Giulio Aleni, Kouduo richao, and Christian-Confucian Dialogism in Late Ming Fujian

Abstract

The primary concern of this book is to explore the intercultural encounter of Chi-na and Europe by way of analysing Catholic missions in the first half of the 17th century. Specifically, it focuses on the mission work of the Italian Jesuit Giulio Aleni (Ai Rulüe 艾儒略, 1582–1649) in Fujian, and the unique eight-volume text Kouduo richao 口鐸日抄 (Diary of Oral Admonitions, 1630–1640) recording in detail the religious and intellectual conversations between him and local converts. The dialogic learning was comparable to the master-disciple pattern of knowledge transmission among Song–Ming Neo-Confucians. By taking a closer look at the mechanisms of dialogue in Kouduo richao and dozens of other Catholic works embedded with a certain dialogue form, I aim to unfold the complex formation of a hybrid, or in-between, Christian-Confucian identity and religious life in late Ming Fujian. Based on in-depth textual and contextual analysis, I would also bring to reconsideration some major methodologies in recent scholarship. My critical reflections will lead to an alternative approach, i.e., dialogic hybridization. It not only treats dialogue as an important yet underestimated genre in late Ming Chris-tian literature, but it also uncovers a subtle self–other identity complex among the Jesuits and Confucian converts in their dialogic exchanges as well as daily reli-gious experiences. In this book, I examine a number of interconnected religious, scientific, moral, and ritual themes from Kouduo richao and other dialogic Catholic works produced during the late Ming period. Their origins can be traced back to both European and Chinese traditions, and they confronted or converged within the context of 17th-century Sino-Western encounter. Aleni’s introduction of Western learning was highly selective to the medieval scholastic heritage, yet at the same time adap-tive to the dominant Confucian ideology in imperial China. Chinese converts, on the other hand, tended to reinterpret (or misinterpret) classical Confucianism and the newly introduced Learning from Heaven in order to affirm their new compo-site Christian–Confucian identity. As to spiritual and moral learning, Aleni and his convert disciples engaged in discussions on the essential Catholic doctrines and Confucian teachings on self-perfection. They adopted a set of mutually acceptable concepts, for example, filial piety to God as da fumu 大父母 (Great Father–Mother). In addition, Catholic and Western images (prints, paintings, and maps), objects (cross, relics, telescope, and clavichord), as well as rituals (baptism, mass, confession, and funeral) in daily experiences took a notable portion in the conversations among Aleni, his confreres, and Chinese con-verts. They clearly testified that the hybrid Christian-Confucian identity was also realized in multilayered visual representations. Despite the growing anti-Christian sentiments of the time, these images, objects, and rituals found their ways to emerge and take root in the local socio-religious landscape. For the Jesuits and Chinese converts, this type of dialogic learning was both interpersonal and inter-cultural. Dialogism became a realistic, effective means for them to achieve one universal salvation of the Lord of Heaven: thinkable in mind, expressible in word, and practicable in action.