In one of Kircher’s images is of Matteo Ricci is pictured on the left, along with Xu Guangki (??? 1562-1633) on the right. Xu Guangki, a Chinese statesman and astronomer and director of the Astronomical Bureau in Beijing, called upon Schreck and Schall to reform the calendar and to undertake a massive enterprise to publish updated astronomical and mathematical texts in Chinese. The astronomical work that resulted involved many Chinese collaborators, cultivated in both science and Confucianism, who made original contributions to the scientific effort and protected Schreck and Schall and other Europeans within the Imperial Chinese Court.