Matteo Ricci, who lived from 1552 to 1610, was an Italian Jesuit priest who struggled for 30 years to bring Christianity to China. Few missionaries have ever managed to win the respect of Chinese officials, but Ricci managed to gain the confidence and admiration of the emperor himself.
In the 16th century all traces of earlier missions to China had vanished. The Nestorians of the 7th century and Catholic monks of the 13th and 14th centuries had been forgotten and the few priests who were admitted into the country were ignored, or worse, punished for their proselytizing.
Coming to Guangzhou through the Portuguese enclave of Macau, Ricci realized that he would have to study China’s language and customs if he was to have any success spreading the gospel. He also shaved his head to appear similar to a Buddhist monk hoping this would eliminate other obstructions to his preaching.
In 1589, after nearly ten years winning small acclaim for his knowledge and descriptions of the advances of the West – then believed to be largely barbaric compared to China – he headed slowly north to continue his work. Now appreciating the role of Confucius€’ teachings in Chinese society, he swapped his Buddhist robes for those of a Confucian and pragmatically suggested that the ancient rites were not incompatible with worship of the Christian God.
By 1599,he had established himself in Nanjing and introduced the Chinese to Western mathematics, astronomy and geography. Many found his descriptions of Euclid and other important figures baffling, but all were intrigued at what this (supposedly barbarian) foreigner knew and was trying to teach.
Perhaps his greatest achievement was in mapmaking. It was this that particularly astonished the Ming dynasty emperor, who finally agreed to see him in January 1601. Earlier maps from Zheng He’s explorations hadn’t illustrated to the same degree the size and number of the other kingdoms around the world or China’s relative geographical position. The emperor immediately demanded Ricci make a copy of the Great Map of Ten Thousand Countries for the palace.
Now given a residence in Beijing, Ricci used his position to spread Christian teachings. The emperor was presented with images of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and a crucifix, as well as a chiming clock to distract from the seriousness of the other gifts. Ricci wrote a number of short moral treatises, in Chinese and adapted to Chinese tastes, about Christian morality and the beliefs behind the faith. His True Doctrine of God became influential and was used by other missionaries for years after his death.