The Great Encounter of China and the West, 1500–1800 (review)

The Great Encounter of China and the West, 1500-1800. By D. E. Mungello. [Critical Issues in History.] (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. 1999. Pp. xvii, 111. $35.95 clothbound; $12.95 paperback.)

David E. Mungello has written an excellent summary on Chinese-Western relations (1500-1800). As part of the "Critical Issues in History" series, it has no footnotes because it is written "for the history student and general reader" (p. xv). Nevertheless, the reference sources listed at the end of each chapter testifies to Mungello's extensive knowledge of the subject. Impressive is his ability to develop the wider theme of inculturation by using a fluid narrative which emphasizes ongoing European-Chinese acceptance and rejection of Catholicism and Confucian values. The reader is led beyond European and Chinese views on religion and politics. It is a welcome invitation to view the era under study as part of world history because East-West relations were not constant. Rather, they ebbed and flowed (p. 5).

Thus, historical reinterpretation is a necessity. For example, Mungello correctly states that "historians have overemphasized the role that the Jesuits played and slighted the role of other Catholic orders" (p. 12). For instance, Franciscan and Dominican evangelical efforts are addressed. The study is also successful in revealing the differences in European and Chinese Jesuit personalities and theory of mission by employing Chinese and Western biographical sketches, art criticism, philosophical principles, and cultural issues to indicate the multiple variables in Chinese-European interaction.

The acceptance-rejection of Western culture and Christianity in China is examined in chapters two and three while the European acceptance-rejection of Chinese culture and Confucianism is investigated in chapters four and five. This investigative method proves to be a balanced historical approach which allows European and Chinese historians to study the topics from their respective interpretative strengths.

In chapter three, for instance, Mungello's methodology rightfully affirms the notion that Chinese anti-Christian feeling was rooted in Confucian religious skepticism, Chinese literati ethnocentrism or superiority, fear of subversion, suspicion of undermining Chinese harmony or feng-shui, or the idea that missionaries would seduce women. However, Mungello's work is a valuable step in reinterpretation because he notes that conversions still took place. For instance, Madame Xu's seventeenth-century baptism helps us appreciate why Chinese families remain Catholic over generations. Mungello persuasively concludes that "[e]lements from Western religion and painting entered Chinese culture, and some of these elements would serve as seeds that, in the case of Christianity, would take many years to bear fruit" (p. 55). Similarly, chapters four and five deal with the European ramifications in a thorough manner.

Mention should be made of an additional source not cited as a reference: Edward J. Malatesta, S.J., and Gao Zhiyu (editors), Departed, Yet Present: Zhalan: The Oldest Christian Cemetery in Beijing (Instituto Cultural de Macau; Ricci Institute, University of San Francisco, 1995) is a complementary study that would help to enhance the richness of Mungello's presentation.

Overall, Mungello's book is an essential book for historical, theological, and mission libraries, graduate and undergraduate students.

Robert E. Carbonneau, C.P.
The Catholic Theological Union, Chicago

...