A Jesuit in the Forbidden City: Matteo Ricci 1552–1610 (review)

Among the abundance of publications and events in 2010, to honor the 400th anniversary of the death of Matteo Ricci, R. Po-chia Hsia’s book is surely among the most remarkable both for academic and lay readers. Ricci was the best-known Jesuit in late-Ming China. In the past 400 years, his fame and story have continuously been interpreted, circulated, and debated. Given such extensive research on this legendary figure, to write about Ricci is definitely not easy. The summary on the back cover of this book calls it “the first critical biography of Ricci.”

Hsia’s narrative starts with the triumphal ending to Ricci’s glorious burial in Beijing in 1611, then ventures into his life—from his birthplace in Macerata, Italy; to Rome; his journey on the Portuguese seas as well as to India and Macao; and finally his arrival in mainland China—in the subsequent twelve chapters. It reveals a vivid missionary tour in the changing world from Europe to China. Guided by the author, this historical account lasts into Ricci’s posthumous periods: in the epilogue, the undulating fate of Ricci’s documents and the China mission, as well as the public interest and academic research surrounding him up to the present, are all critically reviewed. Hsia occasionally reminds readers of his position as a “reader” of Ricci’s life—by means of fine photos he had taken of Macerata, Guangdong, Nanijng, and other places—simultaneously showing a historical distance and personal connection between the narrator and narration. This historical journey can be read with much greater interactive interest.

Moreover, as a well-reputed scholar in the field of early-modern Europe, Hsia has contributed his insights on the use of Ricci’s sources in the following three ways. First, Ricci wrote his own version of the journey two years before his death. This work much resembles a life memoir of Ricci himself. The best-selling book on China in seventeenth-century Europe (first published in 1615) was an appropriated text based on Ricci’s memoir and edited by another Jesuit, Nicolas Trigault (1577–1628). For a long time, Ricci’s account in manuscript and Trigault’s text in print have been considered the most important and most often cited works for an understanding of Ricci. In this book, however, Hsia actually makes more use of Ricci’s letters than is available in Ricci’s account, revealing Ricci’s private voice and persona. The unprecedented advantage of those personal letters is their simultaneity and spontaneity with the years in which the occurrences are described. In addition to this new method of telling Ricci’s story, Hsia also encompasses many of Ricci’s Chinese works and related Chinese primary sources in his narrative, so that this book can be considered as the first truly balanced account of Ricci. Hsia also gives the first full translations of some Chinese Christian sources. In addition, this book is the first in Hsia’s œuvre to appeal in a serious and favorable way to scholars of Chinese history. As the work of a well-established scholar of European history delving into an intercultural context, Hsia’s accomplishment is both amazing and admirable. Third, Hsia’s archival discovery of a manuscript journal of the Jesuit Michele Ruggieri (1543–1607) and his moving portrait of this overlooked missionary are among the most original and surprising aspects of the research for this book. By highlighting the tension and difference between Ruggieri and Ricci (pp. 102 ff.), Hsia’s descriptions open up a neglected aspect of the early China mission. The figure of Ruggieri was “partially obscured by the posthumous glorification of Ricci” (p. 88).

There are two minor points to mention. Possibly because of limited space and editing concerns, the notes for sources seem considerably reduced. A few descriptions might have been improved if they had been accompanied by their sources—for...