Influential Forces at the Imperial Court

1. The Jesuits

 

Joshua Coe: General Overview

A. - Geographical separation caused ETHNOCENTRISM: China saw itself as ¡°the middle kingdom¡±, the center of the world which was inconsistent with the depiction of the world by western cartographers

B. - Chinese emperor is ¡°son of heaven¡± who rules with ¡°mandate of heaven¡±.
- Chinese saw the world known to them as an extension of their own shere of influence
- their concept of rule was not egalitarian but hierarchical

C. Other countries (Japan sometimes, Vietnam, Korea) already were greatly structured by Chinese Confucianism

D. China most powerful country in the world at this time

E. Agnosticism and Skepticism seen in CONFUCIANISM¡­(37): when confronted with Christianity many Chinese rejected the virgin birth, the incarnation, the miraculous healings, the resurrection and the trinity.

F. NEO-CONFUCIANISM (39). A dimension developed since the 10th century:
¡­based on explicit religious dimensions....more specific transcendence ideas¡­(Ricci and other Jesuits criticized this, preferring older versions of the interpretation of Confucian classical texts)
Neo-Confucianism is quite inconsistent with Christianity. Yin-yang-Theory and Neo Confucianism highly critical of Christianity

G. Chinese fear of subversion (39) especially after Manchu came to power, because originally foreigners, had to fight way to power, threats to power very possible, actually a minority in the vast population of China. Lived in perpetual state of worry¡­pressured scholar officials to be on alert against subversive activity (Jesuits)

I. Another basis for anti-Christian sentiments: fear that Christianity/Christian churches might upset the harmony of nature¡­.Feng Shui/Geomancy¡­ones fortunes can be improved by buildings, graves, and homes built in harmony with their natural surroundings.

J. Fear that Jesuits/Christianity would seduce Chinese women¡­.upper class families, women secluded in the home¡­religious rites and rituals-priests accused of touching women¡­..churches often built with separate chapels for women, but Jesuit sacraments required close contact with priests. During confessions, a mat hung in between the priest and the confessant and an observer sat at the other end of the room. Close enough to watch, far away enough to not hear.

K. Fear that missionaries performed alchemy¡­Daoist alchemy included a search for immortality involving mercury¡­and many confused Ricci¡¯s teaching of Christian immortality with the Daoist immortality¡­. Especially when Portuguese traders brought mercury and returned with silver¡­(another alchemist material)

 

Heather Corley: Johannes Adam Schall von Bell (1591-1666)

I. Training and Arrival in China:

                Attended Tricoronatum Jesuit College of the Arts, German College at Rome, and Gregorian University

                Mastered Classical Latin, theology studies, was taught mathematics by a ¡°friend¡± of Galileo and Kepler; also studied law, history, geography, science, and biblical texts throughout his life

                Arrived in Macao in July of 1619 during the expulsion of Christians missionaries from China, and stayed there for three years

                Arrived in Beijing in January 1623

II. Gaining Access to Court in the Ming: The Calendar (Emperor Chongzhen; r. 1628-1644)

                Immediately presents the court with a list of his mathematical and astronomical knowledge

                Accurately predicts several eclipses and gains the friendship of the Finance Minister

                Predictions outdo all the Chinese and Muslim astronomers and the emperor commissions the Jesuits to reform the Calendar

                Emperor impressed enough to commission Schall to construct a private observatory for the emperor, repair a favored instrument, build 500 cannons, and design a defense strategy for the city

III. Gaining Access to Court in the Qing: (Emperors Shunzhi and Kangxi)

                Appointed Director of the Institute of Astronomy and becomes a fifth level official

                Saves young emperor from a possible overthrow by his regent (in the emperor¡¯s favor from here on)

                Raised to the Imperial Chamberlain and becomes the highest tier of the first level of mandarins

                ¡°Cures¡± emperor¡¯s betrothed and  from here on he is in the favor of the emperor¡¯s mother

IV. Use of Influence at Court:

                Tempers emperors rash and impulsive behavior

                Curbs the powers of the Tibetan lamas

                Helps more missionaries to enter China

                Keeps the Dutch from expanding their trade monopoly into China

                Numerous humanitarian causes

V. Downfall:

                Emperor Shunzhi dies in 1661; he had tuberculosis, but small pox took his life

                1644 Schall von Bell suffers a massive stroke leaving him mostly paralyzed and barely able to speak or walk

                Yang Guangxian and the new emperors regent conspire to do away with Christianity in China

                Inflammatory rumors and literature

                Schall von Bell and colleagues arrested and brought to court several times; finally jailed and Schall von Bell is sentenced to suffer Ling ch-ih while his colleagues are to be beheaded

                While in jail with their death warrants awaiting the emperors signature a comet appeared on 4-13-1645, 4-16 a huge earthquake rocks the city, 4-19 Schall von Bell¡¯s colleagues are given amnesty and released, 4-29 a fire destroys more than forty rooms in the Imperial Palace; five members of the Academy are beheaded, thirty missionaries are banished to Canton, but Schall von Bell is freed

                He is brought before the Minister of Rites three more times before he passes away in August 1666.

 Portraits of Adam Schall

Sextant by Adam Schall

Adam Schall explains the globe to the emperor

Portrait of the Shunzhi emperor (1644-1661)



Astronomical map by Adam Schall