The .17-18 Century French Jesuits In China's Science And Technology Study,

In the 17th-18th centuries, the main medium of the cultural communication between China and the West was performed by Jesuits, of whom the French Jesuits wrote the most books, and exercised the greatest influence. Through the close contact with the French Royal Academy of Sciences, the French Jesuits delivered nearly 1000 letters and published a lot of books to introduce the traditional science and culture of China, which gave rise to the first "Sinomania" in the West. During that time, the magnum opus Lettres Edifiantes et Curieuses Ecrites des Missions Etrangères came into being. Although the magnum opus made a great impact then, up to now the most study of that book has been focused on the aspect of religion, philosophy and art, and its science part has not drawn proper attention.Through the analysis on the scientific knowledge described in that book, my article tries to systematically introduce the study situations on Chinese Science &Technology by the French Jesuits in China during 17th-18th centuries. And by comparing their introductive activities with the background of the French society and culture, the paper makes a further study on the conversion view of French people on Chinese science, and the reason of the conversion.Except preface and the epilogue,the paper includes the following five core parts:Part One: An overview of the situations of the French Jesuits in China during 17th-18th centuries, and the communications between China and France. This part includes general activities of the French Jesuits, their influence, climax of the movement and the important works.Part Two mainly introduces the book Lettres Edifiantes et Curieuses Ecrites des Missions Etrangères with a comment on its contents, value and significance,and its authore Jean-Baptiste Du Halde.Part Three uses the chart statistics to do Macro-inspection on the whole activities introduced by this book, which includes four dimensionalities: area, period, subject and characters. Area dimensionality studies in particular the regional characteristics and their reasons. Period dimensionality analyzes especially the features of the time and their causes. Subject dimensionality expounds the important influence made by the French Jesuits on different subjects. Character dimensionality emphasizes the importance of French Jesuits' activities and their contribution.Part Four is mostly case studies of the sciences introduced in this book, including china-making technique, botany, Chinese medicine and other important sciences. This part dwells on the detailed knowledge and technology introduced in the book.Part Five introduces the conversion process of the view on Chinese science by the French people during 17-18th centuries, and analyzes the reason of this conversion.