The Study About The Missionary Matteo Ripa Coming To China At The Beginning Of Qing Dynasty

In history of cultural exchange between China and the West, late Ming and early Qing was a splendid time. In this period, many western Jesuits came to China, acted as media and bridges of the cultural exchange and made China and the West know each other more deeply than ever before. Many scholars have made a study of it. However, we seldom study non-Jesuits' role in the cultural exchange between China and the West. The study about the missionary Matteo Ripa from Order of Pious Labourers shows this obviously, who came to China at the beginning of Qing Dynasty.Based on the deep and careful study about Matteo Ripa, we can find that Matteo Ripa was a special but important person in history of cultural exchange between China and the West. Matteo Ripa made an important contribution to this cultural exchange, which the following five points show .First, Matteo Ripa's Chinese impression made a very important contribution to the cooling of Chinese vogue in Europe in the 18^th century.Second, Matteo Ripa's memoir supplied foreign scholars with valuable materials about early history of Qing Dynasty especially Kang Xi 's reign.Third, in history of art exchange between China and the West, Matteo Ripa introduced western copper-plate engraving to China for the first time and changed Chinese tradition of only making wood-plate one. Matteo Ripa's copper-plate engraving Bishushanzhuang 36 Different Views caused European especially British Chinese gardening vogue in the 18^th century.Fourth, The Chinese Rites Controversy was significant in history of mission and cultural exchange between China and the West. Our prior study emphasized the response of Jesuits in China and non-Jesuits in Europe to this controversy. We seldom notice non-Jesuits in China. We can understand this controversy better by studying Matteo Ripa's words and actions in it. Fifth, in history of Chinese studying abroad, the Chinese College founded by Matteo Ripa in his hometown Naples was the first teaching and studying unit in Europe aimed at training Chinese students studying abroad. The Chinese College showed that Matteo Ripa's preaching way was different from Matteo Ricci's accommodation. The Chinese College provided constant persons for Chinese mission when Qing Dynasty forbade the church severely.The study about Matteo Ripa shows that under the background of cultural exchange between China and the West, the missionaries coming to China acted as media and bridges of cultural exchange unmindfully no matter what sects they were and no matter what positions they were. The study also indicates that we must reinforce the research about non-Jesuits in China. Only by doing so, we can reveal complete appearance of this large-scale cultural exchange better.