Research On Jesuits’ Study Of China’Geography During The16^th-18^th Centuries

In the16-18th centuries, living between two geographic regions and cultures, western missionaries, especially Jesuits, started cognizing and studying Chinese geography. They recorded Chinese geographic information in their reports, letters, maps and works, and these became the sources of modern European knowledge on Chinese geography.The three Chinese atlases of Michele Ruggieri, Michael Boym and Martino Martini brilliantly represented European scientific research on Chinese geography. For the first time, China’s geographical features were measured by longitude and latitude, and some important places were marked. The work was as important as drawing world maps, done by Matteo Ricci. This was a process of establishing brand new "world outlook" and spreading western geographic knowledge and world concept; it was a process of building up new "Chinese outlook" and spreading Chinese geographic knowledge to Europe.During this period, Jesuits who entered into China wrote lots of important comprehensive Sinology works such as China in the Sixteenth Century:the Journals of Matteo Ricci,1585-1610written by Matteo Ricci and Nicolas Trigault, The History of That Great and Renowned Monarchy of China by Alvaro Semedo, A New History of the Empire of China by Gabriel de Magalhaes and A Compleat History of the Empire of China by Louis Le Comte. These works contain detailed records about geographic positions, cities, population, products, custom, and so on of China. With the help of these works, human geography was presented clearly. Based on these research findings, the view on Chinese geography started to form, which also became the powerful ways to publicize China and explain the accommodation policy of Jesuits. By the early18th century, Jesuits in China had started measuring the whole state map massively. Under the group cooperation and with joint efforts, The Huangyu quantu and Qianlong neifu yutu were finally finished, which put China at the forefront of the world in terms of cartography. It expanded the depth and width of Chinese geographic research and encouraged Europeans’understanding about Chinese geography. Thus, Chinese geographic knowledge was included into the academic treasure of Europe and became the most direct carrier for Europeans to understand China.However, Chinese’s understanding about their own geography had been stagnate. Even in modern times, we still want to re-dig and review our national geographic resources from western achievements.The paper focuses on Jesuits who entered China and worked on Chinese geographic research during the16th-18th centuries. Using historical comparison and cross culture research, this paper aims to explore how Jesuits worked on Chinese geography, how their research became an important venue for cultural communication, and how their research can help us understand Chinese geography.It has the following three aspects:Ⅰ. It discusses how Chinese geography was imagined and explored before Jesuits entered China and how Chinese geography was understood before the17th century. It tries to reveal the mission of the time and the inner value of Jesuits’ work on Chinese geography.Ⅱ. It describes the background and process of Jesuits’ work on Chinese geography in the16th to18th centuries. Focusing on the research methods, detailed research contents, and research achievements in three stages, it tries to reveal the progressive course of the academic research done by Jesuits in China.Ⅲ. It examines the understanding and evaluation of China and Chinese geographic knowledge by the westerners. It also tries to explore the historical opportunity and the manifestation of Europeans’ understanding of Chinese geography. Through demonstrating the process of how Europeans understood Chinese geography, this paper also aims to investigate the historic mechanism and the significance of cultural exchange and cultural interaction at the macro level.