EARLY CHINESE CONTACT WITH THE WEST

(16^TH- early 19^TH CENTURY) (CONT.)

INTELLECTUAL CONTACT

Jesuit Matteo Ricci (1552-1610): an individual success story in China. His Classical Chinese language works Treatise on Friendship (Jiao-yu lun) and Western Memory techniques (Xi guo ji fa), were written between 1595 and 1596.

1735 Rites Controversy: debate between Vatican and missionaries "in the field" over the proper attitude that a Christian should adopt toward Confucian practices, particularly ancestor worship. The Pope eventually condemned all Chinese rituals, and Kangxi (r. 1661 - 1722) expelled almost all Christian missionaries from China.

Voltaire (1694-1778): impressed with what he read of Chinese achievements. Qing emperor Qianlong (r.1736-1796) as a "philosopher king."

Chinoiserie as a movement swept Europe in mid-18th century.

By 1820's the German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) was contending that "Oriental Civilizations,” particularly the Chinese people, had been passed over by the “World Spirit,” which Hegel believed was the spirit of individual freedom.

For more on this point, see this translation of the introduction to Hegel’s The Philosophy of History on the University of Idaho’s web site at http://www.ets.uidaho.edu/mickelsen/texts/Hegel%20-%20Philosophy%20of%20History.htm

Matteo Ricci:

http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/PictDisplay/Ricci_Matteo.html

The Kangxi Emperor:

http://www.chinapage.com/painting/kangxi2.html

Voltaire:

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7308/portrt.jpg

Examples of Chinoiserie:

Furniture: http://www.faccents.com/chinoiserie-furniture.html

Wallpaper sample from the palace of George IV (1762-1830): http://www.royalinsight.gov.uk/199910/focus/wallpdet-full.html

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