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A Jesuit in the Forbidden City: Matteo Ricci 1552-1610
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About A Jesuit In The Forbidden City: Matteo Ricci
Product description 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. Review "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 About the Author R. Po-chia Hsia, a native of Hong Kong, 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 Sparks Professor of History, Religious Studies, and Asian Studies at the Pennsylvania State University, USA.
