ten Commandments, an explanation of Jesus’ role in human redemption, and then accounts of Hong Xiuquan’s dream that revealed him to be the younger brother of Jesus and second Messiah of the world. Two matters included in the Taiping primer separate it from the fundamental dogmas expressed in the Aleni and Medhurst primers: the definition of original sin and the belief in Hong Xiuquan’s divinity. According to all other Christian character primers, original sin is a consequence of the fall in the Garden, but according to the Taiping Sanzijing original sin derives from the moment that the first emperor of the Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE), adopted the title Huangdi, 皇帝 which is presently translated into English as “emperor.” More accurately, the term Huangdi means “august deity,” and since the term Di, 帝 or Shangdi, 上帝 had become the common Protestant word for “God,” the Taipings

93 Yao Dadui, “The Power of Persuasion in Propaganda: The Taiping Three Characters Classic,” Frontiers of History in China, Vol. 3, No. 2 (2018): 195. 94 Yao, “The Power of Persuasion in Propaganda,” 194.

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argued that, as Yao Dadui puts it, “Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor of China, usurped the place of God by using the name ‘Di’ 帝 (Emperor or God) as an exclusive designation,” and thus “bedeviled China for the next two thousand years.”95 This nomenclatural usurpation was, according to the Taiping character primer, the true original sin that had corrupted humanity. The Taiping Sanzijing thus asserts that: 魔害人, 不成樣。 The devil has injured mankind—in an outrageous manner. 上帝怒, 遣己子。 [So] the Lord on High was angry—and sent His Son. 命下凡, 先讀史。 Commanding Him to descend to the world—having already read the histories.96 Because of this original sin of the First Emperor during the Qin conquest, God the Father sent His Son, Jesus, to redeem humanity, though the Taiping primer takes care to note that Jesus was well read in history before His descent to earth. The second divergence from other Christian character primers, such as the ones by Aleni and Medhurst, was the Taiping description of Hong Xiuquan’s blood relation to Jesus, who is referred to as the “first-born Son” in Lu Xianba and He Zhenquan’s Sanzijing . Of the first-born Son, Lu and He write: 皇上帝, 憫世人。 The Great lord on High—pitied humanity. 遣太子, 降凡塵。 [And] sent His first-born Son—to descend to the earth. 曰耶穌, 球世主。 His name is Jesus—the savior of the world.97

95 Yao, “The Power of Persuasion in Propaganda,” 202. 96 Lu Xianba 盧賢拔 and He Zhenchuan 何震川, Sanzijing 三字經 (Three Character

Classic) (Nanjing 南京: Taiping Tianguo 太平天國, 1853), 12 verso. 97 Lu and He, Sanzijing , 8 recto.

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Walter Medhurst procured a copy of the Taiping Sanzijing after its publication in 1853, and both the unusual definition of original sin, and the claimed blood relation and shared divinity of Jesus and Hong Xiuquan must have seemed outlandish to the English missionary. Despite this, there was a connection between Medhurst and Hong; Medhurt’s disciple Liang Fa 梁發 (1789–1855) had authored the Christian tract, Quanshi liangyan 勸世良言 (Good Words to Admonish the Age), which was the booklet that motivated Hong Xiuquan to convert to Christianity.98 It is thus not surprising that much of the Taiping Sanzijing echoes the structure and content of Mendhurst’s primer, but to the Jesuit missionaries still using Aleni’s primer as a catechetical aid in the late nineteenth century, Medhurt’s primer, and especially the Taiping primer, had strayed far from the historical and doctrinal message imparted in the Sizijingwen.

Conclusion There can be little doubt that the prodigious literary output of such eminent Jesuit missionaries as Matteo Ricci, Giulio Aleni, Phillipe Couplet (1623–1693), Ferdinand Verbiest, and Johann Adam Schall von Bell was impressive to China’s late imperial intellectual community. Jesuit print culture certainly created a standard for later missionary publications, both Catholic and Protestant, but their printed works did not escape the criticism of some Chinese scholar-officials who wondered if the religious assertions of those works could, or should, be grafted onto China’s already entrenched value system and religious traditions.99 It nonetheless remains true that the preponderance of Jesuit publications in China were not along secular lines; Giulio Aleni’s publication record clearly illustrates this. Aleni’s Sizijingwen serves as an example of how late imperial Jesuit strategies of cultural accommodation skillfully appropriated entrenched Confucian didactic print culture, such as children’s primers, to promote the religious work of their mission. On the final woodblock page of his Tianzhu jiansheng yinyi, published while living in Fuzhou, Aleni expressed in quite personal terms the basis for his writing: “My 98 See Jean-Pierre Charbonnier, Histoire. Des Chrétiens de Chine (Paris: Les Indes Savantes, 2002), 225–227; George Hunter McNeur, Liang A-Fa: China’s First Preacher, 1789–1855 (Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2013). 99 Perhaps the more secular and scientific works produced by these early Jesuits are more readily acknowledged in China today because they are necessarily less “problematic.”

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Lord Jesus can be seen and heard… And thus by the light of reason and faith one will not be beguiled.”100 In the end, the print culture promoted by Aleni was an altogether Jesuit enterprise, manifestly motivated by the missionary aims of the Society, though not without the fortuitous result of cultural and intellectual influences between China and the West that spanned far beyond the domain of religious exchange. Sophie Ling-chia Wei refers to this exchange as “scholarly friendship,” albeit an occasionally strained friendship as Confucian literati struggled to make sense of the Jesuit reframing of such long-revered genres of Chinese pedagogy as children’s primers.101 Describing how some Confucian literati responded to such reframing as Aleni’s Sizijingwen, Gianni Criveller notes that, “Those who accepted Christianity had to overcome numerous cultural obstacles and theological problems, those who opposed it had many arguments with which to challenge the new religion.”102 One thing is clear about Aleni’s literary contribution to China’s late imperial print culture; the religious message of the catechism he authored was just as reframed as the Confucian genre he adapted.

100 Giulio Aleni 艾儒略, Tianzhu jiangsheng yinyi 天主降生引義 (Introduction to the Incarnation) (Fujian, 1635), 77 verso. 101 Sophie Ling-chia Wei, “Jesuit and Protestant Use of Vernacular Chinese in Accommodation Policy,” in Encounters between Jesuits and Protestants in Asia and the Americas, eds. Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra, et al. (Leiden: Brill, 2018), 81. 102 Gianni Criveller, “The Dialogues of Giulio Aleni on Christ and China: The Mystery of the Plan of Salvation and China,” in Missionary Approaches and Linguistics in Mainland China and Taiwan, ed. Ku Wei-ying (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2001), 181.

CHAPTER 2

Translation of Wang Yinglin’s Sanzijing 三字 經 (Three Character Classic)

Abstract This chapter provides a new English translation of the celebrated Confucian children’s primer, the Three Character Classic (Sanzijing 三字經), published in the thirteenth century by Wang Yinglin. Wang’s children’s primer not only served to teach children how to read, but it sought to imbue children with the hallowed tenets of Neo-Confucianism. This work served as a child’s introduction to learning until the late nineteenth century, and was structured in easily memorized triplets of Chinese characters. Keywords Confucianism · Children’s education · Primers · Literacy

I have translated here the entire text of the Sanzijing , “Three Character Classic,” and located it immediately before my translation of Giulio Aleni’s Sizijingwen, or “Four Character Classic” in order to facilitate convenient comparison between the two texts. There are extant translations of this work already in print, several of which include prolegomena and are abundantly annotated, though they are rather dated and in need of a more recent reading. To avoid redundancy I provide here only a few annotations that shall be helpful as one compares Wang’s traditional Confucian primer to Aleni’s Roman Catholic emulation. I have mainly consulted two editions while translating the Sanzijing : Angelo Zottoli’s © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 A. E. Clark, A Chinese Jesuit Catechism, Christianity in Modern China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-9624-7_2

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Latin translation in the second volume of his Cursus litteraturae sinicæ: neo-missionariis accommodates (Course in Chinese literature accommodated to new missionaries),1 and the convenient English translation of the work by Herbert A. Giles. Zottoli’s translation is particularly relevant to this study of Aleni’s use of the Sanzijing as the model for his own Jesuit primer because Zottoli was also a Jesuit who immersed himself in China’s classical texts to locate intersections between the canonical works of Chinese literati and the Christian message he wished to convey. Published between 1879 and 1882, Zotolli’s five-volume, 4,000-page work was written to help Roman Catholic missionaries “progress from illiteracy to fluency, mastering Chinese composition and rhetoric in just five years.”2 The Cursus litteraturae sinicæ includes the meaning of each character in the Sanzijing , as well as a Latin translation and annotation of the entire primer.

Translation 人之初, 性本善。 People at birth—are naturally good. 性相近, 習相遠。 Their natures are similar—their habits become different. 苟不教, 性乃遷。 If their education is neglected—their nature shall deteriorate. 教之道, 貴以專。 The [correct] way to teach—is to place importance upon concentration. 昔孟母, 擇鄰處。 In former times, the mother of Mencius—chose a neighborhood [to live in]. 子不學, 斷機杼。 1 Angelo Zottoli, SJ, Cursus litteraturae sinicæ: neo-missionariis accommodates, volumen secundum pro inferiori classe (Course in Chinese literature: accommodated to new missionaries, volume two for the lower class) (Shanghai: Xujiahui/Tushanwan, 1879), 88–105. 2 Nicholas Morrow Williams, “Angelo Zottoli’s Cursus Litteraturæ Sinicæ as Propaedeutic to Chinese Classical Tradition,” Monumenta Serica: Journal of Oriental Studies, Vol. 63, No. 2 (December 2015): 327. As Williams describes Zottoli’s vision for his Cursus, “The course was designed to take five years, i.e., one year per volume.” Williams, “Angelo Zottoli’s Cursus Litteraturæ Sinicæ,” 332.

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When her son neglected his studies—she broke the shuttle from her loom.3 竇燕山, 有義方。 Dou Yanshan—had the proper method. 教五子, 名俱揚。 He taught his taught five sons—and they raised the family’s reputation.4 養不教, 父之過。 To [merely] feed without teaching—is a father’s mistake. 教不嚴, 師之惰。 To teach without rigor—is the teacher’s laziness. 子不學, 非所宜。 If a child does not study—it is improper. 幼不學, 老何為。 If he does not study while young—how will he behave when old? 玉不琢, 不成器。 Jade that has not been polished—cannot be used. 人不學, 不知義。 A person who has not studied—cannot know righteousness. 為人子, 方少時。 Being a human child—during his youth. 親師友, 習禮儀。

3 According to a famous passage in Liu Xiang’s 劉向 (79–8 BCE) Lienüzhuan 列女 傳 (Biographies of Women), Mencius’ mother moved her residence three times to avoid bad influences on her son. This short account, traditionally referred to as the “Mother of Mencius moves thrice” 孟母三遷 passage of Liu’s biographical compendium, recounts how Mencius’ mother first moved near to a cemetery, where her son played at being an undertaker, then near a marketplace, where he played at being a merchant, and finally she settled by a school, where he finally devoted himself to learning. After young Mencius one day returned home, apparently bored from his studies, his mother remonstrated to her son by ruining a piece of cloth she was weaving to illustrate the effect of lack of diligence in studies. For a complete translation of this passage, see Pauline C. Yu, “Biographies of Women,” in Images of Women in Chinese Thought and Culture: Writings from the PreQin Period through the Song Dynasty, ed. Robin R. Wang (Indianapolis: Hackett, 2003), 149–155. A woodblock-print image of Mencius’ mother cutting her loom is located on pages 152–153. 4 Dou Yanshan (AKA, Dou Yujun 竇禹鈞, tenth century) was famous for establishing public classrooms in China that produced several renown scholars. All five of his sons earned the highest honors in the civil examinations. See Herbert A. Giles, A Chinese Biographical Dictionary (Taipei: Ch’eng Wen, 1975), 747.

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He should engage teachers and friends—and practice ritual and etiquette. 香九齡, 能溫席。 By nine years old, Huang Xiang—could warm [his parent’s] mat.5 孝於親, 所當執。 Filial piety toward one’s parents—is proper to practice. 融四歲, 能讓梨。 Kong Rong, at the age of four—could yield the [largest] pears [to his brothers].6 弟於長, 宜先知。 To behave as a younger brother toward elders—is properly the first thing to understand. 首孝弟, 次見聞。 Begin with filial piety and brotherliness—and then observe and listen. 知某數, 識某文。 Learn to count—and learn to read. 一而十, 十而百。 One to ten—ten to a hundred. 百而千, 千而萬。 A hundred to a thousand—a thousand to ten thousand. 三才者, 天地人。 The three forces—are heaven, earth, and man. 三光者, 日月星。 The three luminaries—are sun, moon, and stars. 三綱者, 君臣義。 The three principles—are the principles of the ruler, the minister, and one’s duty. 父子親, 夫婦順。 [There is] affection between father and son—and harmony between husband and wife. 5 Huang Xiang 黃香 (d. 122) is known as one of the twenty-four paragons of filial piety. Legends of his devotion to his parents recount that he would fan his parents’ pillows during the warm months to cool them off, and use his own body to warm their bed mat during the cold months so that it would be comfortable when they went to sleep. Giles, Chinese Biographical Dictionary, 334. 6 Kong Rong 孔融 (d. 208) was a descendant of Confucius known for his precociousness. By the age of four, young Kong is said to have unselfishly yielded the largest pears to his older and younger brothers. Giles, Chinese Biographical Dictionary, 401.

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曰春夏, 曰秋冬。 We speak of spring and summer—and we speak of autumn and winter. 此四時, 運不窮。 These four seasons—revolve continuously. 曰南北, 曰西東。 We speak of north and south—and we speak of east and west. 此四方, 應乎中。 These four directions—respond to the center. 曰火水, 木金土。 We speak of water, fire—wood, metal, and earth. 此五行, 本乎數。 These Five Phases—are rooted in their enumeration. 曰仁義 , 禮智信。 We speak of benevolence, duty—ritual, wisdom, and trustworthiness. 此五常, 不容紊。 These five standards—must not be compromised. 稻粱菽, 麥黍稷。 Rice, fine millet, beans—wheat, broomcorn millet, and common millet. 此六穀, 人所食。 These six grains—are the ones that people eat. 馬牛羊, 雞犬豕。 Horse, ox, sheep—chicken, dog, and pig. 此六畜, 人所飼。 These six [domesticated] animals—are those which people raise. 曰喜怒, 曰哀懼。 We speak of joy and anger—and we speak of grief and fear. 愛惡欲, 七情具。 Love, hate, and desire—are the seven passions. 匏土革, 木石金。 Gourd, clay, hide—wood, stone, and metal. 與絲竹, 乃八音。 Silk, and bamboo—produce the eight musical sounds.7 7 These eight materials are used to make traditional musical instruments. For a concise history of Chinese instruments, see Alan R. Thrasher, Chinese Musical Instruments (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000).

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高曾祖, 父而身。 Great-great-grandfather, great-grandfather, grandfather—father and self. 身而子。子而孫。 Self and child—child and grandchild. 自子孫, 至玄曾。 From child and grandchild—on to great-grandchild and great-greatgrandchild. 乃九族, 人之倫。 The nine generations—are what make up human relations. 父子恩, 夫婦從。 Kindness between father and son—and harmony between husband and wife. 兄則友, 弟則恭。 An older brother is thus friendly—and a younger brother is thus respectful. 長幼序, 友與朋。 The old and young know their place—and are affable as friends. 君則敬, 臣則忠。 Rulers are thus respected—and ministers are thus loyal. 此十義, 人所同。 These are the ten obligations—that are common to all. 凡訓蒙, 須講究。 When teaching the ignorant—there should be explanation and investigation. 詳訓詁, 名句讀。 Be attentive to the [textual] commentaries when instructing—and when reading according to the nominal sentences.8 為學者, 必有初。 Those who study—must have a beginning. 小學終, 至四書。

8 Chinese texts printed as recently as the early twentieth century did not bother with any form of punctuation, and thus parsing out the sentences and paragraphs was difficult. Nominal sentences (名句) have been created in much the same way that the JudeoChristian sacred scripture has been divided into chapter and verse for convenience.

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Once the fundamental studies are finished—one progresses to the Four Books.9 論語者, 二十篇。 There is The Analects —in twenty chapters. 群弟子, 記善言。 [Wherein] the various disciples—have recorded the beneficial sayings [of Confucius]. 孟子者, 七篇止。 There is The Mencius —in seven chapters. 講道德, 說仁義。 Which speaks of the way of virtue—and explains humaneness and duty. 作中庸, 乃孔伋。 The author of The Doctrine of the Mean—was Kong Ji.10 中不偏, 庸不易。 The mean is not partial—and its application does not change. 作大學, 乃曾子。 The author of The Great Learning —was Zengzi.11 自修齊, 至平治。 Self-cultivation and orderliness—precipitate peaceful governance. 孝經通, 四書熟。 Once the Classic of Filial Piety is mastered—and the Four Books are finished. 如六經, 始可讀。 The Six Classics—can be started.12 詩書易, 禮春秋。 9 The Four Books, or Sishu 四書, consists of the Song dynasty combination of the Lunyu

論語 (The Analects), the Daxue 大學 (The Great Learning), the Zhongyong 中庸 (The Doctrine of the Mean), and the Mengzi 孟子 (The Mencius).

10 Kong Ji (b. ca. 500 BCE, was also called Zi Si 子思) was a grandson of Confucius who was famous for his moral integrity and savvy in the craft of statesmanship. Giles, Chinese Biographical Dictionary, 397–398. In alternative editions of the《三字經》 , the line “乃孔伋” reads “子思筆.” 11 Zengzi (also called Ziyu 子輿, 505–535 BCE) was one of Confucius students. 12 The Six Classics, or Liujing 六經, consist of the Yijing 易經 (The Book of Changes),

the Shangshu 尚書 (The Book of Documents), the Shijing 詩經 (The Book of Poetry), the Liji 禮記 (The Book of Rites), the Zuozhuan 左傳 (Zuo Commentary), and the now lost Yueji 樂記 (Record of Music). The first five of these works are known as the Five Classics, or Wujing 五經. See Michael Nylan, The Five “Confucian” Classics.

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The Book of Poetry, The Book of Documents, The Book of Changes —The Book of Rites and the Spring and Autumn Annals. 號六經, 當講求。 What are called the Six Classics—should be discussed and analyzed. 有連山, 有歸藏。 There is The Linking Mountains —and there is The Return to the Storehouse.13 有周易, 三易詳。 There is the Zhou Changes —and such are the three that elucidate the Book of Changes. 有典謨, 有訓誥。 There are regulations and practices—and there are instructions and announcements. 有誓命, 書之奧。 There are oaths and mandates—such is the profundity of the Book of Documents. 我周公, 作周禮。 Our Duke of Zhou—wrote the Rites of the Zhou. 著六官, 存治體。 In which he established the six classes of officials—thus giving form to governance and ritual. 大小戴, 注禮記。 The Elder and the Younger Dai—wrote commentaries on the Book of Rites.14 述聖言, 禮樂備。 They recounted the sage’s words—and set the rites and music into place. 曰國風, 曰雅頌。 We speak of the Airs of the States—we speak of the Minor and Major Odes. 號四詩, 當諷詠。

13 The Linking Mountains, or Lianshan 連山, was a Zhou dynasty work on prognostication, and The Return to the Storehouse, or Guicang 歸藏, was likewise a prognostication text from the same era that now only exists in fragments. 14 The Elder Dai was Dai De 戴德, and the Younger Dai was Dai Sheng 戴聖, both of whom lived during the end of the second century BCE. The commentary authored by the Elder Dai has been lost. Giles, Chinese Biographical Dictionary, 707.

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The four sections of the Book of Poetry—should be recurrently intoned. 詩既亡, 春秋作。 After the Book of Poetry was complete—the Spring and Autumn Annals was produced. 寓褒貶, 別善惡。 These Annals contain praise and blame—to distinguish between good and evil. 三傳者, 有公羊。 Of the three commentaries [on the Spring and Autumn Annals ]— there is that of Gongyang.15 有左氏, 有彀梁。 There is that of Mr. Zuo—and there is that of Guliang. 經既明, 方讀子。 When the classics are understood—then read the philosophers. 撮其要, 記其事。 Determine the important points—and record the facts. 五子者, 有荀楊。 Of the five philosophers—there is Xunzi, Yangzi.16 文中子, 及老莊。 Wen Zhongzi—Laozi, and Zhuangzi.17 經子通, 讀諸史。

15 Listed here are the three canonical commentaries on the Chunqiu 春秋that were

produced by three great Zhou dynasty scholars: Gongyang Gao 公羊高 (fl. fifth century BCE), Zuo Qiuming 左丘明 (556–451 BCE), and Guliang 彀梁 (this is a surname, but may merely represent a particular school of interpretation/Western Han, 221–207 BCE). See Anne Cheng, “Ch’un ch’iu 春秋, Kung yang 公羊, Ku liang 彀梁, and Tso chuan 左 傳,” in Early Chinese Texts: A Bibliographic Guide, ed. Michael Loewe (Berkeley: Institute of East Asian Studies, 1993), 67–76. 16 Xunzi (Xun Kuang 荀況, third century BCE) was a proponent of the idea that human nature is essentially evil from birth. Giles, Chinese Biographical Dictionary, 315. Yangzi (Yang Zhu 楊朱, 440–360 BCE) was the putative founder of a school some scholars call ethical egoism. Giles, Chinese Biographical Dictionary, 899. 17 Wen Zhongzi (Wang Tong 王通, 583–616) was a political theorist whose ideas were not employed by the rulers of his time, and so he became a recluse. Giles, Chinese Biographical Dictionary, 847. Laozi (Li Er 李耳, fl. sixth century BCE) was the putative author of the Daoist classic, the Daodejing 道德經. Giles, Chinese Biographical Dictionary, 416–418. Zhuangzi (Zhuang Zhou 莊周, c. 369–c. 286 BCE) was an inheritor of the Daoist ideas expressed in the Daodejing , and the author of several droll essays preserved in the Zhuangzi 莊子. Giles, Chinese Biographical Dictionary, 202–203.

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Once the classics and the philosophers are mastered—then read the collected histories. 考世系, 知終始。 Examine the connections between eras—and know their ends and the origins. 自羲農, 至黃帝。 From Xi and Nong—to the Yellow Emperor.18 號三皇, 居上世。 These [rulers] are called the Three Sovereigns—who lived in high antiquity. 唐有虞, 號二帝。 Tang and Yu—are called the Two Sovereigns.19 相揖遜, 稱盛世。 One abdicated after the other—and their time is acclaimed as a Golden Era. 夏有禹, 商有湯。 The Xia had Yu—and the Shang had Tang.20 周文武, 稱三王。 The Duke of Zhou, Wen, and Wu—are acclaimed as the Three Kings.21 夏傳子, 家天下。

18 Fu Xi 伏羲 was the first of the five legendary emperors of China’s prehistorical era, known especially as the ruler who taught humans to hunt and domesticate animals. Giles, Chinese Biographical Dictionary, 233–234. Shen Nong 神農 was also a legendary emperor from the prehistorical period known as China’s inventor of agriculture. Giles, Chinese Biographical Dictionary, 646. The Yellow Emperor, or Huangdi 黃帝, is the legendary emperor to whom is attributed the creation of the central state and the earliest work on traditional Chinese medicine. Giles, Chinese Biographical Dictionary, 338. 19 Tang Yao 唐堯 was a legendary emperor of China’s prehistory who is attributed with taming a great flood. Giles, Chinese Biographical Dictionary, 921. Yu Shun 虞舜 was likewise a legendary person who, according to tradition, humbly yielded his position to the founder of the Xia dynasty. Giles, Chinese Biographical Dictionary, 663–664. 20 Da Yu 大禹 (“Yu the Great”) was the legendary founder of the Xia dynasty. Giles, Chinese Biographical Dictionary, 705. Cheng Tang 成湯 was who overthrew the last ruler of the Xia dynasty. Giles, Chinese Biographical Dictionary, 116. 21 The “Three Kings” enumerated here are the Duke of Zhou, King Wen, and King Wu; Wen, who is mentioned in this list, was technically not actually a king. King Wu 武王 was the first sovereign of the Zhou dynasty. Giles, Chinese Biographical Dictionary, 891.

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The Xia transmitted the throne from father to son—making all under Heaven as a family. 四百載, 遷夏社。 After four hundred years—the Xia dynasty was over. 湯伐夏, 國號商。 After Tang terminated the Xia—the kingdom [dynasty] was called the Shang. 六百載, 至紂亡。 After six hundred years—it ended with King Zhou.22 周武王, 始誅紂。 King Wu of the Zhou—assassinated King Zhou. 八百載, 最長久。 Eight hundred years long—the [Zhou was China’s] longest [dynasty]. 周轍東, 王綱墮。 When the Zhou extended eastwards—the feudal bonds degenerated. 逞干戈, 尚遊說。 Shields and spears were brandished—and wandering advisers were esteemed. 始春秋, 終戰國。 The Spring and Autumn Period began—and [the Zhou] ended with the Warring States Period. 五霸強。七雄出。 The Five Hegemons came to power—and the seven feudal states arose.23 嬴秦氏, 始兼并。 The Qin [descended from the] Ying clan—and started to unify all the states. 傳二世, 楚漢爭。

22 King Zhou Xin 紂辛 (d. 1222 BCE), the notorious last ruler of the Xia dynasty, is recorded as having been overextravagant and distracted from his courtly duties by his concubine. Giles, Chinese Biographical Dictionary, 161. 23 The Five Hegemons 五霸 of the Zhou dynasty were Duke Huan of Qi 齊桓公 (d. 643 BCE), Duke Xiang of Song 宋襄公 (d. 637 BCE), Duke Wen of Jin 晉文公 (697– 628 BCE), Duke Mu of Qin 秦穆公 (d. 621 BCE), and King Zhuang of Chu 楚莊王 (d. 591 BCE).

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The throne passed to Qin Ershi—and the states of Chu and Han contended.24 高祖興, 漢業建。 Gaozu ascended—and the Han dynasty was established.25 至孝平, 王莽篡。 At the time of Xiaoping—Wang Mang usurped the throne.26 光武興, 為東漢。 Guangwu rose—and founded the Eastern Han.27 四百年, 終於獻。 The Han lasted for four hundred years—and ended with Xian.28 魏蜀吳, 爭漢鼎。 Wei, Shu, and Wu—contended for the Han sovereignty. 號三國, 迄兩晉。 The Three Kingdoms—lasted until the two Jin Dynasties. 宋齊繼, 梁陳承。 Afterword followed the Song and the Qi—and then the Liang and Chen. 為南朝, 都金陵。

24 The Qin dynasty 秦朝, China’s first unified empire, was founded and ruled by the Ying clan 嬴, and only ruled for two generations. Qin Ershi, meaning “the second generation of the Qin,” was the second emperor of the dynasty who only reigned for three years. 25 Han Gaozu 漢高祖 is the posthumous name of the Han dynasty’s first emperor, whose name was Liu Bang 劉邦 (256–195 BCE). Giles, Chinese Biographical Dictionary, 513–515. 26 Han Xiaoping 漢孝平 is a posthumous name of Liu Jizi 劉箕子 (9 BCE–6 CE), who is most known by the name Han Pingdi 漢平帝, or “Emperor Ping of the Han.” He was made the emperor at only eight years old, and Wang Mang 王莽 (45 BCE–23 CE) served as his regent until Wang usurped the throne in 9 CE to establish his own Xin dynasty 新 潮 (9–23). Giles, Chinese Biographical Dictionary, 831–832. Also see Anthony E. Clark, Ban Gu’s History of Early China (Amherst, NY: Cambria Press, 2008), 81–83, and inter alia. 27 Han Guangwu 漢光武 is a posthumous name of Liu Xiu 劉秀 (5 BCE–57 CE), who was most famous for reestablishing the Han rule of China after the Wang Mang usurpation. Giles, Chinese Biographical Dictionary, 503–504. Traditional Chinese historiography divides the Han dynasty into the Former Han 前漢 (206–9 BCE) and Later Han 後漢 (25–220). 28 Han Xiandi 漢獻帝 is a posthumous name of Liu Xie 劉協 (181–234), who abdicated the Han rule to the warlord and poet, Cao Pi 曹丕 (187–226). Giles, Chinese Biographical Dictionary, 502.

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These are the Southern dynasties—with their capital at Jinling [Nanjing]. 北元魏, 分東西。 The Northern Dynasties are the Wei of the Yuan clan—which divided into Eastern and Western. 宇文周, 興高齊。 The Zhou dynasty of the Yuwen clan—along with the Qi of the Gao clan. 迨至隋, 一土宇。 And finally, during the Sui dynasty—the empire was unified. 不再傳, 失統緒。 But the throne was not passed on—and its succession ended. 唐高祖, 起義師。 Tang Gaozu—raised a righteous army.29 除隋亂, 創國基。 Thus ended the disorder of the Sui—and the [Tang] state was established. 二十傳, 三百載。 The throne was transmitted twenty times—within a period of three centuries. 梁滅之, 國乃改。 The Liang destroyed it—and the dynasty was changed. 梁唐晉, 及漢周。 The Liang, Tang, and Qin dynasties—and then the Han and Zhou. 稱五代, 皆有由。 These are called the Five Dynasties—and each one had its reason for emerging. 炎宋興, 受周禪。 The flame of the Song dynasty arose—and received the resignation of the Zhou. 十八傳, 南北混。 The throne was transmitted eighteen times—and the Northern and the Southern [Song] were unified. 十七史, 全在茲。 The Seventeen Dynastic Histories—contain all of this. 載治亂, 知興衰。 29 Tang Gaozu 唐高祖 is a posthumous name of Li Yuan 李淵 (566–635), who was the putative founder of the Tang dynasty. Giles, Chinese Biographical Dictionary, 477.

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They convey [examples of] governance and chaos—so that prosperity and decline can be understood. 讀史書, 考實錄。 Read the history books—and examine the veritable records. 通古今, 若親目。 Traversing the past and present—is like being an eyewitness. 口而誦, 心而惟。 Recite them orally—and consider them in your mind. 朝於斯, 夕於斯。 Do this in the morning—and do this in the evening. 昔仲尼, 師項橐。 Formerly, Zhongni [Confucius]—took Xiang Tuo for his teacher.30 古聖賢, 尚勤學。 The worthy sages of antiquity—valued diligent study. 趙中令, 讀魯論。 Chief Counselor Zhao—studied the Lu text, The Analects.31 彼既仕, 學且勤。 Even when he was already an official—he studied with diligence. 披蒲編, 削竹簡。 [Lu] split reeds and wove them together—and [Gongsun] scraped bamboo slips.32 彼無書, 且知勉。 They had no books—yet knew how to exert themselves. 頭懸梁, 錐刺股。

30 Xiang Tuo 項橐 (fl. fifth cent. BCE), according to legend, was so precocious that he was already able to offer instruction to Confucius at the age of seven. Giles, Chinese Biographical Dictionary, 278. 31 Zhao Pu 趙普 (922–992) served as the counselor of the first two emperors of the Song dynasty, and is famous for relying upon The Analects to formulate his political strategies. Giles, Chinese Biographical Dictionary, 75–76. 32 This line refers to the Han statesman, Lu Wenshu 路溫舒 (206 BCE–6 CE), who is said to have been too poor to afford books, and so he produced woven reeds to write on. For his biography see, Ban Gu 班固, Hanshu 漢書 (History of the Han), Vol. 8 (Beijing 北京: Zhonghua shuju 中華書局, 1997), 2368. It was Gongsun Hong 公孫弘 (581–521) who was a shepherd, also too poor to afford books, and copied the Confucian classics onto bamboo strips in order to keep his own copies for study. Giles, Chinese Biographical Dictionary, 394–395.

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[Sun] tied his head to the roof beam—and [Su] pricked his thigh with an awl.33 彼不教, 自勤苦。 They were autodidacts—who labored assiduously on their own. 如囊螢, 如映雪。 [Che] put fireflies in a bag—and [Sun] used the glare from the snow.34 家雖貧, 學不輟。 Even though they were from poor families—they continuously studied. 如負薪, 如掛角。 [Zhu] carried firewood—and [Li] suspended [books] from horns.35 身雖勞, 猶苦卓。 Although they labored with their bodies—they nonetheless overcame their hardships. 蘇老泉, 二十七。 Su Laoquan—at the age of twenty-seven.36 始發憤, 讀書籍。 Began to display his resolve—and studied the classics. 彼既老, 猶悔遲。

33 Sun Jing 孫敬 (fl. second cent.) was a native of Zhili 直立 who was known to have tied his hair to a beam overhead to prevent falling asleep while he was studying. He also locked the door of his study to prevent visitors from interrupting his reading. Giles, Chinese Biographical Dictionary, 688. Su Qin 蘇秦 (d. 317 BCE) was famous for pricking his leg with an awl while studying to keep himself awake. Giles, Chinese Biographical Dictionary, 677. 34 Che Yin 車引 (fl. fourth cent.) was too poor to afford candles in order to continue working into the night, so he captured fireflies and placed them in a sack to illuminate his study. Giles, San Tzu Jing, 125–126. Sun Kang 孫康 (fl. fourth cent.) was also too poor to afford candles, and thus read in the light reflected off of snow during the winter. Giles, Chinese Biographical Dictionary, 692. 35 Zhu Maichen 朱買臣 (d. 116 BCE) worked as a woodcutter to support his studies, and eventually became an official in Zhejiang. Giles, Chinese Biographical Dictionary, 183– 184. Li Mi 李宓 (b. 222) was a statesman known to have read books that he suspended from the horns of his buffalo when riding it. Giles, Chinese Biographical Dictionary, 452–453. 36 Su Laoquan 蘇老泉, better known as Su Xun 蘇洵, (1009–1066) did not show an interest in learning until he was twenty-seven and eventually became the imperial librarian. He was the father of the famous poet, Su Shi 蘇軾 (1036–1101). Giles, Chinese Biographical Dictionary, 679 and 680–682, respectively.

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Already being older—he regretted his delay. 爾小生, 宜早思。 You who are now young—should think of this early. 若梁灝, 八十二。 Then there was Liang Hao—who at eighty-two years old.37 對大廷, 魁多士。 Made his replies at the court—and earned first place among many scholars. 彼既成, 眾稱異。 After his success—everyone called him remarkable. 爾小生, 宜立志。 You who are now young—should [now] establish your resolve. 瑩八歲, 能詠詩。 When Rong was eight years old—he could compose poems.38 泌七歲, 能賦棋。 At seven years old, Bi—was able to compose a rhyme-prose essay on the board game, weiqi.39 彼穎悟, 人稱奇。 They were astute and gifted—and people called them prodigies. 爾幼學, 當效之。 You who are young students—ought to imitate them. 蔡文姬, 能辨琴。 Cai Wenji—could discern [the sounds of] a lute.40 謝道韞, 能詠吟。

37 Liang Hao 梁灝 (913–1004) distinguished himself by passing the highest level of

the civil exams (jinshi 進士) at the age of seventy-two (the Sanzijing here sets the age at eighty-two), and earning the favors of the emperor. Giles, Chinese Biographical Dictionary, 479.

38 Zu Rong 祖榮 (fl. sixth cent.) was said to have already memorized the Book of Poetry and the Book of Documents at the age of eight, and was eventually appointed to a high office in the Chinese bureaucracy. Giles, Chinese Biographical Dictionary, 773. 39 Li Bi 李泌 (722–789) was a gifted child who was able to write a complex rhymeprose fu 賦 poem on the topic of weiqi (Chinese chess/go in Japan) by the age of seven. Giles, Chinese Biographical Dictionary, 454–455. 40 Cai Wenji 蔡文姬 (Cai Yan 蔡琰, c. 170–249) was the Han dynasty daughter of a stateman who was captured and taken to a northern tribe for twelve years. She was known for her impressive skills in music. Giles, Chinese Biographical Dictionary, 753.

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Xie Daoyun—was able to intone poems.41 彼女子, 且聰敏。 They were girls—and yet they were intelligent and clever. 爾男子, 當自警。 You who are boys—should be attentive. 唐劉晏, 方七歲。 During the Tang dynasty, Liu Yan—at the age of seven years old.42 舉神童, 作正字。 Was valued as a child prodigy—and was appointed proofreader [in the imperial library]. 彼雖幼, 身己仕。 Even though he was only a child—he already served the government. 爾幼學, 勉而致。 You who are young students—should exert yourselves to your work. 有為者, 亦若是。 Those who work like them—shall succeed as they did. 犬守夜, 雞司晨。 The dog guards during the night—and the rooster announces the dawn. 苟不學, 曷為人。 If you neglect your studies—how can you become a man? 蠶吐絲, 蜂釀蜜。 The silkworm produces silk—and the bee makes honey. 人不學, 不如物。 If one does not study—he is not even an animal. 幼而學, 壯而行。 Study when young—and put [what you have learned] into practice when grown up. 上致君, 下澤民。 Be devoted to the ruler above—and benefit the people below. 揚名聲, 顯父母。 41 Xie Daoyun 謝道韞 (fl. fourth cent) was the daughter-in-law of the famous calligrapher, Wang Xizhi 王羲之 (303–361), who distinguished herself as a great poet and calligrapher. Lily Xiao Hong Lee and A.D. Stefanowska, eds., Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: Antiquity through Sui 1600 BCE–618 CE (London: Routledge, 2007), 359–362. 42 Liu Yan 劉晏 (d. 780) was a distinguished child prodigy, and in his adulthood the emperor appointed him to a high official post. Giles, Chinese Biographical Dictionary, 526–527.

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Make a name for yourself—to honor your father and mother. 光於前, 裕於後。 Caste a light on your ancestors—and provide fortune to your descendants. 人遺子, 金滿嬴。 A man bequeaths to his children—abundant wealth. 我教子, 惟一經。 I teach you children—only this one classic. 勤有功, 戲無益。 Diligence has merit—and frivolousness has no benefit. 戒之哉, 宜勉力。 Guard against it—and exert your strength.

CHAPTER 3

Translation of Giulio Aleni’s Sizijingwen 四字 經文 (Four Character Classic)

Abstract This chapter provides a new English translation of the celebrated Chinese Catholic children’s primer, the Three Four Classic (Sizijingwen 四字經文), published in the seventeenth century by the Italian Jesuit missionary, Giulio Aleni. Aleni’s children’s primer not only served to teach young Chinese children how to read, but it sought also to impart the fundamental historical and doctrinal beliefs of Catholic Christianity. Keywords Catechism · Confucian education · Children’s education · Primers · Literacy

I have translated here the entire text of the Sizijingwen, “Four Character Classic,” to facilitate scholarly comparison of this Jesuit children’s primer to those more commonly taught within traditional Confucian pedagogy such as Wang Yinglin’s Sanzijing . There are couplets within Aleni’s text that deserve more theological or historical attention than I provide here, such as the assertion that “初見聖母 the first to see Him was His Holy Mother” after Jesus’ resurrection from death on the third day. This does not accord with accounts found within the bible; see, for example, Mark 16:1-8. In addition to matters of content, there are

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 A. E. Clark, A Chinese Jesuit Catechism, Christianity in Modern China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-9624-7_3

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concerns of translation that required some attention. Rendering ecclesial terms into recognizable English equivalents while also retaining some of the original flavors of the Chinese is quite challenging. One could, for example, translate the term jingdian 經典 as “canonical texts” or the more familiar “scriptures.” In several such cases the more familiar term has been preferred, but at times a more literal translation has been provided. Also, I have avoided the tedious task of citing all the relevant biblical passages for each mention of a person or event contained in the bible. I have left such a biblical annotation to others who wish to emphasize more of a theological analysis than a historical study such as this.

Translation 全能天主, 萬有真原。 The Lord of Heaven is omnipotent—and the true origin of all things.1 無始無終, 常生常王。 He is without beginning and without end—ever living and ever ruling. 無所不在, 無所不知。 He is in all places—and all-knowing. 無所不能, 萬物之始。 He can do all things—and is the beginning of all things. 無形無聲, 靈性妙用。 Without form or sound—His spiritual works are subtle. 萬萬榮福, 萬萬美善。 Boundless are His glorious blessings—and boundless is His goodness. 惟一至尊, 無以加尚。 He alone is most honored—and nothing can add to His eminence. 未有天地, 先有天主。

1 Debates regarding how to correctly translate the Judeo-Christian name for God were divided among extra-denominational and intra-denominational lines. By and large, Roman Catholic translators preferred the term 天主, while Protestant translators such as Robert Morrison (1782–1834) decided upon the term 上帝. See Zhao Xiaoyang, “In the Name of God: Translation and Transformation of Chinese Culture, Foreign Religion, and the Reproduction of ‘Tianzhu’ and ‘Shangdi’,” Journal of Modern Chinese History, Vol. 4, No. 2 (2010): 163–178.

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When there was not yet Heaven and Earth—first there was the Lord of Heaven. 一天主父, 二天主子。 Lord of Heaven the Father is first—Lord of Heaven the Son is second. 三曰聖神, 三位一體。 The third is called the Holy Spirit—and these three are the Holy Trinity in one Being. 生天生地, 生神生物。 He created heaven and He created earth—He created spirits and He created objects. 生我初人, 為人類祖。 He created the first people—to be the ancestors of all humans. 萬品從生, 真大父母。 Once the myriad things had been created—[came] the truly great [first] parents. 造化神工, 六日迺備。 The divine work of creation—was finished in six days. 第一日生, 絕頂高天。 On the first day of creation—He divided the peak of high heaven. 無數天神, 泥沌水地。 There were countless angels—and from the inchoate mass, water and earth. 地經地緯, 俱九萬里。 The longitude and latitude of the earth—extended through the myriad expanse. 地之中心, 有四大穴。 In the center of the earth—there were four great caverns.2 一曰永苦, 二曰煉獄。 The first is called eternal suffering [hell]—and the second is called the prison of refinement [purgatory]. 三曰孩所, 四曰靈薄。 The third is called the limbo of unborn children—and the fourth is called the limbo [of the Fathers]. 第二日生, 九重諸天。

2 See Dante’s Inferno, Canto 34. Dante Alighieri, Dante’s Inferno, trans. Henry Francis Cary (London: George Bell & Sons, 1888), 173–176.

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On the second day of creation—He made the nine celestial spheres and all of the heavens.3 上下相包, 併火與氣。 Above and below were bounded together—amalgamating the fires and the ether. 土接乎水, 水接乎氣。 The earth was joined to the waters—and the waters were joined to the ether. 氣接乎火, 火接乎天。 The ether was joined to the fires—and the fires were joined to the heavens. 火氣水土, 名四元行。 Fire, ether, water, and earth—are named the four vital elements.4 氣盈周密, 不露天體。 The ether densely enshrouded—and obscured the planet [lit. 天體 “celestial body”]. 人雖仰天, 所見是氣。 Even if men look up to the skies—all they can see is the ether. 天包乎地, 四面可居。 Heaven encapsulates the earth—and can dwell in all places. 第三日生, 高者為山。 On the third day of creation—[He] formed the high places into mountains. 低者為海, 草木五穀。 [He] formed the low places into the seas—[and made] the grasses, trees, and five grains.5 第四日生, 日月星辰。 On the fourth day of creation—[He made] the sun, moon, stars, and planets.

3 The four cardinal points, four intermediary points, and the center. 4 These correspond with the four states of matter, viz., Solid, Liquid, Gas, and Plasma. 5 The list varies: commonly the “five grains” consist of hemp, millet, barley, wheat, and

pulse (a category of legumes). The term “五穀” commonly appears in early Chinese texts and thus serves to layer a Confucian patina on this Jesuit catechism. For references of the 五穀 in Chinese canonical works, see for example, Lunyu 論語 (Analects), Yang Bojun 楊伯峻, commentary (Hong Kong 香港: Zhonghua shuju 中華書局, 1999), 195; Mengzi yizhu, 401; and Liji 禮記 (Book of Rites), Jiang Yihua 姜義華, commentary (Taipei 台 北: Sanmin shuju 三民書局, 2001), 197.

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第五日生, 水族眾禽。 On the fifth day of creation—[He made] the creatures of the water and the various birds. 第六日生, 百獸已備。 On the sixth day of creation—the wild beasts [of the land] were made. 然後將土, 化成人祖。 Then [God] took up soil—and transformed it into the ancestors of humanity. 男名亞當, 女名厄襪。 The male was named Adam—and the female was named Eve. 配為夫婦, 生我人類。 They were joined together as husband and wife—and gave birth to our human ancestors. 命以性教, 為善避惡。 [God provided commandments] so that nature may be instructed— to be good and avoid evil. 上愛天主, 下愛世人。 Above, [one must] love the Lord of Heaven—and below, [he must] love mankind. 七日瞻禮, 謝恩伊始。 On the seventh day in reverent ceremony—they gave thanks for the favors of this beginning. 天神之屬, 內有傲抗。 Among the angels—there was one who was proud and rebellious. 罰魔永獄, 怨主害人。 The demon was punished to eternal hell—for he hated God and did harm to humanity. 誘我祖母, 逆命犯罪。 He deceived our first mother—into disobeying [God’s] command and committing sin. 逐出地堂, 是以有死。 [God] cast them out of paradise—and thus there is death. 因有原罪, 延及子孫。 Accordingly there is original sin—that extends through all human descendants. 人之肉身, 父母所生。 The flesh and body of human beings—is born of a father and mother. 人之靈魂, 天主賦畀。

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The human soul—is conferred by the Lord of Heaven. 魂御身善, 身輔魂善。 If the spirit is managed the body benefits—and if the body is aided the spirit benefits. 身從靈魂, 喜於行善。 The body following the spirit—delights in good behavior. 魂殉肉身, 喜於行惡 。 The flesh overcoming the spirit—delights in evil behavior. 魂在身在, 魂出身死。 When the spirit is present the body is present—but when the spirit departs the body dies. 靈魂不滅, 有始無終。 The soul is never extinguished—it has a beginning but no end. 善魂升天, 惡魂墮地。 A good spirit ascends to heaven—but an evil spirit descends below. 微疵未贖, 死入煉獄。 If there is a small defect that has not been atoned for—then the dead enters into purgatory. 諸聖通功, 為死祈禱。 The communion of all the saints—prays for those who have died. 煉至滿期, 許登天域。 Once those in purgatory have reached the allotted time—they are allowed to ascend into heaven. 二千二百, 四十五載。 In the one thousand-two-hundred—and forty-fifth year [after God had created Adam].6 人多作惡, 犯主義怒。 Many men committed evil—offending God’s righteous anger. 主命諾厄, 預製一櫝。 God commanded Noah—to prepare and build an ark.7 6 Attempts to calculate the precise year of the earth’s creation have yielded varied results. According to Genesis 5:4-5, “After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died.” Based upon this passage and other sections of the bible, the “precise” date of the earth’s creation was settled upon by Jesuits, other Catholic orders, and Protestants; the math was, however, quite differently proposed by these contending factions. 7 The character used here for ark is 櫝 du, which literally implies a “case” or “cabinet.” In the Lunyu, 櫝 is used to describe a “container.” The passage reads: “Who’s fault is it when a tiger or rhinoceros escapes from his cage, or when a tortoise or piece of jade

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上下三層, 置爾及妻。 [It had] three levels from top to bottom—and [he] moved into it with his wife. 三子三婦, 並諸物種。 His three sons and their wives—and every kind of creature. 迺發洪水, 殄滅人物。 Then [God] sent forth the floodwaters—and abolished mankind. 四十日後, 降罰已畢。 After forty days—[God’s] punishment was finished. 諾厄父子, 復居陸地。 Noah and his sons—returned to the land. 長子名生, 次子名岡。 His eldest son was named Shem [Sheng]—and the second was named Ham [Gang]. 其第三子, 名雅彿德。 And his third son—was named Japheth [Yafude]. 其後子孫, 分居各方。 His later descendants—dispersed and dwelled in every land. 亞細亞國, 皆生之後。 The countries of Asia—are all descended from Shem. 利未亞民, 乃岡之嗣。 The people of Africa [Liweiya]—are the descendants of Ham.8 歐羅巴人, 雅彿德後。 The people of Europe—are descended from Japheth. 洪水之後, 天下人稀。 After the Flood waters—the people of the earth were scarce. 經二百年, 方及中土。 And once two hundred years had passed—[they occupied all] places to the center of the earth. 東西南北, 俱事上主。 East, West, South, and North—Everyone served God on High. 泝自天主, 開天以後。 is injured in its (櫝) container?” 虎兕出於柙,龜玉毀於櫝中,是誰之過與. Lunyu, 172. It is thus an odd choice to use this character to mean an “ark,” or large seafaring vessel. 8 Liweiya 利未亞 implies the people of Africa in general, or more specifically, Northern Africa. In 1620, Giulio Aleni produced his famous Wangguo quantu 萬國全圖, or “Complete Map of All Nations,” and the African continent is identified in Chinese on the map as 利未亞.

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From after the time that the Lord of Heaven—had opened the heavens. 二千五百, 一十二年。 There were two thousand five hundred—and twelve years. 世忘性教, 無行善心。 That generation forgot moral teachings—and did not behave with virtuous hearts. 主發慈悲, 從天降諭。 God sent forth His compassion—and issued His commands from heaven. 令聖每瑟, 解釋經旨。 He ordered Moses—to explain the meaning of the scripture. 出示普世, 使復為善。 Notifying all people—to return again to goodness. 一勸事主, 二訓愛人。 The first [command] exhorted them to serve God—and the second instructed them to love humankind. 三者教人, 善政治國。 The third [command] taught humanity—to govern the country well.9 復至一千, 五百五十。 [Moses] reappeared [or “resurrected”] one thousand—five hundred and fifty [years later].10 世違書教, 皆相從惡。 That generation turned against the instructions of [God’s] decree— and everyone mutually followed evil. 天主憫世, 第二位者。 The Lord of Heaven Who took pity on that generation—was the second part [of the Trinity]. 名曰聖子, 因聖神能。 He is named the Holy Son—and by the efficacy of the Holy Spirit. 奇功變化, 降孕聖母。 9 This is quite a divergence from the actual Decalogue; Aleni has condensed the Ten Commandments from ten to three. 10 In the 1903 retyped edition of the Sizijingwen published in Hong Kong, the apparent reference to Moses’ “resurrection”/reappearance has been changed to 復一千四,九十二年, which changes the meaning to “1,492 years later,” suggesting that Christ lived 1,492 years after Moses’ death, rather than that Moses was “resurrected” or “reappeared.”

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And [His] extraordinary transformative merit—He was incarnate by the Holy Mother. 當漢哀帝, 元壽二年。 At the time of Emperor Ai of the Han (r. 6–1 BCE)—during the second year of the Yuanshou reign period (1 CE).11 歲次庚申, 生如德亞。 During the second, gengshen (1 CE) year—[He] was born in Judea. 親身救世, 名號耶穌。 He Himself saved the world—and [was given] the name [lit. epithet] Jesus. 是真天主, 亦真人者。 He is the true Lord of Heaven—and also a true man. 降生奇蹟, 先載古經。 The miracle of the incarnation—was prophesied in the Old Testament. 後來符合, 一一不爽。 Later it accorded [with what was foretold]—and one by one nothing missed the mark. 母瑪利亞, 卒世童貞。 When His mother Mary—died she was still a virgin. 未有天地, 主簡其母。 Before there was a heaven and earth—God had chosen His mother. 聖德精粹, 滿被聖寵。 She is the essence of holy virtue—and is filled with grace. 天神聖人, 概不能及。 Angels and saints—can none of them equal her. 六十三歲, 連身升天。 When she was sixty-three years old—she bodily ascended into heaven. 耶穌生時, 眾星發光。 When Jesus was born—the multitude of stars shone radiantly. 天神環衛, 如同白晝。 The angels surrounded Him with their protection—just like the light of day. 11 Emperor Ai of the Han 漢哀帝 (Liu Xin, 劉欣, 27-1 BCE) was an emperor during the Han dynasty who ascended the throne when he was twenty years old, and he only reigned from 7 to 1 BCE. Michael Loewe, A Biographical Dictionary of the Qing, Former Han and Xin Periods (221 BC – AD 24) (Leiden: Brill, 2000), 378–383.

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空中奏樂, 贊頌慶賀。 There was music from the emptiness—extolling [Him] in celebration. 守夜牧童, 神命拜主。 There were shepherds keeping watch by night—and angels commanded them to worship the Lord. 驢牛伏地, 認主奇異。 Donkeys and oxen reclined on the earth—recognizing the Lord’s marvelousness. 聖誕八日, 行古割禮。 On the eighth day after His birth—He was circumcised [according] to the old ritual. 十又三日, 三王來朝。 On the thirteenth day—three kings came to visit Him. 異星顯示, 直至其處。 An unusual star appeared—to direct them to where He was. 四旬獻堂, 母行取侫。 Forty days [after His birth] He was presented at the Temple—and His mother was purified. 有聖西默, 聖婦亞納。 There was a holy [man named] Simeon—and a holy woman [named] Anna. 見徵古經, 贊頌真主。 Having seen that this was shown in the Old Testament—they praised [the Child] as the true God。 王黑落德, 如德亞君。 King Herod—was the ruler of Judea [Rudeya]. 因三王朝, 心生疑忌。 Because the three kings had visited [Jesus]—[Herod’s] heart became anxious with suspicion. 欲殺耶穌, 不知何在。 He wanted to kill Jesus—[but] he did not know where He was. 令下白稜, 管轄界內。 [Herod] sent an order to Bethlehem [Baileng]—to all of the officials in his jurisdiction. 二歲嬰兒, 盡行殲死 。 That baby boys [up to] two years old—were all to be massacred. 天神預告, 避厄日多。 An angel warned them in advance—and they escaped to Egypt.

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潛居七年, 黑落德卒。 They had lived in hiding for seven years—when Herod died. 神告令回, 納雜勒居。 An angel directed them to return [from hiding]—and to live at Nazareth [Nazalei].12 厄日多國, 人俗盡迷。 [While they were in] the country of Egypt [Eriduoguo]—the people were vulgar and entirely deceived. 彼時魔像, 不下千萬。 The [number of] demon idols at that time—was no less than ten million. 迨耶穌至, 盡自傾毀。 Once Jesus had arrived—He Himself overturned and destroyed them all. 維昔先知, 有一聖人。 Of the former prophets—there was a holy man. 日勒彌亞, 嘗旅此國。 [Named] Jeremiah—who had previously traveled to this country. 是時預言, 可驗日後。 The prophesy [that Jeremiah] made at that time—was later fulfilled. 童女抱子, 忽來至此。 [He prophesied that] a virgin woman with a child in her arms— would come to that place. 千萬魔像, 盡成粉虀。 [And] the ten million demon idols—would all be destroyed. 人雖習邪, 亦因此語。 Even though the people [of Egypt] had become habituated to evil— they followed [Jeremiah’s] words. 畫女抱子, 供奉拜禮。 [And] drew an image of a woman holding a child—and enshrined and venerated it. 主十二齡, 登堂講道。 When the Lord was twelve years old—He went to the Temple and delivered a lesson. 說明經旨, 罔不稱異。

12 Aleni has used the graphs 納雜勒 to transcribe what is now rendered as 納匝肋靜.

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[He] explained the meaning of the scriptures—and everyone exclaimed His prodigiousness. 幼奉聖母, 伏聽其命。 When He was young He respected his Holy Mother—and submitted to her commands. 年三十一, 出世敷教。 When He was thirty-one years old—He went into the world and promulgated His teachings. 若而當河, 受洗若翰。 In the Jordan River [Ruoerdang]—He was baptized by John [the Baptist]. 天光閃爍, 聖神現頂。 The heavens shone brightly—and an angel appeared above. 空中聞言, 快我意子。 From the sky was heard a voice saying—“I am pleased with my beloved Son.” 嚴齋四旬, 不許魔知。 He kept a strict fast for forty days—and did not permit the devil to know. 魔來誘試, 退其三攻。 The devil came and tempted him—[but He] thrice repelled his assaults. 但出一言, 娑殫驚去。 [Jesus] only spoke a single phrase—and Satan was frightened away.13 次日若翰, 見主經過。 The next day John [the Baptist]—saw the Lord passing by. 與門弟子, 契利斯督。 And [told] his disciples—“[This is the] Christ.”14 天主羔羊, 除免世罪。 The Lord of Heaven and lamb—Who takes away the guilt of the world.” 其二宗徒, 名諳德肋。 John [had] two disciples—[one] was named Andrew [Andele].15 13 In present texts, Satan is transcribed as 撒殫 or 撒但. 14 In the Vatican edition “Christ” is rendered as 契利斯, whereas in the later Hong

Kong edition it is written as 基利斯.

15 This account of the call of Andrew and Simon is found in John, beginning at Chapter 35.

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初聞往拜, 同留一日。 [He] was the first to hear and worship—remaining with [Him] for a day. 歸告其弟, 曰西滿氏。 He returned and told his older brother—who was called Simon. 西滿見主, 改伯多祿。 When Simon saw the Lord—He changed his name to Peter [Boduolu]. 弟子眾集, 從此漸始 The disciples were gathered—and began to gradually [accumulate] from that time. 初行靈蹟, 變水為酒。 His first miracle—was to turn water into wine. 瞽者復明, 聾者能聽。 The blind could see again—and the deaf could hear. 啞者能言, 屈者能伸。 The mute could speak—and the crippled could stretch out their limbs. 病者命愈, 死者復生。 The sick were healed—and the dead were restored to life.16 步海止浪, 命風停息。 Traversing the sea they were halted by waves—and He commanded the squall to cease.17 鬼魔畏服, 蠢物聽命。 Demons submitted—and dullards listened to His commands. 當時順從, 各國眾多。 Those who followed Him at that time—included the multitudes of every nation. 群從選擇, 十二宗徒。 He selected a group of followers—to be His twelve disciples [apostles]. 賦之聖德, 大智大能。 He endowed them with holy virtue—great wisdom and great abilities. 諸國語言, 自能通諳。

16 The use of the graph 復 here supports the previous reading of Moses’ “resurrection.” 17 Mark 4:35-40.

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The languages of every nation—He Himself could comprehend. 行教三年, 無數聖蹟。 He disseminated His teachings for three years—[and performed] countless miracles. 年三十三, 要贖人罪。 When He was thirty-three years old—He wished to atone for human guilt. 知期已到, 自願受難。 Knowing that the time had arrived—He willingly accepted His suffering. 難未到時, 預言來事。 Before the actual time of His suffering—He foretold the coming events. 受難前夕, 巴斯卦禮。 The night before His suffering—[during] the rite of Passover. 濯足宗徒, 定聖體儀。 He washed the feet of His disciples—and instituted the rite of the Holy Eucharist [shengtiyi]. 山中祈禱, 血汗滴地。 He prayed at the mount—and sweat drops of blood to the ground.18 恐人不悔, 辜負主恩。 He feared that people would not repent—and would be ungrateful for God’s kindness. 天神下降, 獻爵恭慰。 An angel descended [to Him]—and consoled Him with nobility and honor.19 如答賣主, 引惡黨來。 Judas [Ruda] betrayed the Lord—directing his evil cohorts to come [to where Christ was]. 夙願樂為, 主聽仇執。 At daybreak, willingly—the Lord allowed His enemies to seize Him. 連解四司, 受辱萬般。

18 I.e., Mount of Olives. See Luke 22:39-46. 19 See Luke 22:43.

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He was then taken to the Council—where He endured every kind of humiliation.20 初縛石柱, 鞭撻五千。 First, He was bound to a stone pillar—and scourged with five thousand lashes. 身無全膚, 羔羊一般 。 His body was entirely skinless—just like a lamb. 苦痛血流, 不出一語。 As blood flowed from His suffering—He did not utter a single word. 次做茨冠, 箍在頭上。 Next, they fashioned a crown of thorny caltrop—and looped it atop His head. 槌擊其上, 復繳其后。 They pounded Him from above—and tied Him from behind. 聖血通流, 甘忍其苦。 His holy blood flowed—but He willingly endured His suffering. 十字聖架, 迫主肩荷。 The holy cross—He was forced to carry on His shoulders. 一路壓跌, 到山受死。 He was pressed and fell the entire way—arriving at the hill where He was killed. 將主聖身, 釘在架上。 They took the Lord’s holy body—and nailed it to a cross. 身旁手足, 傷有五處。 On His side, hands, and feet—there were wounds in five places. 釘計三時, 聖軀方死。 It can be figured to three o’clock while He was nailed—that His holy body died. 此日慘異, 天昏地震。 On that especially tragic day—the heavens darkened and the earth trembled. 月西遂東, 乃掩日輪。 The moon followed from west to east—and then covered the sun in turns. 古堂帳裂, 殿頂石墮。 20 Aleni has used the late imperial Chinese term 四司, which implied the “Four Offices” in the Qing imperial bureaucracy, to represent the Council under which Christ was interrogated.

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The curtain of the ancient hall [Temple] was torn—and stones fell from atop the Temple. 互相擊碎, 墳開聖現。 [Stones] collided and were rent apart—and tombs were opened and the holies [saints] came forth.21 人人悲痛, 萬物哀傷。 Every person grieved—and every object lamented. 聖屍入墓, 魂降靈薄。 His holy corpse was placed in a tomb—and His soul descended into limbo. 安慰古聖, 釋脫升天。 He comforted the saints of old—informing them that they would escape and ascend to heaven. 死至三日, 魂回合身。 Being dead for three days—His soul returned to join His body. 復活出墓, 身光異常。 He was resurrected and left the tomb—and His body shone with unusual brilliance. 五傷痕在, 初見聖母。 The five wounds were [still] visible—and the first to see Him was His Holy Mother.22 次見聖女, 屢見宗徒。 The next to see Him were the holy women—and then the disciples saw Him in succession. 及諸聖人, 併諸聖女。 Then [He was seen] by all of the holy men—and then by all of the holy women. 在世四旬, 講論天國。 [He] remained in the world for forty days—expounding to them the kingdom of heaven. 視昔所言, 倍為明妙。

21 See Matthew 27:51-53. 22 The bible nowhere explicitly states that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was the first to

see the resurrected Christ. Matthew 28:9 is perhaps the most ambiguous account of who first saw the risen Jesus, describing those he first met as “they.” Aleni is likely drawing upon popular tradition to suggest that the Virgin Mary was the first to see her son after His resurrection.

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Considering what had previously been said—to double their understanding of its mysteries. 聖教政治, 神國法度。 [He set out] the bureaucracy of Holy Church—and the moral laws of God’s kingdom. 爰立教住, 為眾神長。 And then established the pope—to be the leader over all souls. 授比斯玻, 併授鐸德。 Conferring [these things] to Peter—He likewise conferred on him [the responsibility] to transmit the priesthood.23 皆行教事, 代天主位。 To entirely carry out the teaching office [of the Church]—as the representative of the Lord of Heaven. 定有七規, 格辣孟多。 There are seven established customs—which are the Sacraments.24 一曰領洗, 二曰堅振。 The first is called Baptism—and the second is called Confirmation. 三曰聖體, 四曰痛解。 The third is called the Holy Eucharist—and the fourth is called Penance. 五曰終傅, 六曰品級。 The fifth is called Extreme Unction—and the sixth is called Holy Orders. 七曰婚配, 經言禮節。 The seventh is called Matrimony—and these rituals were explained. 彌撒儀旨, 一一備詳。 The meanings of the rituals of Mass—were each one entirely clarified. 將欲升天, 種種垂訓。 [Those] desiring to ascend to heaven—were given all manner of instruction. 囑咐宗徒, 與眾弟子。 He exhorted the disciples—and all their followers. 23 That is, Christ gave Peter the teaching authority of the Church. The Hong Kong edition has changed the first four characters of this line to 授權主教. 24 The original Vatican edition uses 格辣孟多 to transcribe “Sacraments,” whereas the Hong Kong edition has changed the second part of this line to 奇妙聖事, or “mysterious Sacraments.”

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分行天下, 訓誨萬民。 To go out into the world—and instruct all people.25 與領聖洗, 滌罪入教。 To administer holy baptism—and cleanse their sins [so they can] enter the Faith. 囑咐已畢, 率諸聖徒。 After He had finished His exhortations—He led all of the holy disciples. 同行出郭, 到阿裡山。 And they left the city together—arriving at a mountain in Galilee. 舉手降福, 聖體升天。 He raised His hands and blessed them—and His holy body ascended to heaven. 天神群擁, 古聖群從。 The angels gathered around—and the saints of old followed en masse. 聖徒忻悅, 送以心目。 The holy disciples were exultant—and saw Him off with joy. 仰穹瞻戀, 依依不舍 。 But looking up to the heavens they revered Him with attachment— and they were unwilling to part with Him. 時有慶雲, 藉主足下。 At that time there were auspicious clouds—which supported the Lord underfoot. 天神下接, 歌樂贊頌。 The angels descended to meet Him—singing songs of praise. 耶穌聖軀, 光透諸天 。 Jesus’ holy body—illuminated the entire sky. 坐天主父, 右尊之位。 And He sits with Lord of Heaven the Father—in a position of honor to His right.26 後眾不見, 或跪或立。 After [Jesus’ ascension] the crowd could no longer see Him—some were kneeling while others stood.

25 I would normally translate 天下 as the “sub-celestial empire,” sometimes meaning China, but here “the world” is a more accurate rendering. 26 See Summa Theologicae, question 58. Also see Mark 16:19.

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尚在彼山, 瞻望不去。 They still remained on the mountain—looking ahead without departing. 有二天神, 衣白如雪。 There were two angels—clothed in garments as white as snow. 降於前, 明言諭眾。 They descended and became visible before them—and spoke clearly to the crowd. 胡為瞻望, 不能舍去。 “Why are you [still] looking ahead—incapable of departing? 主在爾輩, 升天而去。 The Lord was here among you—[but] has ascended to heaven and gone away. 日後耶穌, 從彼天國。 [Sometime] after this day, Jesus—from that place in heaven. 依然降來, 審判生死。 Will descend in the same way—to adjudicate over the living and the dead.” 眾聖得諭, 遂歸祈禱。 The crowd and holy [disciples] heard what [the angels] had discoursed—and then returned to pray. 升天十日, 百二十人。 Ten days after [Jesus] had ascended into heaven—there were 120 people.27 誦經祈主, 聖神降臨。 Who were reciting the scriptures and praying to God—when the Holy Spirit descended upon them. 眾人頭上, 火形如舌。 Above the heads of the crowd—there were flames in the shape of tongues.28 光耀不燒, 賜大聖寵。 [The flames] were brilliant without burning—and gave to them a great grace. 通萬國言, 傳授聖教。

27 See Acts of the Apostles 1:15. 28 Ibid., 2:1.

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They could understand the languages of the myriad nations—and the holy teachings were transmitted to them. 耶穌在世, 預言審判。 [Formerly,] when Jesus was among them—He prophesied [future] trials. 世界前兆, 有一惡徒。 There will be omens on the earth—and there will be an evil man. 出身母腹, 魔附其身。 He will be born from his mother’s belly—and his body will be possessed by the Devil. 冒假天主, 以誑世人。 He will falsely claim to be the Lord of Heaven—in order to deceive the people of the world. 雖有賢智, 不免被惑。 Even those who possess virtue and wisdom—will be unable to escape delusion. 民與民亂, 國與國爭。 There will be confusion between men—and nation will contend with nation.29 隨地大震, 瘟疫饑饉。 Then there will follow great earthquakes on the land—[along with] epidemics and famines. 天變可驚, 怪異可畏。 There [will be] unsettling transmutations in the sky—and strange phenomena that terrify. 人向爾云, 契利斯督。 If someone says to you—that the Christ. 在此在彼, 慎勿信從。 Is either here or there—be careful not to listen [to him].30 古聖二人, 出自地堂。 There will be two men from the Old Testament—who will come from paradise. 一阨諾格, 生洪水前。 One is Enoch [Enuoge]—who was born before the Flood. 天地造後, 六百廿年。

29 For the passage containing this account of the final times, see Mark 13. 30 See Mark 13:21-22.

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After the creation of heaven and earth—six hundred and twenty years [was Enoch born]. 一阨里亞, 生洪水後。 One is Elias [Eliya]—who was born after the Flood. 天地以來, 三千餘年。 After the [creation] of heaven and earth—more than three thousand years. 異世同居, 出扶道難。 Though from different eras, they will dwell together—sent to relieve to the difficulties of the way. 闢邪證主, 因賴主功。 They will refute evil and testify to the Lord—relying on the Lord’s efficacy. 多作靈蹟, 多施神恩。 They will perform many miracles—and bestow many spiritual favors. 如此三年, 復遭魔屯。 It will be so for three years—and they will continually encounter legions of demons. 加以酷刑, 二聖終命。 They will also be cruelly executed—[but] in the end the two holy men will live. 惡殘肉軀, 棄之於市。 Their bodies will be cruelly tortured—and taken to be publicly executed. 眾聞天聲, 命二聖升。 The crowd will hear a voice from the sky—commanding the two holy men to ascend. 眾見二聖, 殘軀復活。 The crowd will see the two holy men—and their tortured bodies return to life. 乘彼彩雲, 漸登向天。 Supported on a brilliant cloud—they will slowly ascend to heaven. 即時四方, 地遍大震。 At that time in every direction—the earth everywhere will tremble greatly. 房樓頹壞, 壓死萬人。 Buildings shall collapse—and myriad people will be crushed to death. 奸徒作亂, 維時困難。 The Deceiver will create disorder—while also causing tribulations.

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多竭心計, 以陷世人。 He [will] exhaust his mind making calculations—in order to ensnare the people of the world. 欲表已能, 定約一日。 Wishing to display his great abilities—he will agree upon a certain day. 憑藉魔力, 于眾人前。 Relying on the power of the Devil—before a crowd of people. 假稱歸天, 為原本堂。 He will falsely claim to return to heaven—and build the original Temple [of Jerusalem]. 從是普降, 萬福於人。 And from there to rain down everywhere—myriad blessings on mankind. 然至其時, 僅得登空。 But when that time arrives—he will hardly have ascended into the sky. 主遣使神, 敗散魔計。 [When] the Lord will dispatch his angels—to ruin the Devil’s plans. 魔如失翼, 隕落下地。 It will be as if the Devil had lost his wings—and he will fall down to the ground. 地裂巨口, 生吞奸徒。 The earth will open a large chasm—and the Deceiver will be swallowed up. 即禁魔獄, 加刑永苦。 To be captive in the Devil’s prison—where he will endure punishments and eternal suffering. 審判切近, 諸天失序。 And judging those near—all of the heavens will be in disorder. 日晦月冥, 星辰墜落。 The sun will be darkened, the moon will be dim—and stars will fall.31 天德動變, 諸異畢集。 Heaven’s power will stir a tumult—and everywhere signs will gather. 黑雲布滿, 雷電轟烈。 31 See Matthew 24:29-31. One might also consult Revelation 8–10 for biblical accounts of the world’s final destruction.

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Dark clouds will cover everywhere—and thunder and lightning will produce an intense rumble. 火焰熛飛, 衝隕下地。 Flames will leap into flight—and surge down to the earth. 暴風四作, 毒染諸生。 Fierce winds from the four directions—will poison all living things. 海湧濤洶, 四周泛濫。 The oceans will spring forth a deluge of waves—inundating everywhere. 江河川溪, 殆如血流。 Lakes, rivers, streams, and brooks—will be as flowing blood. 水溢淹地, 諸畜死滅。 The waters will brim over and flood the earth—and all the beasts will be extinguished. 地之全體, 極大震動。 The entire surface of the earth—will experience a tremendous earthquake. 山丘崩裂, 都邑圯覆。 Mountains and hills will open and collapse—and every city’s bridge shall be overturned. 天主降火, 人民焚燼。 The Lord of Heaven will send down fires—and mankind shall be burned to ash. 十字聖架, 現於中天。 The holy cross—will be seen in the middle of the sky.32 耶穌威嚴, 駕雲而降。 Jesus in majesty—will descend riding on a cloud.33 聖母宗徒, 擁與審判。 The Holy Mother and disciples—will gather around [Him] for the [final] Judgment. 在如德亞, 塞法山谷。 [And those] in Judea—shall find ways to occupy the mountain valleys. 遣大天神, 吹其號器。 He will dispatch his great angels—to blow their trumpets.

32 Presumably, the appearance of a cross in the sky is inferred from Matthew 24:30. 33 See Revelation 1:7.

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從天四方, 死者復活。 From all directions—the dead will return to life. 善惡靈魂, 俱合肉軀。 The souls of the good and evil—will all be reunited with their bodies. 善者在空, 惡者伏地。 The good shall occupy the sky—while the evil will crouch to the earth. 天神進簿, 俱聽審判。 An angel will present the register—and everyone will hear His judgments.34 指出善惡, 人人驚危 。 He will distinguish the good from the evil—and everyone shall be alarmed. 將一人罪, 與眾共知。 The sins of each man—shall be known to all people. 將眾人罪, 使人人知。 And the sins of all people—shall be known to each man. 幽微暗昧, 一一顯露。 Remote and hidden [sins]—will one after the other be revealed. 億兆人前, 真可羞惡。 Before countless people—[one will] truly be ashamed of his evil deeds. 天神奉命, 陟降善惡。 The angels shall receive the command—to promote and demote the good and evil. 地裂獄開, 震懼危恐。 The earth shall split apart and open hell—and terror and dread will menace. 邪魔惡人, 墜受永殃。 Pernicious demons and evil men—shall be received down into eternal affliction. 審判已畢, 主與諸聖。 Once the Judgment is complete—the Lord and all the holy. 榮升天堂, 永享真福。

34 See Revelation 20:11-12.

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Will gloriously ascend into heaven—to receive true eternal blessings.35 善人神光, 七倍於日。 The spirits of the good shall shine—sevenfold like the sun. 主賜大能, 穿堅透石。 The Lord will confer great abilities—to pierce what is hard and penetrate stone. 屆所欲至, 萬里一息。 And wherever one desires to go—even if far away will be reached in a single breath. 天地再新, 星光如月。 Heaven and earth will be made anew—and stars will shine like the moon. 月光如日, 日光七倍。 The light of the moon shall be as the sun—and the light of the sun shall shine sevenfold.36 天主經典, 載有詳悉。 The scripture of the Lord of Heaven—contains a clear and detailed account. 我勗世人, 須奉天主。 I exhort the people of the world—to certainly serve the Lord of Heaven. 天主大恩, 勝我父母。 The great kindness of the Lord of Heaven—exceeds that of our parents. 生天覆我, 生地載我。 He created heaven to cover us—and He created the earth to support us. 生日月星, 照我臨我。 He created the sun, moon, and stars—to descend and illuminate us. 草木五穀, 魚鱉六畜。 Grasses, trees, and the five grains—fish, turtles, and the six domesticated animals.37 35 Here begins an allusion to John’s description of the Jerusalem of the future in Revelation 21. 36 See Isaiah 30:26. 37 The term 六畜 includes pig, ox, goat, horse, chicken, and dog. Like the term 五穀,

the 六畜 often appear in the ancient Chinese classics.

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養我食我, 經典教我。 These nurture and feed us—while the scriptures teach us. 降生救我, 釘死贖我。 He was born to save us—He was crucified [lit. nailed to death] to redeem us. 何等恩功, 我何以報。 How many favors has He merited—and how can we repay Him? 主將升天, 恐失教我。 When the Lord was about to ascend to heaven—He was fearful that His teachings would cease. 立教化皇, 命爾主教。 So He established the pope—to keep charge over the bishops. 授爾鐸德, 數萬風波。 To transmit the priesthood—and to [handle] the myriad affairs. 救我靈魂, 永保真福。 He saved our souls—for an eternity of true blessings. 人為物靈, 何不奉教。 A person of body and soul—how could he not accept the Faith? 人有原罪, 併有本罪。 Persons have original sin—along with an intrinsic sinfulness. 茍能痛悔, 改過遷善。 If they are capable of deep regret—they will reform their errors and become good. 領受洗禮, 特赦前罪。 And receive the rite of baptism—which pardons their former sins. 靈魂光侫, 心地清明。 Making their souls bright and clean—and their moral character pure and luminous. 謹遵主訓, 無忽無怠。 Solemnly abide by the Lord’s instructions—without neglect and without being remiss. 思救贖恩, 熱心感法。 Meditate on His saving redemption and clemency—and warmheartedly acquiesce to His statutes. 以愛還愛, 以死還死。 On the basis of love is love repaid—and on the basis of death is death repaid. 紀勤解罪, 兼領聖體。

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Remembering the diligent and releasing their guilt—while leading them to the Holy Eucharist. 日看彌撒, 頻聽講道。 Every day observe Mass—and listen often to the sermon. 精修無玷, 立功為善。 Cultivate a flawless spirit—and establish merit to become good. 以思言行, 合天主旨。 Consider [first] what you say and do—so that you accord with the will of the Lord of Heaven. 求主為父, 在天為歸。 Ask the Lord to be your father—in heaven where you shall return. 欽崇為事, 愛主愛人。 Be respectful and reverent in your affairs—and love the Lord and love persons. 日除其礙, 日勉其進。 Daily remove whatever bars your way—and daily exert yourself to whatever advances you. 朝夕功課, 行神哀矜。 Set yourself morning and night to the task—of spiritual works of compassion. 克罪七宗, 守十誡命。 Overcome the Seven Deadly Sins—and observe the Ten Commandments.38 生為聖人, 所獲平安。 Those who are holy persons in life—will obtain eternal peace. 死同天神, 永享真福。 Those who die as angels—will enjoy an eternity of true blessings. 萬世常生, 豈不大樂。 Living forever, age after age—how could this not be great felicity? 若不奉教, 忘天主恩。 If you do not accept the Faith—and forget the Lord of Heaven’s favors. 生是惡人, 死墜地獄。 38 In modern ecclesial lexigraphy, the term 七宗 is most commonly rendered as 七罪宗, and the Decalogue, which is rendered here as 十誡命, is presently abbreviated to 十誡. The Seven Deadly Sins, often referred to as the Capital Vices, include pride, avarice, lust, anger, envy, sloth, and gluttony. The Decalogue, or Ten Commandments, is elucidated in Exodus 20:2-17.

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Those who are evil persons in life—will descend into hell when they die. 道之大原, 實出於主。 The great origin of the truth—actually comes from the Lord. 讀了神書, 明了經旨。 Having read spiritual writings—you will understand the meaning of the scriptures. 得大根本, 斯真學問。 Having obtained the great essentials—this is being truly learned. 一非不間, 萬德全渾。 Maintaining at all times—that you are entirely virtuous. 人勉之哉, 人勉之哉。 People, exert yourselves to this!—People, exert yourselves to this!

Giulio Aleni’s Oeuvre

Title (Year/Province Published) Map of Ten Thousand Things (Wanguo quantu 萬國全圖) Record of Non-Tributary States (Zhifang waiji 職方外紀) General Account of Western Studies (Xi xue fan 西學凡) The Life of Michael Zhang (Zhang Mige’er yiji 張彌克爾遺跡) The Sacrament of Penance (Dizui zhengguilüe 滌罪正規略) Litany of the Holy Eucharist (Yesu shengti daowen 耶穌聖體禱文) Biography of Yang Qiyuan (Yang Qiyuan xinglüe 楊淇園行略) Learned Conversations of Fuzhou (Sanshan lunxueji 三山論學記) The True Origin of All Things (Wangwu zhenyuan 萬物真原) The Sacrifice of the Mass (Misa jiyilüe 彌撒祭義略) The True Biography of Matteo Ricci (Li Madou xingshi 利瑪竇行實) Essentials of Geometry (Jihe yaofa 幾何要法) Introduction to the Incarnation (Tianzhu jiangsheng yinyi 天主降生 引義) Life of Our Lord (Tianzhu jiansheng yanxing jilüe 天主降生言行紀 略) Questions and Answers Regarding the West (Xifang dawen 西方答問) The Song of a Holy Dream (Shengmengge 聖夢歌) Illustrated Life of Christ (Tianzhu jiangsheng chuxiang jingjie 天主 降生 出像經解) General Instruction on Penitence (Huizui yaozhi 悔罪要指) Treatise on the Eucharist (Shengti yaoli 聖體要理) Four Character Classic (Sizijingwen 四字經文)

(1623/Zhejiang) (1623/Zhejiang) (1623/Zhejiang) (1623/Zhejiang) (1627/Fujian) (1627/Fujian) (1627/Fujian) (1627/Fujian) (1628/Fujian) (1629/Fujian) (1630/Fujian) (1631/Fujian) (1635/Fujian) (1637/Fujian) (1637/Fujian) (1637/Fujian) (1637/Fujian) (1640/Fujian) (1641/Fujian) (1642/Fujian) (continued)

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2021 A. E. Clark, A Chinese Jesuit Catechism, Christianity in Modern China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-9624-7

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(continued) Fifty Additional Sentences (Wushi yanyu 五十言餘) Simple Remarks on Human Nature (Xingxue cushu 性學僢述) (completed 1624)

(1645/Fujian) (1646/Fujian)

Total Works: 22 Scientific/Secular Total: 5 Pastoral/Religious Total: 17 (The General Instruction on Penitence was co-authored with Lazare Catteneo, and there are several other works that were produced under Aleni’s auspices.)

Bibliography

Aleni, Giulio艾儒略. Tianzhu jiangsheng yinyi 天主降生引義 (Introduction to the Incarnation). Fujian, 1635. ———. Tianzhu shengjiao sizijingwen 天主聖教四字經文 (The Sacred Teaching of the Lord of Heaven Four Character Classic). Fujian, 1642. ———. Tianzhu shengjiao sizijingwen 天主聖教四字經文 (The Sacred Teaching of the Lord of Heaven Four Character Classic). Hong Kong 香港: Nazale jingyuanyin納匝肋靜院印 (Printing Office of Nazareth), 1903. Alighieri, Dante. Dante’s Inferno, trans. Henry Francis Cary. London: George Bell & Sons, 1888. Attwater, Rachel. Adam Schall: A Jesuit at the Court of China. London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1963. Ban Gu 班固. Hanshu 漢書 (History of the Han), Vol. 8. Beijing 北京: Zhonghua shuju 中華書局, 1997. Bangert, William. Jerome Nadal, S.J. (1507–1580): Tracking the First Generation of Jesuits, ed. Thomas M. McCoog. Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1992. Bays, Daniel H. A New History of Christianity in China. Malden, MA: WileyBlackwell, 2012. Belin, Olivier, and Catherine Mayaux, eds. Bibliothèques d’écrivains: Lecture et création, histoire et transmission. Torino: Rosenberg & Sellier, 2018. Birrell, Anne, trans. The Classic of Mountains and Seas. London: Penguin Books, 1999. Brockey, Liam. Journey to the East: The Jesuit Mission to China, 1579–1724. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2007. Brokaw, Cynthia J., and Kai-wing Chow, eds. Printing and Book Culture in Late Imperial China. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005.

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2021 A. E. Clark, A Chinese Jesuit Catechism, Christianity in Modern China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-9624-7

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Calvin, John. The Institutes of the Christian Religion, Vol. 1, trans. Ford Lewis Battles. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1975. Cañizares-Esguerra, Jorge, et al., eds. Encounters between Jesuits and Protestants in Asia and the Americas. Leiden: Brill, 2018. Carter, Thomas Francis. The Invention of Printing in China and Its Spread Westward, second edition. New York: Ronald Press, 1925. Charbonnier, Jean-Pierre. Histoire. Des Chrétiens de Chine. Paris: Les Indes Savantes, 2002. Chow Kai-wing. Publishing, Culture, and Power in Early Modern China. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2004. Clark, Anthony E. Ban Gu’s History of Early China. Amherst, NY: Cambria Press, 2008. ———. 柯學斌. “Jinshi chuqi Zhongguo minju dui xifang xuanjiao shengxianghua de fanying, 僅是初期中國民聚對西方宣教聖象畫的反應 (Initial Responses to Christian Cross Imagery in China).” Guoji Hanxue 國際漢學, Beijing Foreign Studies University 北京外國語大學, Vol. 12 (2017): 37–45. Cranmer-Byng, J. L. An Embassy to China: Being the Journal Kept by Lord Macartney during His Embassy to Emperor Ch’ien-lung 1793–1794. London: Longman, 1962. Criveller, Gianni. “The Dialogues of Giulio Aleni on Christ and China: The Mystery of the Plan of Salvation and China.” In Missionary Approaches and Linguistics in Mainland China and Taiwan, ed. Ku Wei-ying. Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2001. ———. “Matteo Ricci and Giulio Aleni in Late Ming China: The Life of Master Ricci, Xitai of the Great West (1630, 2010).” Bulletin of Portuguese Japanese Studies, II, Vol. 2 (2016): 27–40. ———. Preaching Christ in Late Ming China: The Jesuits’ Presentation of Christ from Matteo Ricci to Giulio Aleni. Taipei: Ricci Institute, 1997. Cronin, Vincent. The Wise Man from the West. London: Harvill Press, 1999. Dudink, Ad. “The Chinese Books, Sent by Andrzej Rudomina S.J., in the Japonica-Sinica Collection of the Roman Archives of the Jesuits.” Monumenta Serica, Vol. 60 (2012): 291–307. Dunne, George H. Generation of Giants: The Story of the Jesuits in China in the Last Decades of the Ming Dynasty. London: Burns & Oats, 1962. Elman, Benjamin A. On Their Own Terms: Science in China, 1550–1900. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2005. Fang Hao 方豪. Zhongguo Tianzhujiao shi renwu zhuan 中國天主教史人物 傳 (Biographies of Historical Persons in China’s Roman Catholic History). Shanghai 上海: Tianzhujiao Shanghai jiaoqu Xu Guangqi chubanshe 天主教 上海教區許光啟出版社, 2003. Fei Laizhi 費ô之 (Louis Pfister). Ming Qing jian zai Hua Yesuhuishi liezhuan (1552–1773) 明清間在華耶穌會士列傳 (1552–1773) (Biographies of Jesuits

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in China During the Ming and Qing). Shanghai 上海: Tianzhujiao Shanghai jiaoqu Guangqi she chuban 天主教上海教區光啟社出版, 1997. Feng Dafu 馮達甫, ed. Laozi yizhu 老子譯注 (Translation and Commentary on the Laozi). Taipei 台北: Shulin chuban 書林出版, 1999. Funüjiaxun 婦女家訓 (Instructions for Women). Shanghai 上海: Guangyi shuju 廣益書局, ca. 1910. Gernet, Jacques. China and the Christian Impact, trans. Janet Lloyd. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985. ———. Chine et christianisme: la première confrontation. Paris: Editions Gallimard, 1982. Giles, Herbert A. A Chinese Biographical Dictionary. Taipei: Ch’eng Wen, 1975. ———, trans. San Tzu Ching: Elementary Chinese. Shanghai: Messrs. Kelly & Walsh, 1900. Golvers, Nöel. “A la recherche d’une bibliothèque perdue: la bibliothèque des jésuites français à Pékin au XVIIIe siècle.” In Bibliothèques d’écrivains: Lecture et création, histoire et transmission, eds. Olivier Belin and Catherine Mayaux. Torino: Rosenberg & Sellier, 2018. ———. “A Ray of Light on Private Mathematical Culture in Coimbra in the Mid-17th Century: Francisco Pereira de la Cerda (+1656).” Revista filosófica de Coimbra, Vol. 27, No. 53 (2018): 65–76. ———. “The Jesuit Mission in China (17th-18th cent.) as the Framework for the Circulation of Knowledge between Europe and China.” Lusitania Sacra, Vol. 36 (July–December 2017): 179–199. ———. “The Pre-1773 Jesuit Libraries in Peking as a Medium for Western Learning in Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth-Century China.” The Library, Vol. 16, No. 4 (2015): 429–445. ———. Ferdinand Verbiest and Jesuit Science in 17th Century China. Leuven: Ferdinand Verbiest Institute, 2009. Goodman, Howard L. “Paper Obelisks: East Asia in the Vatican Vaults.” In Anthony Grafton, Rome Reborn. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993. Grafton, Anthony. “The Vatican and Its Library.” In Rome Reborn. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993. Gu Weimin 顧衛民. Jiduzongjiao yishu zai Hua fazhan shi 基督宗教藝術在華發 展史 (A History of the Development of Christian Art in China). Shanghai 上 海: Shanghai shudian chubanshe 上海書店出版社, 2005. ———. Zhongguo Tianzhujiao biannianshi 中國天主教編年史 (Chronology of Catholic History in China). Shanghai 上海: Shanghai shudian chubanshe 上 海書店出版社, 2003. Gu Weiying 古偉瀛. “Sizijingwen: Benweihua yu Taiwan Tianzhujiao” 四字經 文: 本位化與台灣天主教 (The Four Character Classic: Standardization and Roman Catholicism in Taiwan). In History of Catechesis in China, eds. Staf Vloeberghs et al. Leuven: Ferdinand Verbiest Institute, 2008.

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Index

A accommodationism, 2, 3, 17, 21 Aleni, Giulio, 2, 3, 5, 11, 12, 14, 15, 17, 20–23, 25–34, 36–46, 63, 69, 70, 73, 77, 78 ambassador-statesmen, 3 astronomical calculations (Tiansuan), 5 B Baijiaxing (Hundred Family Surnames), 18 Beijing, 2, 3, 7–9, 21, 30, 58 Beitang (North Church), 8 bookbinding, 14 book collection, 4, 5 Bouvet, Joachim, 29 Buddhism, 3, 14, 26, 30 C Calvin, John, 33, 37, 38 cartography, 2, 3 catechism, 2, 13, 22, 44, 66 catechism, Christian, 3, 17

Catholic apologetics (Bianhu), 5 children’s primer, 2, 17, 21, 34, 43, 63 children’s primers, Christian, 32 children’s primers, Confucian, 3, 11, 32, 44 Clement XIV, 10 clocks, 3, 77 College of St. Ignatius, Shanghai, 11 commercial publishing, 9 Confucian, 2, 3, 8, 9, 14, 15, 17, 18, 20, 22, 27, 28, 30–33, 40, 41, 43–45, 58, 63, 66 Confucian principles, 17 Confucius, 15, 30, 48, 51, 58 Congregationalism, 33, 38 conversion, 4, 7, 9–13, 31, 32 cosmology, 28 Couplet, Phillipe, 43 crucifixion, 30 D Daodejing (Way and Virtue Classic), 25, 53 Dao (Way), 25

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2021 A. E. Clark, A Chinese Jesuit Catechism, Christianity in Modern China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-9624-7

101

102

INDEX

devil, 30, 42, 74, 84 diyu (underground court), 27 doctrine, 7, 20, 28, 32, 33, 36, 37 Dominicans, 12, 13 Duke of Zhou, 30, 52, 54

He, Zhenchuan, 33 Hong, Xiuquan, 33 Huangdi, 41, 54 Hu, Yinglin, 9 hydrology (Shuixue), 5

E education of children, 2 Elman, Benjamin, 3 ertong wenxue (children’s literature), 18 Essentials of Geometry. See Jihe yaofa ( Essentials of Geometry) Evangelicae Historiae Imagines , 15 evangelizing, 12 exegetics (Shinan), 5

I Ignatius of Loyola, 15 Illustrated Life of Christ. See Tianzhu jiangsheng chuxiang jingjie (Illustrated Life of Christ) imago Dei, 38

F fallen nature, 20 Figurist, 29 Foucquet, Jean-François, 29 four character primer, 17 Fujian, 5, 14, 15, 25, 27, 28, 44

G Garden of Eden, 37 General Account of Western Studies. See Xi xue fan (General Account of Western Studies) geography (Diyu), 5 God, 6, 11, 23, 29, 33, 34, 36–38, 41, 42, 64, 67–72, 76, 79, 81 Gonghua, Xie, 28 Guangqi, Xu, 6, 10, 14 Gützlaff, Karl, 33

H Hangzhou, 9, 14 heterodoxy, 27

J Japanese, 14 Jesuit, 2–15, 21, 23, 26–30, 32, 43, 44, 46, 63, 68 Jesuit mission, 2–5, 7, 9, 43 Jesuits, suppression of, 10 Jesus, 6, 27, 28, 40–44, 63, 71–74, 78, 80–82, 85 Jihe yaofa (Essentials of Geometry), 15 Jiubiao, Li, 27

K Kouduo richao (Diary of Oral Admonitions), 27

L laobaixing, 18 Liang, Fa, 43 Li Di. See Wenyu, Li Lienüzhuan (Collected Biographies of Women), 21, 47 Li, Jiubiao, 27 limbo, 27, 36, 65, 78 Liu, Xiang, 21

INDEX

lives of the saints (Shengren xingshi), 6 Li, Wenyu, 11 London Missionary Society, 32 Lord of Heaven (Tianzhu), 23, 34 Lu, Xianba, 33

M Manila, 12 Map of Ten Thousand Things. See Wanguo quantu (Map of Ten Thousand Things) material sciences (Xingxiaxue), 5 Ma, Xiangbo, 11 Medhurst, Walter Henry, 32–34, 36–43 Mencius, 20, 21, 46, 47, 51 mendicants, 13 mengshu (primers), 17 Mi, Fu, 7 Milne, William, 34 Ming-Qing jian yesuhuishi yizhu tiyao (Summary of Jesuit Publications During the Ming and Qing Dynasties), 4 missionaries, 2, 3, 6–9, 12–14, 17, 20, 21, 33, 34, 37, 43, 44, 46 Montaigne, Michel de, 7, 8 Morrison, Robert, 34, 64

N Nadal, Jerome, 15 Nanjing, 9, 18, 42, 57 natural theology, 17 Neo-Confucianism, 18, 21 Noah, 29, 68, 69

O original sin, 6, 20, 37, 41–43, 67, 88 orthodoxy, 27, 28, 41

103

P Pasio, Francesco, 7 pedagogical literature, 2 People’s Republic of China, 11 personal cultivation (Xiucheng), 5 Philip II, 12 philology (Xiaoxue), 5 philosophy (Zhexue), 5 Poetry, 51 Poxie ji (Anthology of Exposing Heresy), 28 Preaching , 7, 12, 13, 15, 30–32 Prémare, Joseph Henri Marie de, 29 print culture, 3, 4, 7–9, 11, 13–15, 17, 30, 43, 44 print culture, Jesuit, 2, 4, 11, 43 Protestant response, 32 purgatory, 26, 27, 36, 65, 68

Q Qianziwen (Thousand Character Classic), 18 qimeng (primers), 17, 18, 20, 21, 23, 40 Quanshi liangyan (Good Words to Admonish the Age), 43 Questions and Answers Regarding the West, Xifang dawen, 15

R Ranxi (Lighting the [Rhinoceros] Horn), 30 reason (Daoli), 5 Record of Non-Tributary States. See Zhifang waiji (Record of Non-Tributary States) religious instruction, 2 Ricci, Matteo, 3, 4, 6–8, 10–12, 43 Rudomina, Andrzej, 5 Ruggieri, Michel, 6–8, 10

104

INDEX

S sacred scripture, 6, 50 Sacred Teaching of the Lord of Heaven Four Character Classic. See Tianzhu shengjiao sizijingwen (The Sacred Teaching of the Lord of Heaven Four Character Classic) Salizar, Domingo de, 12, 13 salvation, 37–40, 44 Sanzijing (Three Character Classic), 3, 18, 20–23, 32–34, 37–42, 45, 46, 60, 63 Schall von Bell, Johann Adam, 2, 43 scientific publication, 7, 12 Shangdi, 11, 34 Shanhaijing (Mountains and Seas Classic), 26 Shengxinbao (Sacred Heart Messenger), 11 Shen wei ling (God is [pure] spirit), 34 Society of Jesus. See Jesuit soteriology, 36 soul, human, 6, 68 Summary of Jesuit Publications During the Ming and Qing Dynasties. See Ming-Qing jian yesuhuishi yizhu tiyao (Summary of Jesuit Publications During the Ming and Qing Dynasties) supernatural theology, 17 Suzhou, 9 T Taipings, 33, 40–43 Taiping Sanzijing (Three Character Classic), 33, 40–43 Ten Commandments, 41, 70, 89 Three Character Classic. See Sanzijing (Three Character Classic) tianshen (heaven spirits), 26

Tianzhu jiangsheng chuxiang jingjie (Illustrated Life of Christ), 15, 30 Tianzhu shengjiao sizijingwen (The Sacred Teaching of the Lord of Heaven Four Character Classic), 3, 25–27, 29–31, 34, 36, 37, 39 Tianzhu shilu (True Account of the Lord of Heaven), 6, 10 Tianzhu shiyi (True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven), 6, 10 Tingyun, Yang, 22 total depravity, 36, 37 translation, 2, 3, 6, 18, 20, 26, 27, 33, 34, 45–47, 64 Trigault, Nicolas, 8, 11 True Account of the Lord of Heaven. See Tianzhu shilu (True Account of the Lord of Heaven) True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven. See Tianzhu shiyi (True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven)

V Vatican archives, 7, 23 Verbiest, Ferdinand, 2, 17, 43 virgin birth, 27

W Wang, Pan, 10 Wang, Tao, 33 Wanguo quantu (Map of Ten Thousand Things), 14 Wang, Yinglin, 18 warding off superstition (Pimi), 5 woodblock illustrations, 15 woodblock printing, 14, 15, 47 works that elucidate doubts (Jiehuo), 6 wuxing (Five Phases), 28, 29

INDEX

X Xianba, Lu, 42 Xiang, Liu, 21, 47 Xie, Gonghua, 28 Xifang dawen (Questions and Answers Regarding the West), 15 Xingqian, 30 Xiuquan, Hong, 41–43 Xi xue fan (General Account of Western Studies), 14 Xu, Guangqi, 9 Xujiahui Library, 4 Xu, Zongze, 4

105

Y Yang, Tingyun, 14 Yinglin, Wang, 18, 20, 22, 32, 41, 63 Yiwenlu (General News Report), 11 Z Zhenchuan, He, 42 Zhifang waiji (Record of Non-Tributary States), 14 Zhuangzi (Master Zhuang), 25, 53 zishu, (character books), 17, 20–22, 30, 32 Zongze, Xu, 4, 5, 7 Zotolli, Angelo, 11, 46