The Papal Legate Maillard De Tournon And Macau

The Chinese Rites Controversy has always been a major topic of debate on the history of Sino-European Intercourse. For the Occident. it offered the broad masses of the european a great chance to get to know about China and its nation. As for China, the influence would, without any doubt. be negative. Along with the decreasing mutual contacts, the misunderstanding grew gradually between both sides. With regard to modern technologies. China fell obviously far behind the times. The study over the Rites Controversymay. to a great extent, respond to Joseph Needhanrs Grand Question:Why was Chinese civilization, between thefirst century B.C. and the fifteenth century A.D., so much more efficient than the West in applyinghuman natural knowledge to practical human needs? In other words, what had happened toexplain why this lead never led to "modern " science in China? Why did modern science, especially the mathematicization of hypotheses about Nature, with all its implications foradvanced technology, develop only in the West at the time of Galileo?From1650s to1750s. there occurred such long and heated discussions around Confucianism and Chinese traditional convention among missionaries, between missions and the Holy See as well as that between the former and the Imperial Emperors of China. The Jesuits, who followed the Practice of Matteo Ricci, and the Mendicants, who rigorously insisted on the original doctrine, stood in sharp opposition to the issues concerning the terms of theology translated into Chinese and the attitude towards the local sacrifice habitudes. In the meantime, the position of the Floly See had also experienced several dramatic changes.During these great trans-century discussions, the legation to China of Papal Legate Charles Maillard de Tournon played, in a certain way, the breaking point. The December5th1701, the Pope at that time Clement XI nominated, following the repeated recommendations of Jesuits, Tournon the Apostolici ad Sinas,&Indias Orientales Legati, of which the main task is to conduct, on behalf of the Holy See, the Rites affairs. Unfortunately and unexpectedly, Tournon’s legation ended up with no results and his own death in Macau.Maillard de Tournon, as a dignified Papal Legate, died as a prisoner in Macau. The tragedy itself provided so much food for thought. How did he turned from a mediator to a trouble-maker, then ended as a victim? Meanwhile, the city of Macau, which role did it played in what had happened? Were there any specific meanings? All of these need answers. Therefore, this research will focus on Tournon’s stay in Macau and aims at answering these questions. By doing combined study of both Chinese and western resources, we try to dig deeper into his misfortune in Macau and make new conclusions.The target of this research is two-sided:1) Based on the historical details of Tournon’s imprisonment in Macau, this research aims at looking into the conflicts and respective positions by presenting the diverse attitudes of Portuguese Macau, the Imperial Court of Qing, missions as well as that of the Holy See.2) In the view of Sino-European Intercourse, this research will proceed a synchronized and comparative study of Chinese and western resouces as well as a accurate catch of background characteristic of times. Thus, we try to put the Legation into the global history for further consideration.As for the content, this article is divided into three parts.1) The First Part includes Introduction, Chapter One as well as Chapter two. This part constitute a base for this individual case study and foreshadows the further analysis.Introduction-This Article will review the past before Tournon’s depart to China. In the meatime, we will put foreward here the motivation and the significance of this individual case study.Chapter One-Literature review of the study on Tournon’s Legation. In this chapter, we will do a literature review of the study on Tournon’s Legation. The review will be from two aspects:on one hand, we will examine the relative studies mentionned in the research of Chinese Rites Controversy; on the other hand, we will also examine the studies exclusivement focused on the Legation. Afterwards, by analysing the characteristics of orientations and resources, we will put forward here the innovation of this individual case study.Chapter Two-Historical Resourcesof Tournon’s Legation. As the base for all historical studies, original resources are the key factors, to which nearly all the researchers give first priority. Therefore, in this chapter, we will generally sort out the materials related to the Legation, both Chinese and western ones. The materials contains the official records from every side, the letters, the official documents and so on. For some important ones, we will give a brief presentation. Meanwhile, as what we had mentioned above, since this article is projected to focus on Tournon’s stay in Macau, we will specifically emphasize here the materails related to the affairs in Macau.2) The Second Part includes Chapter Three. Chapter Four as well as Chapter Five. This part constitute the main section of this individual case study, where we will discuss here the historical details of Tournon’s Legation to China.Chapter Threc-Maillard de Tournon. In this chapter, we will talk about the Papal Legate himself. By taking advantage of records from the Holy See, the genealogy of Tournon’s family and other resources, we will introduce here the protagonist of this tragedy-the Cardinal Charles-Thomas Maillard de Tournon. Futhermore. we will try to dig the reasons why he was elected by Clement XI the Papal Legate from different aspects, for instance, the noblesse of his family, his personality&loyalty as well as spirit of sacrifice, the recommendations from the Jesuits and others.Chapter Four-From Beijing to Macao:Unsuccessful negotiations. In this chapter, we will at first take a quick look at what had happened in Beijing by using both the Chinese Imperial memorials from the Court of Kangxi and the western records. It was during this period that the contradictions between the Holy See and Kangxi grew in breadth and in depth. This period also constitute, in a certain way, a reason of Tournon being expelled to Macau by Kangxi. In addition, at the end of this chapter, we will also discuss the memorial of Kangxi to expel Tournon, the location of imprisonment in Macau and the reason why Kangxi had chosen Macau.Chapter Five-Tragedy in Macao:Intensification of contradictions. In this chapter, we will analyse the diverse attitides with regard to Tournon being expelled to Macau. Only by revealing the different positions, could we go deep into the historical details of Tournon’s misfortune in Macau. We will proceed from three sides:first of all, the suppression from Portuguese Macau and Jesuits; the second, the support from Clement XI and Count of Lizzaraga; the third, the final struggle of Tournon himself.3) The Third Part includes Chapter Six and Conclusion.Chapter Six-Analysis on the Legation of Maillard de Tournon. Instead of "analysis", we would rather regard it as a trial for "extracting". What is the role of Tournon’s legation at that time in Europe and in the whole process of Chinese Rites Controversy? Therefore, in this chapter, we will look into this legation from two aspects. On one hand, we will reveal here the past of Tournon’s departure. By analysing the conflicts among secular and religious authorities, we try to put this legation into global history for further consideration. On the other hand, we emphasize here the diverse positions of the missions towards Tournon’s misfortune in Macau. There were even conflicts among the Missionaries in China, which we believe would, to a great extent, pose the other key factor besides the ideological conflicts in the whole process of Chinese Rites Controversy.Conclusion-Based what have been revealed above, we get to conclude as follows. First of all, with regard to the historical background, the death of Tournon in Macau is a matter of necessity; and then, as for Tournon’s negociations with the Court of Kangxi, he had tried his best to do what was entrusted to him by the Pope Clement XI; finally, Tournon’s tragedy is, in a certain way, a epitome of the conflicts among the Missionariesin the whole process of Chinese Rites Controversy. Tournon himself, in this view, is a prey for these deeply worried conflicts.