The Catholic Infiltration And The Interaction Between Catholic Missionaries And Local Literati In Hangzhou Region In Late Ming And Early Qing Period

The late Ming and early Qing is a key period for the Catholic mission in China. As a bridge connecting the East and the West, Catholic missionaries, while bringing into China many Western cultural elements, bore the task of laying the root for Catholicism growth in China. Jiangnan(江南)as the most economically prosperous and culturally developed area in Ming-Qing China once witnessed a thriving spread of Catholicism. The Catholic mission in Hangzhou(杭州)is particularly worth mentioning in terms of the status of the parish, the quality of disciples, and the radiation and influence beyond the parish. Jiangnan was an area where literati stratum had important influence in local societies, therefore the missionaries paid much attention to their interaction with literati and placed emphasis on persuading the literati to be catholic or to be tolerant of Catholicism. The activities of those literati-disciples and pro-Catholicism literati could by no means be neglected for their involvement in the start of mission and spread of Catholicism in this area. The adaptive strategy played an important role for introducing Catholicism into local societies. However, it also sowed the seeds of future failure. Supplementing Confucianism(补�')reduced the doctrines of Catholicism into an appendage of Confucianism and Buddism-exclusion(辟佛)gave rise to an anti-Catholicism group and inappropriate Localization, which made Catholicism gradually lose its characteristics in this area. And eventually, the influence of Catholicism in this area faded away until vanished after the Catholicism Prohibition(禁教)by the Qing government.