A Jesuit in the Forbidden City

A 16th century Italian Jesuit, Matteo Ricci was the founder of the Catholic Mission in China and one of the most famous missionaries of all time. A pioneer in bringing Christianity to China, Ricci spent twenty eight years in the country, in which time he crossed the cultural divides between China and the West by immersing himself in the language and culture of his hosts. Even 400 years later, he is still one of the best known westerners in China, celebrated forintroducing western scientific and religious ideas to China and for explaining Chinese culture to Europe. The first critical biography of Ricci to use all relevant sources, bothChinese and Western, A Jesuit in the Forbidden City tells the story of a remarkable life that bridged Counter-Reformation Catholic Europe and China under the Ming dynasty. Hsia follows the life of Ricci from his childhood in Macerata, through his education in Rome, to his sojourn in Portuguese India, before the start of his long journey of self-discovery and cultural encounter in the Ming realm. Along the way, we glimpse the workings of the Portuguese maritime empire in Asia, themission of the Society of Jesus, and life in the European enclave of Macau on the Chinese coast, as well as invaluable sketches of Ricci's fellow Jesuits and portraits of the Chinese mandarins who formed networksindispensible for Ricci's success. Examining a range of new sources, Hsia offers important new insights into Ricci's long period of trial and frustration in Guangdong province, where he first appeared in the persona of a foreign Buddhist monk, before the crucial move to Nanchang in 1595 that led to his sustained intellectual conversation with a leading Confucian scholar and subsequent synthesis of Christianity and Confucianism in propagating the Gospels in China. With hisexpertise in cartography, mathematics, and astronomy, Ricci quickly won recognition, especially after he had settled in Nanjing in 1598, the southern capital of the Ming dynasty. As his reputation andfriendships grew, Ricci launched into a sharp polemic against Buddhism, while his career found its crowning achievement in the imperial capital of Beijing, leaving behind a life, work, and legacy that is still very much alive today.

“"The biography reiterates Ricci's stunning intellectual achievements and scientific expertise."--Jocelyn M. N. Marinescu "The book is a solid biography with accurate and abundant resources."--Paul Sung Cheun Noh "[A] rich , magisterial study..."--Karen Gottschang Turner, College of the Holy Cross "This is a fine book, one which makes a signal contribution to our understanding of early modern Europe's interactions with East Asia...In its carefulness and depth of research, its elegance of prose, and its balanced evaluations, I believe that this book will stand the test of time."--Church History "A significant, timely, and important contribution to many fields of scholarship. This work thus not only takes its place as an equal among its worthy predecessors in this subset of studies about East-West cultural exchange during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties but also becomes the mark to which all other works must now aspire."--Journal of World History”

Review from previous edition Ronnie Po-chia Hsia's A Jesuit in the Forbidden City is hands down the best scholarly biography of Ricci to date, and unlikely to be surpassed ... the book provides an account that is accessible as well as thorough.'Timothy Brook, Literary ReviewDeeply learned yet rivetingly readable, R Po-Chia Hsia's biography introduces a remarkable figure whose life represents a dramatic cultural collision of east and west.'Michael Kerrigan, The ScotsmanA riveting read and highly detailed, yet is an accessible retelling of Matteo Ricci's mission to China, recapturing both the exhilaration and the dangerous exoticism of his life.'James Kelly, The TabletHsia enables us to see the Jesuit's achievement in a much fuller and richer context than hitherto... he deserves our considerable gratitude for leaving us with such a vivid and affecting, yet critically acute, portrait.'Simon Ditchfield, University of York`Accessible yet highly readable, A Jesuit in the Forbidden City is a riveting read and probably the most fully detailed re-telling of Matteo Ricci's mission to China, re-capturing the exhilaration but dangerous exoticness of his life.'James Kelly, Catholic Times

A native of Hong Kong, R. Po-chia Hsia was educated in his home town, the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States. He is a specialist on early modern Europe and on the social and cultural exchanges between China and the West. Author and editor of a dozen books, with translations into Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Spanish, and German, Hsia has received signal academic honours in many countries. He is a member of the Academia Sinica and the Edwin Erle SparksProfessor of History, Religious Studies, and Asian Studies at the Pennsylvania State University, USA.

A 16th century Italian Jesuit, Matteo Ricci was the founder of the Catholic Mission in China and one of the most famous missionaries of all time. A pioneer in bringing Christianity to China, Ricci spent twenty eight years in the country, in which time he crossed the cultural divides between China and the West by immersing himself in the language and culture of his hosts. Even 400 years later, he is still one of the best known westerners in China, celebrated for introducing western scientific and religious ideas to China and for explaining Chinese culture to Europe. The first critical biography of Ricci to use all relevant sources, both Chinese and Western, A Jesuit in the Forbidden City tells the story of a remarkable life that bridged Counter-Reformation Catholic Europe and China under the Ming dynasty. Hsia follows the life of Ricci from his childhood in Macerata, through his education in Rome, to his sojourn in Portuguese India, before the start of his long journey of self-discovery and cultural encounter in the Ming realm. Along the way, we glimpse the workings of the Portuguese maritime empire in Asia, the mission of the Society of Jesus, and life in the European enclave of Macau on the Chinese coast, as well as invaluable sketches of Ricci's fellow Jesuits and portraits of the Chinese mandarins who formed networks indispensible for Ricci's success. Examining a range of new sources, Hsia offers important new insights into Ricci's long period of trial and frustration in Guangdong province, where he first appeared in the persona of a foreign Buddhist monk, before the crucial move to Nanchang in 1595 that led to his sustained intellectual conversation with a leading Confucian scholar and subsequent synthesis of Christianity and Confucianism in propagating the Gospels in China. With his expertise in cartography, mathematics, and astronomy, Ricci quickly won recognition, especially after he had settled in Nanjing in 1598, the southern capital of the Ming dynasty. As his reputation and friendships grew, Ricci launched into a sharp polemic against Buddhism, while his career found its crowning achievement in the imperial capital of Beijing, leaving behind a life, work, and legacy that is still very much alive today.

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