The Understanding And Evaluation Of Western Missionaries On The Official Selection System In Late Ming And Early Qing China

In late Ming and early Qing Dynasty,Western missionaries who were responsible for the spread of religion came to China,and the exchange of East and West began to increase gradually.In the process of missionary work in China,Western missionaries introduced various aspects of Chinese society.However,the history circle has always been keen on the study of the Chinese official selection system by Western missionaries.However,understanding the system and regulations of Chinese official selection during this period also involves such aspects as the school system,the avoidance system,and the assessment system.Therefore,this article is based on the literature of the western missionaries in late Ming and early Qing dynasty on the system of selecting officials in China.Combined with the background of the time in the West and China at that time,to explore the cognitive condition during the Ming and Qing Dynasty official selection system,and make an objective understanding and evaluation of their achievements.The article is divided into four parts:the first chapter introduces the compilation records of the western missionary Mondoza in the middle and late 16^th century on the system of Chinese official selection,and analyzes the inheritance and development of official selection system knowledge in Mondoza and the early Western missionaries Cruz and Rada.However,Due to their lack of knowledge,their understanding is not comprehensive,and floated on the surface with self-understanding and imagination.After all,it opened the door for Western missionaries to introduce the Ming Dynasty's official selection system,and still has a pioneering significance.The second chapter first traces the scattered introduction on the official selection system in the Ming Dynasty of the early Jesuits San Fancisco Xavier,Belchior,Alexandro Valignani and Edouard de Sande who came to china in the 16^th century,then analyzes after Matteo Ricci assimilating of the former missionaries'the official election information and missionary experience,formulated the preaching strategy of"upper-line",opened up the missionary situation in China.The records of the Ming Dynasty bureaucratic system,school education,imperial examination,examination system and other contents began to be gradually clear and expanded,and became the benchmark of the later Western missionaries to introduce the official selection system of Ming and Qing Dynasty.The third chapter introduces the Jesuits Alvaro Semedo and Gabriel de Magalhaes in the first half of the 17^th Century,they inherited the preaching strategy of Matteo Ricci,and increased the records of the number and grade of the officials in Ming and Qing Dynasty,the early private education and school,the corruption in the official selection system,and expanded the breadth and depth of the awareness on the official selection system of western missionaries in Ming and Qing Dynasty.At the same time,other missionaries of this period supplemented the official selection system of Ming and Qing Dynasty in their works.Although there was not much discussion,but it made the western missionaries in the eyes of the Chinese official selection system more rich and perfect.The fourth chapter introduces the French Jesuits headed by Louis Le Comte and Joachim Bouve,after they entered the Qing Dynasty palace,they changed and carried out the court line.Therefore,their understanding of the Chinese official election system was mainly from the praise of the emperor's selection and supervision of the officials,but it overstated the role of the emperor.This period still continued the missionaries'records of Ming and Qing Dynasty on official selection system.With Western scholars'use of missionary's information about the official selection of Ming and Qing Dynasty,it triggered a“middle school craze”in Europe and promoted the establishment of Western civil service system to a certain extent.It can be seen that the Western missionaries in late Ming and early Qing dynasty have a progressive process of understanding the Chinese official selection system.With the gradual clearness of their research objects and the gradual expansion of the content,western missionaries'understanding of the Chinese official selection system has been complemented and amended by the form of literature,and has a significant impact on the west.