The Chinese Empire through the Eyes of the Jesuit Missionaries (16th – 18th c.) Cover Image

Китайската империя през погледа на мисионерите йезуити (XVI – XVIII в.)
The Chinese Empire through the Eyes of the Jesuit Missionaries (16th – 18th c.)

Author(s): Pavel Petkov
Subject(s): History, Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature, Local History / Microhistory, Social history, Modern Age
Published by: Великотърновски университет „Св. св. Кирил и Методий”
Keywords: China; Jesuits; imagology; representation; Christianity

Summary/Abstract: During the 16th century quite a few European travelers came to China and wrote about their impressions, but they were not ready to look beyond the obvious order and prosperity of the country. The revelation of the inner spirit of the Chinese society remained a task for the 17th-century visitors when wealth and prosperity began to give way – in the minds of many European intellectuals – to less tangible things such as moral and political perfection. This new emphasis was even stronger because the main interpreters of China for 17th-century Europe were the Jesuit missionaries. This article examines their attitude towards the Chinese Empire.

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