Aleni Chinese Of Good And Evil, Ethics Of,

Gulio Aleni (1582-1649), Italian, one of the famous Jesuits to China in the late Ming Dynasty. During the36 years in China, he had carried out his mission in area of Fujian and promoted the development of Catholicism,making great contributions in the cultural communication between China and western world. Gulio Aleni is theJesuits who published the most works in Chinese, among which he had often mentioned the Christian ethic ongood and evil. This becomes the study domain of the present study to analyze the responses of the Chinesescholar-bureaucrats and common people, and to explore the differences in ethic value between China and westernworld and the practice ofAleni Julio's Cultural Adaptation, with the aim to prove that Cultural Adaptation is thedecisive element in his making distinctive achievements in the missionary in Fujian.Gulio Aleni's Christian ethic on good and devil includes five Chapters, good vs. evil, spirit vs. fresh, lifevs. death, secular vs. eternal happiness and nature vs. restraint. In each chapter, the first half part analyzes AleniJulio's opinions and trace down their origins, and the last half part elaborate the responses of the Chinesescholar-bureaucrats and common people, through which it is concluded about the differences in ethic valuebetween China and western world as following. Firstly, the Christian ethic is religious ethic with belief asessential while Chinese traditional ethic is secular ethic with the focus on moral human relations. Secondly, theChristian ethic value death more than life, while Chinese pay more attention to this life. Lastly, the Christian ethicvalue is based on individual while the Chinese one on family.The differences between China and the western world resulted in the barriers in their communication, butAleni Julio skillfully used the Cultural Adaptation to adapt to the Chinese tradition. While introducing theChristian ethic, he made a comprised between the concern of Chinese people's feeling and the explanation ofChristian doctrines. On the other hand, as long as it was not related to the basic principle of belief, he gave in toChinese culture in order to make the communication go smoothly. He adopted tolerative attitude toward thelocalization of Christian. As a result, he had made distinctive achievements in his missionary in Fujian. Thecultural understanding and assimilation based on the conflict and crash has realized the true meaning of culturalcommunication and exerted deep influences on the cultural enrichment and development.