A Study Of Jesuit Interpretation Of Yijing During The Ming And Qing Dynasty

As a historical event,the Jesuits preaching in China from the 16th century to the 17th century is of vital importance in Western and Chinese cultural communication.The peaceful contact with China was quite an exception during the almost bloody expansion of the western power.During the process,the Jesuits played a dominant part.Matteo Ricci,Michele Ruggieri,Jeam Adam Schall von Bell and the famed Jesuits contributed a lot in this cultural mission.For almost 200 years,numerous Chinese classics were translated and then got recognized in Europe.Jesuits devoted enthusiams in Chinese classics triggered Europs's interest in China,and thus marked the beginning of Sinology.The Book of Change(Yijing)was interpreted from many aspects by Jesuits because the Jesuits firmly believed that God's providence were hidden in the ancient text.The introduction is an overview of Jesuits's research.Researches abroad tend to focus on historical background while researches at home tend to focus on specifics of their work,such as in the field of mathematics,astronomy,calendar and history.However,the majority of these researches are about the interaction between Confucianism and Christianity while there are a few works pay specific attention the Jesuits's Yiology.The first chapter is an introduction the how the Jesuit society got established,the history and its characters.The Jesuit society has always been controversial in history because of its cultural accomodation policy.In order to attract more Chinese to Christianity,the Jesuits devoted a lot of energy to the study of traditional Chinese culture and works,trying to interpret the classics with Christian faith.Yijing was regarded as the perfect example because of its vague texts and mysterious pictures and images.During this process,Yijing was translated and explained repeatedly,thus boosting the study of Yijing in the West.The second chapter let readers know how the Roman Catholic Church and the Chinese literati reacted toward Jesuits' interpretation of Yijing.There are quite opposite attitude toward this research and the Jesuits have to face attacks and reproaches from both the west and China.Nevertheless,there are still supporters who can help them understand difficult texts and explanations.It was with the help of these Chinese supporters that the Jesuits could carry on with their work.The third chapter dwells on specific interpolations of image,numbers,texts in Yijing make by Jesuits.They tried to figure out the sacred meaning of numbers in Yijing by picking out some specific number such as 3 and 10 and confirming they were connected closely with the Bible.The Chinese characters were also deemed as holy for they can be take a part and the catholic truth was hidden inside.As for the words for each 'gua' and 'yao',the Jesuits explained them in a way that they can be regared as retelling the stories in the Bible.The forth chapter dwells upon three typical concept:'Shangdi','Taiji' and'shengren'.To make sure that the Christian God is the only God who created the whole universe,Jesuits had to explain 'Shangdi' and 'Taiji' in such a way that they were no longer the source of all living being,which was clearly put in Yijing.As for'shengren',many Jesuits tried to interpret it into a Chinese version of Jesus to show that God's mercy was also once in the land of China.The fifth chapter is an evaluation of the Jesuits'interpretive endeavor.It should be admitted that there exists intentional misinterpreting of the Chinese classics,but it also should be recognized that their research did expand the academic possibilities and allowed new ideas coming into this ancient field.Their approach is a contribution to the development of Sinology and the study of Yijing.Some theories were rejected,and some were preserved in the Chinese academic tradition.The influence of Jesuit research on Europe is more obvious,allowing Sinology to blossom and initiating the western Yio logy.