Writings on China (review)

© 1996 by University ofHawai'i Press Reviews 187 diskette(s) enabling researchers and companies to conveniendy sort and select the most relevant data. Profile ofChina's Markets is not an analysis ofChina's purchasing potential. It is, as stated, only a profile, a compilation ofnumbers that provides a synchronic view ofspending habits at various levels ofaggregation. We do not know for what year the data is current, the omission ofdata on Hainan Island suggesting currency only to the mid-1980s. Nonetheless it is an impressive collection of statistical categories that would otherwise have to be traced to several hard-to-find sources. The effort to compile and collate such a vast range information is commendable, even ifits flaws limit its use as a long-term reference tool. Charles Fuller International Programs Center, Bureau ofthe Census Mr. Fuller is a researcher with the International Programs Center ofthe Bureau of the Census specializing in population distributions andpolitical economy. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. Writings on China. Translated with an introduction , notes, and commentaries by Daniel J. Cook and Henry Rosemont, Jr. Chicago and La Salle: Open Court, 1994. xvi, 157 pp. Hardcover $32.95, isbn 0-8126-9250-0. Paperback $16.95, 1SBN 0-8126-9251-9. Leibniz is by far one ofthe most important thinkers in the Western tradition, yet few readers are aware to what extent he investigated China. His corpus exhibits not only encyclopedic pursuits ofWestern learning, but also a keen and sustained interest in things Chinese. Writings on China comprises English translations of four texts by Leibniz on China, accompanied by an extensive introduction and copious explanatory notes by Daniel J. Cook and Henry Rosemont, Jr., providing appropriate historical background and philosophical context. The texts in this volume include the following. 1.Preface to the Novissima Sinica (Recent Newsfrom China) (1697-1699). A preface to a compilation ofwritings on China assembled by Leibniz. This is one of the few works published during his lifetime, and it basically supports his ecumenical interests. 2.De cultu Confucii civili (On the Civil Cult ofConfucius) (1700-1701). A brief addendum to a correspondence with Father Antoine Verjus which defends the Jesuit position on the theological controversies surrounding the situa- i88 China Review International: Vol. 3, No. 1, Spring 1996 tion of Christianity in China. 3.Remarks on Chinese Rights and Religion (1708). A short yet significant discussion of Chinese philosophy and religion, reflecting Leibniz' correspondence with the Jesuit missionaries and noting the relevance ofhis binary arithmetic to the "ancient theology ofthe Chinese"—the first time this has appeared in English translation. 4.Discourse on the Natural Theology ofthe Chinese (1716). A lengthy letter written in response to Nicholas de Rémond (the correspondent to whom the Monadology was addressed), attempting to counter the arguments of two missionary texts that promoted the view that Chinese ideas are fundamentally incompatible with Christian doctrines on both philosophical and theological grounds. Leibniz' philosophizing on things Chinese assumed significance after he engaged himself in the clerical debates on the Christianization of China. The missionaries to China ultimately shared the same goal of ecumenicism, but many disagreed ardendy about how to treat the indigenous philosophy and religion ofthe Chinese. Leibniz was both sympathetic to and critical of Chinese thought, but the majority ofhis concerns were theological. As Cook and Rosemont summarize Leibniz' project, it provided "a sophisticated philosophical and theological framework in which the ecumenical movement in China could go forward" (p. 9). Leibniz' knowledge of China was extensive and came from various sources, but his mature study was focused mosdy on contemporary writings from the Christianization debates. He thoroughly surveyed and digested as much of the material on China as he could, then promoted what came to be called the "accommodationist" position advocated by Matteo Ricci; thus the bulk ofhis writings on China is aimed at refuting the anti-accommodationists (such as Father Nicholas Longobardi and Antoine de Sainte-Maria) and advancing the Riccian view. Ricci believed the only way to Christianize China would be not by imposition, but rather from the inside , through the Chinese tradition itself.1 Thus the accommodationists required a sympathetic understanding of Chinese learning in order to discover those subtleties within the Classical corpus...