Found China

Author: (French) Brosse
Translator: Geng Sheng
Author Country: France
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-01-01
Features: This book provides a grand overview, summarizing concisely the history of Sino-Western interactions over 2,000 years. It is a popular read with a high academic standard, aptly described as a "popular academic work." Mr. Jacques Brosse primarily shapes the image of China and discusses the history of Western-Chinese relations from a Western perspective, employing a European worldview. Such an approach is lacking among Chinese scholars and is much needed in Chinese academia. (Geng Sheng)
Excerpt: Each important Han official was assigned a Manchu to monitor them. The Qing forced Han people to shave the front of their heads and tie their hair into a queue as a symbol of submission. Thus, we should not forget that until the Qing Empire collapsed in 1912, the Han people considered themselves ruled by foreigners. When the great emperors brought the country to prosperity, the Han accepted them, but the rebellions had been brewing long before they erupted openly. Such events, of course, would impact Sino-Western relations. If the Jesuits were initially spared no suffering due to the rise and fall of dynasties, it was partly because of the fame of Father Johann Adam Schall von Bell. In the new regime, Father Schall was honored and became the "respected priest" of the young Emperor Kangxi. He held the rank of a first-class official, equal to the prime minister, enjoying their salaries, and his relatives were granted wealth for three generations. Yet, he could not escape the threats of jealous rivals. In 1665, after the death of Emperor Kangxi, when the Manchu regents issued an edict prohibiting Christianity, we saw how fragile the power of the Jesuits was. Father Schall was imprisoned and sentenced to death. They were saved only by the intervention of the Empress Dowager, but the ordeal left him exhausted, and he died shortly thereafter. When Kangxi decided to take personal rule in 1667 at the age of only 13, he ordered the imprisonment of the regents, who had favored their fellow Manchus, leading to a large-scale ethnic uprising in the south in 1674. Kangxi was originally a strong and exceptionally intelligent emperor who quickly distinguished himself as one of the greatest rulers in Chinese history. After suppressing the rebellion, he firmly established Qing rule in Mongolia and even as far as Tibet. Although Kangxi maintained a ban on missionary activities between 1669 and 1671, he bestowed great favor upon the Jesuits in Beijing and clearly recognized the services they could render. Father Ferdinand Verbiest, the assistant to Father Schall, was a Fleming, and it was under his leadership that cannons were cast, ensuring the victory of the imperial army. Father Verbiest was appointed Director of the Imperial Observatory in 1669. After his death, Father Jean-Fran?ois Gerbillon, a Frenchman, succeeded him in this position. Father Gerbillon was granted the title...