A Study On The Relationship Among Society Of Jesus, The Chinese Regime And Macao (1557-1722)

As the vanguard and mainstay of Catholic missionary to the Far East, Society of Jesus actively participated in trade, defense and diplomacy which seemingly little relevance to missionary activities at the same time of preach. This paper described the relationship among Society of Jesus , the regime in China and Macau , analyzed the secularity of Society of Jesus's missionary activities.The first chapter introduced Portugal's Padroado and the foundation of Macao Bishop zones , analysed the three major sources of Society of Jesus's outlay: the gain of the Macao-based maritime trade, Portuguese Macao's grants and the salary and reward of the Chinese governments, and evaluated the commercial activities of Society of Jesus, affirmed that Jesuits are not simply missionaries.The second chapter mainly expounded the relationship between the Society of Jesus and Chinese regime on the occasion of the Ming and Qing Dynasty. Through historical facts, it is not difficult to find that Jesuits get their effort to establish a harmonious relationship with the various governments on the occasion of the Ming and Qing Dynasty. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Jesuits played an important role at the central government's purchase guns and recruitment from Macao. Jesuits also severed in South Ming regime, and Jesuit Michael Boym also as Nanming's envoy visited to Europe to seek assistance. But as the situation become increasingly clear, the vast majority of Jesuits came to recognize comparison of the political forces in China, and went into the embrace of the Qing regime initiatively.The third chapter described the Jesuits'help to Macao in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasty. In addition, it described the conflicts between Jesuits and the Portuguese authorities in Macao. Jesuits'activities were very distinctly demonstrate their secular nature.