(EN) Draft Memorial Discussing (Western) Learning

Title

(Chinese translitteration) Bianxue shugao

(CN) 辯學疏稿

Creator

Xu Guangqi 徐光啓 (1562 – 1633)

Subject

Defence of Western learning

Abstract

Memorial in defence of Western science, in which three methods are proposed to test Western missionaries: translating the texts imported from the West in order to determine whether they are subversive; organising a debate between Christian missionaries and Buddhist and Taoist representatives, to be judged by Confucian officials; and requesting the production of a translated compendium outlining the general meaning of their teachings and rules, to be submitted to the Emperor’s judgement.

As methods of control, it is proposed: (1) to regulate their means of subsistence, considered a source of suspicion, ensuring that it does not derive from the West but rather from local stipends or donations; (2) to monitor their conduct locally through a written guarantee provided by respectable local families, with the provision that, should they misbehave, they be expelled and their guarantors likewise punished; (3) to conduct investigations by local officials and require periodic reports in order to verify the conduct of Westerners.

Publisher

s.l. [China]

Date

1616
Wanli sishi si nian qi yue 萬曆四十四年七月

Type

Public Domain

Download the full book

Format

Printed text, 112 pages (14A and 14 B together)

Identifier

RARI.I.VII.14 B

Source

Biblioteca Universitaria di Genova

Language

Chinese

Relation

Italian translation: Paternicò, Luisa Maria (2020), "Memoriale in difesa della scienza", in E. Giunipero (ed.) Xu Guangqi e gli studi celesti: Dialogo di un letterato cristiano dell’epoca Ming con la scienza occidentale, pp. 151-167.

Provenance

Stamp of the Royal University of Genoa (large format, 4.5 cm x h.2.5 cm); on a separated paper, a manuscript notes “Rev: do Patri Preposito Domus Professae Genuensis Societatis Jesu =Carolus Turottis”, from Carlo Giovanni Turcotti (1634-1706) to the Reverend Father Prepositor of the Professed House of the Society of Jesus in Genoa.

Description

(Physical description) Red leather cover, decoration with golden flowers on the spine and on the nail, marbled paper back cover applied to the front and back board; wire-bound endpapers without the presence of watermark; 18th century binding.
When opening the book in the Western reading direction, there is a loose cover sheet, but with the modern location of the book written in pencil [(Rari I.VII.14(2)], bearing the handwritten note “Rev: do Patri Preposito Domus Professae Genuensis Societatis Jesu =Carolus Turottis”.

(Size) 23,7x14,4 (cm, height x width, thickness)

Has Version

See Chinese Christian Texts Database (CCT-Database)

Exemplars:
BAV (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Rome)
- shelf: Borgia Cinese, 324.13 (can be consulted online)
- shelf: Raccolta Generale Oriente, III, 213.10
BnF (Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris)
- shelf: Chinois, 7150-II (MS, fols. 112-119: 徐相國辨學奏疏)
- shelf: Chinois, 9201-VII (same edition as Raccolta Generale Oriente III, 213.10)
BOD (Bodleian Library, Chinese collection, Oxford)
- shelf: Sinica, 1018
ZKW (Zikawei 徐家匯, Shanghai)
- shelf: ZKW, 230
Biblioteca Universitaria di Genova (BUGe)
- shelf: RARI, I.VII.14 B

Item