Disruptive foreigners or welcomed guests from afar? Chinese views of Jesuit missionaries in the late Ming period

HOSNE, ANA CAROLINA

Historical Interactions of Religious Cultures

Mohr Siebeck

Lugar: Tübingen; Año: 2025 p. 1 - 25

2941-4172

This article examines the presence of Jesuit missionaries on Chinese soil in the seventeenth century in light of two major historical dichotomies throughout Chinese history, i.e. the Hua-yi and the Zheng-xie. The former, in general terms, differentiated the Hua 華 – the “Chinese” – from foreign populations, the yi 夷, since pre-imperial times. In the 16th century it also involved the Jesuits’ status of “foreigners” in late Ming China. The Zheng-xie dichotomy could refer to religious movements and doctrines, marking the distinction between the Confucian, “orthodox” teachings (zheng 正) and the “heterodox” (xie 邪) doctrines and/or movements, which were not under control of the State. In the context of a growing anti-Christian atmosphere in the seventeenth century, the Jesuits’ religious teachings and proselytizing methods of a foreign doctrine were labeled as “heterodox”. Both anti-Christian persecutions and literature reveal the extent to which the presence of Jesuits in China was considered disruptive by their opponents. However, Chinese voices with positive views of the missionaries, appreciative of their will to adapt to local soil, encouraged further reflections on the hua-yi distinction and the encounter of the Chinese and European worlds. Ultimately, this article reflects on how different Chinese voices regarding the European missionaries exposed the major question of the value (or lack thereof) of the latter’s contribution on Chinese soil.