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「 CHAPTERIV The First Anti-Christian Incident J The Chinese response to the Jesuit message took many forms. In 1616, only six years after Ricci's death, China experienced its first anti-Christian movement. Shen Ch'ueh (d.1624), Vice-President of the Nanking Board of Rites, wrote three memorials to the throne, denouncing the Jesuits and requesting their expulsion.1 What resulted was a short-lived, systematic effort by the Chinese court to wipe out the so-called heterodox elements. This chapter in the history of Christianity in China has attracted considerable attention from missionary historians. There are many Western sources written by those who were involved in this persecution known popularly as the Nan-ching chiao-an (Nanking ‘Incident').2 Other than studies written primarily from the point of view of the Christian missions, the Nanking Incident has received only slight attention from historians. The Chinese historian Chang Wei-hua has provided a descriptive account of the movement and its political background, basing his study on a collection of writings known as the P'o-hsieh chi (An Anthology of Writings Exposing Heterodoxy).3 Paul Cohen has commented on the importance of the subject for understanding early Sino-Western intellectual conflict.4 ln a more recent study, E. T. Kelly maintains that the main cause of this anti-Christian persecution was political.5 Shen Ch'ueh saw the missionaries as agents of Western powers and felt it was his duty to expel the Jesuits from China. As China was at that time experiencing constant disturbances from the so-called Japanese pirates, there was considerable antiforeign sentiment near the coastal areas. Kelly contends that the missionaries were persecuted because they were ‘foreigners', and that it was a ‘typically Chinese attitude' which greeted them.6 There may be some truth in explaining Chinese reactions to Western intrusions in terms of ‘antiforeignism' and ‘xenophobia', but this view is too simplistic. In the P'o-hsieh chi, besides Shen's memorials to the throne, there are many important treatises which were written specifically to refute Christianity and its doctrines. It can be easily concluded from a close examination of the P'o-hsieh chi that there was a group of Confucian literati and Buddhist monks who reacted strongly against the Christian message. Many of these treatises were written in the period 1600-1640, although it is impossible to pinpoint exact dates. Ther 59 Confucíanísm and Chrístíaníty some 01 the treatises included in the P'o-hsieh chi. Yang even quoted some passages into his Pu-te-i, although he did not indicate their source.7 The P'o-hsieh chi was circulated in Tokugawa Japan and was used there 10r anti-Christian purposes .s Chinese responses to Christianity varied from those 01 Hsü Kuang-chi'i who became a convert, to those 01 Fang I-chih who was only interested in Western science, and to those 01 Shen Ch'ueh who instigated a m司or anti-Christian movement. T0 have a balanced perspective on the trans10rmation 01 Western ideas in China, the hostile ‘responses' are just as important as the 1avourable ones. To explain Chinese reactions in terms 01 ‘Chinese being Chinese' ignores the actual historical situation. The Nanking anti-Christian movement and its by-product, the P'o-hsieh chi, serve to iIIustrate precisely the complexities 01 Chinese anti10reign thought. During the fifth month (14 June-13 July ) 01 the forty-10u叫h year 01 the Wan-li reign (1616), Shen Ch'ueh memorialized the throne against the Jesuits in China. Bearing the title Ts'an yuan-i shu (A Memorial Impeaching Barbarians 1rom A1ar), the memorial charged the missionaries with iIIegal entry and residence and other conspiratorial activities. According to Jesuit sources, Shen attempted to carry out his one-man campaign in secrecy in Nanking, since his colleagues did not suppo吋 his actions.9 Luckily 10r the Jesuits, nothing came 01 the memorial and Shen decided to take other actions. By August, 1616, Shen had solicited the suppo付 01 Fang Ts'ung-chi, the minister 01 the Peking Ministry of Rites. On 15 August, Fang presented a memorial along with one by Shen. Five days later, without waiting for an imperial reply, Fang took the liberty 01 authorizing Shen to take actions against the missionaries. Ten days later, Shen received Fang's dispatch in Nanking and immediately set out to arrest the Italian Jesuit, Alphonse Vagnoni.10 Soon two more Jesuit 1athers were arrested and the...

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