Galileo and China
The Role of the Jesuits
A friend of Galileo’s, Johann Schreck, assisted him during Galileo’s early telescopic observations. Schreck was inducted into the Academy of the Lynx, an early scientific society, only a week after Galileo. A few years later, Schreck joined the Jesuits, Catholic missionaries, and went to China where he trained the astronomer Adam Schall. Schall initiated a joint publishing effort between Jesuit and Chinese astronomers which continued for the rest of the century, constituting a high point of international relations between Europe and China.
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A Description of the Plan of Peking, the Capital of China Gaubil, Antoine (1748) The Forbidden City was home to the Chinese Emperor and the political center of Chinese government for hundreds of years. Despite occasional tensions, Jesuits from Schall in the 17th century to Gaubil in the 18th century were granted admission as advisors. |
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On the Christian Expedition to China Ricci, Matteo (1616) This book recounts the establishment of the Jesuit mission in China in the late 1500s led by Matteo Ricci. When Ricci predicted a solar eclipse in 1592 with greater accuracy than the astronomers of the Chinese court, Emperor Wan-li invited Ricci to Beijing. |
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Wonderful Machines of the Far West Schreck, Johann (1830) Schreck helped Galileo show the telescope to the Medici family and others in Rome. Once he arrived in China, he wrote this work on engineering in Chinese. |
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Historical Narration of the Origin and Progress of the Mission to China Schall, Adam (1665) This book is Schall’s account of the Jesuit mission in China after Ricci. Working closely with Chinese collaborators, Schall oversaw the publication of more than 30 scientific works in Chinese which drew upon Galileo, Copernicus, Tycho, Kepler and John Napier. |
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Monuments of China Kircher, Athanasius (1667) Back in Rome, Kircher collected all the information he could gather from Jesuits in China, publishing this massive encyclopedia on China, Tibet, India, Korea and Japan. It contains two notable early maps, numerous portraits, and an introduction to Sanskrit and Chinese characters. |
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China, Illustrated with Many Monuments Kircher, Athanasius (1670) In one of Kircher’s images is of Matteo Ricci is pictured on the left, along with Xu Guangki (??? 1562-1633) on the right. |
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History of that Great and Renowned Monarchy of China Semedo, Alvaro (1655) Semedo, a Jesuit who lived in China for more than 20 years, was the first European scholar to see and translate the Nestorian monument in Xian. |
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Memoirs... made in a late Journey through the Empire of China Comte, Louis le (1698) Le Comte, a French Jesuit sent in 1687 by Louis XIV to work in the Kangxi court, depicted the Beijing observatory at the end of Schall’s life. |
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Beijing: History and Description Favier, Pierre-Marie-Alphonse (1897) Photographs of the Beijing observatory show what remained of the astronomical instruments in 1897. |
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The Kingdom of China, before now called Cathay and Mangin Cantelli, Giacomo (1682) This map, based on Cantelli’s own reports as well as the surveys of Martini, influenced the larger Coronelli map also on display. Cantelli depicts relief and features like the Great Wall pictorially. Peking is clearly indicated. Korea is a peninsula, per Martini. |
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The Western and Eastern Parts of China divided into their Provinces Coronelli, Vincenzo (1696) European techniques of map-making, coupled with Chinese skill and knowledge, led to this two-sheet map by Coronelli. It clearly indicates the Great Wall, Beijing (Xuntien), Korea, and Taiwan. The westernmost part of Japan is also visible. |
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General History of China, vol. 1 du Halde, J.B. (1741) Du Halde lived in China for nearly 30 years. This work recounts the story of Candida Xu, who collaborated with the Jesuit astronomers as had her grandfather, Xu Guangki. For a foldout map of China, du Halde drew upon the Kangxi atlases of 1717 and 1721. |
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General History of China, vol. 3 du Halde, J.B. (1741) Du Halde lived in China for nearly 30 years. This work recounts the story of Candida Xu, who collaborated with the Jesuit astronomers as had her grandfather, Xu Guangki. For a foldout map of China, du Halde drew upon the Kangxi atlases of 1717 and 1721. |
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General History of China, vol. 4 du Halde, J.B. (1741) Du Halde lived in China for nearly 30 years. This work recounts the story of Candida Xu, who collaborated with the Jesuit astronomers as had her grandfather, Xu Guangki. For a foldout map of China, du Halde drew upon the Kangxi atlases of 1717 and 1721. |
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