Opusculum de Sectis apud Sinenses et Tunkinenses (A Small Treatise on the Sects among the Chinese and Tonkinese): A Study of Religion in China and North Vietnam in the Eighteenth Century (review)

Book Reviews137 Opusculum de Sectis apudSinenses et Tunkinenses (A Small Treatise on the Sectsamongthe Chineseand Tonkinese):A Study ofReligion in China and North Vietnam in the Eighteenth Century. By Father Adriano di St. Thecla. Translated and annotated by Olga Dror. Ithaca, NY: Cornell Southeast Asia Program Publications, 2002. 239 pp. For much of the period between the late seventeenth to the mideighteenth centuries Catholic proselytizing activities in China and Southeast Asia were conducted under the shadow of an ecclesiastical debate known as the Rites and Terms Controversy. It was essentially an attack on "accommodationism", an evangelistic strategy first conceived bytheJesuits which required missionaries to master local languages, and when necessary, to adapt Christianityto local customs. Although located far from the centre of the controversy, a small mission ofthe Order of the Discalced Augustinians in eastern Tonkin, as northern Vietnam was known at one time, was coming increasingly under the scrutiny ofthe Vatican for its so-called accomodationist views. It was against this turbulent backdrop that FatherAdriano di St. Thecla, a missionary ofthe Italian house of the Order who had arrived in Tonkin in 1738, wrote the Opusculum de Sectis apud Sinenses et Tunkinenses (A Small Treatise on the Sects among the Chinese andTonkinese). As stated in the introductory chapter of the Opusculum, after examining several works on indigenous practice produced by other members of his own order, Adriano di St. Thecla immediately felt the need to make new investigations , even though it was clearly no easy task conducting research in a land constantly plagued by unrest and rebellion, not to mention the riskofexpulsion and excommunication. It is to the author's credit, therefore , that he managed under such circumstances to create a detailed and vivid picture ofreligious life in China andVietnam during the first half ofthe eighteenth century. Completed in 1750, the Opusculum opens with an introductory chapter in which Adriano di St. Thecla presented his theory regarding the origin of polytheism, or idolatry as it is called in the treatise, in accordance with the teachings handed down by the Catholic Church. The painstaking effort with which the author developed his argument 138Book Reviews about idolatry seemed to reflect a genuine desire on his part to understand this aspect ofreligious experience — rather than dismissing it simply as superstitions — in various cultures and societies. At the same time, Adriano also sought to launch his own view, according to which polytheism was not inherent in human nature; rather, it was the end result of a gradual process of spiritual and moral decline among the peoples of the world, including the Chinese and Vietnamese people. As testimony to the author's originality and innovative analytical approach, the legendary emperors Nghieu (Yao), Thuan (Shun), and Vu (Yu) traditionally revered by Chinese people for their wisdom and righteousness, were depicted as believers and worshippers ofthe "true God", untainted by idolatry and superstitions. Not long after theit passing, the author argued, people's souls became corrupted by fear and ignorance, and knowledge ofthe "true God" was gone from the land. The treatise would have been even more intriguing ifAdriano had also included in his discussion the legendary Hung kings who ruled over the Vietnamese people long before the period of Chinese domination. As it turns out, however, his "Introduction" devoted more attention to China, despite the title "On the Sects ofthe Chinese and Annamites", which would suggest an effort to examine the toots of polytheism in both countries. In fact, there are numerous occasions throughout the entire manuscript where the line ofdemarcation between the religious experience ofVietnam and China become somewhat nebulous, when the author launched into a discussion ofChinese rites as ifthey applied equally to the Vietnamese as well. Nevertheless, the reader is left without any doubt that Adriano had considerable expertise on the cult beliefs and observance of the Vietnamese people. His presentation of religious rites and ceremonies, such as the sacrifice to village gods or tutelary spirits, revealed a familiarity with local customs and traditions, which could only have derived from direct experience. Any serious study of religious beliefs and practices in China and Vietnam must contain at least some reference to the "three teachings": Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism; and the Opusculum is...