Emperor Kang Xi And The Bouvet Relations

In recent years, the problem of culture exchange during the Ming and Qing dynastieshas attracted the historians’ extensive attentions. Althouth a great progress in the research ofMassionaries in China has been made, we still focused on the few figures,such as MatteoRicci, Johann Adam Schall von Bell and Ferdinand Verbiest. Also we gave affirmation to theirrelationships with the emperor and their important positions and roles in the Missionaryactivities during the Ming and Qing dynasties.However the less attention paid to Missionariesafter Verbiest is undoubtedly a research gap of both the Western culture and theMissionaries.Kangxi emperor played an important role in the spread of Western culture as well as theCatholicism.As the teacher of the emperor, Joachim Bouvet,who accompanied with Kangxiemperor for decades, inevitablely had a great impact on the emperor. Joachim Bouvet is animportant figure for studying the Missionaries and the culture exchange between China andthe West. As a French missionary, Joachim Bouvet not only promoted the exchanges andcommunication between China and France, but also expanded the influences which Westernculture and religions made in China, even played an important role in the communicationbetween the East and West.The knowledge and skills that Joachim Bouvet learned in school did a full preparationfor his mission in China.After getting along with Kangxi emperor for about forty years,heintroduced both the knowledge and skills of the West,thus made a great contribution to theculture exchange between the East and West. Bouvet focused on Chinese classical culturewith great passion.On the instructions of Kangxi emperor,through studying the “I Ching”,heseemed to find a new road for preaching,which viewed the thougt expressed in the classics ofancient China was in accordance with Christian doctrine,the former may be the earliestrecord of the latter.Bouvet translated a large number of Western mathematics, physics, medicine, and otherwritings. Under his participation and management, using the most advanced methods ofsurveying and mapping,they had drawn the most advanced map in the whole Asia at that time.Under his endeavor, the emperor established the Royal Academy of Sciences in China called蒙养斋算学馆, which trained a large number of talents.Bouvet was communicating with those famous Western scholars by all kinds of meansall the time, he was interested in Chinese culture,also introduced many ancient classics to theWest.When returned to France as the emissary of Kangxi emperor, Bouvet set off a new roundof Chinese hot in France and Europe. In one word, Bouvet built a bridge for culturalexchanges between the East and the West, he also played a leading and pioneering role in therise of French Sinology.