Europe in China—China in Europe: Mission as a Vehicle to Intercultural Dialogue ed. by Paul Widmer (review)

As the editor of this book, Paul Widmer states, the 400th anniversary of the death of Matteo Ricci (1552-1610) in Beijing provided "both the incentive and occasion" (p. 9) to focus on the manifold aspects of the abundant cultural encounters between Europe and China from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. Since 2010, numerous symposia and publications have appeared regarding this substantial history of missionary work. As its title suggests, this publication is a result of such a nature and includes various research on "Europe in China" and "China in Europe"; the two terms imply a general concept of intercultural meeting. It includes ten papers presented for a symposium with the same title as the book, which was held at the University of Zurich in June 2010. Excluding a preface by the editor, the content comprises two articles on Ricci and, although its theme was for the commemoration of Ricci, a further eight articles on different subjects regarding the Jesuits in China and European sinology. The most crucial feature of this symposium, considering its country of origin, is the relation of the obscure story of two Swiss Jesuits in China. Moreover, the prominent research on Lady Candida Xu (1607-80) is well written and concludes that Xu is particularly pertinent to Ricci's work in China: "Candida Xu is clearly described as a female pendant to Matteo Ricci" (p. 69). The two articles on Ricci, however, do not present particularly fresh outlooks on Ricci. The appendix by Artur Wardega is noteworthy, reprinting an English translation of the Jesuit Sabatino de Ursis's eyewitness account of Ricci's illness and final moments. This description is sufficiently detailed to show an intimate portrait of Ricci, which is rarely revealed to English readerships. Two overlooked Swiss Jesuits who journeyed to China, Franz Stadlin (1657-1740) and Nikolaus Fiva (1609-40), undeniably merit further research, as presented in the two preliminary articles. Although Fiva spent only approximately two years in the Jiangnan area, Wenmin Xu's research reveals an intriguing story of the Chinese literatus Wei Xuelian (1608-c. 1644), who was a member of the Donglin party and whose family was involved in the complex politics between this party of officials and eunuchs of the imperial court. As Xu argues, Wei was converted while Fiva was in Nanjing in 1638, according to the Jesuits' account, but no other sources are available to confirm Wei's belief in God (p. 48). Xu's uncertainty at the end of the article indicates that this open question should be examined further. It is unfortunate that these two articles on the two Swiss Jesuits do not present good documentation, and even the study by Sanle Yu includes a digression into the history of the Zhalan cemetery in Beijing that encompasses past and present.

Certain articles in these proceedings have the tone of lecture papers, and the final article is only a brief introduction to the Voiret China books collection. Claudia von Collani's article on Candida Xu and Erich Zettl's article on Ignaz Sichelbarth (1708-80) are two of the best documented and researched. Collani's article is especially promising—it explores a new perspective on the understudied female Chinese Christians, and the comparisons with their European counterparts offer several interesting observations on the female societal role in Christian communities. Jean-Pierre Voiret's article regarding "Needham's puzzles" attempts to answer the long-standing yet old-fashioned question regarding the sudden halt of Chinese scientific advances, raised by Joseph Needham in the 1950s, and even, as Voiret noted, having been addressed in an eighteenth-century Jesuit letter. Although the analysis is provocative, the argument that attributes Chinese stagnation to the invasion and long occupation of Mongolian during the Yuan Dynasty might cause considerable controversy. [End...