Statecraft And Intellectual Renewal In Late Ming China

Download or read book Statecraft and Intellectual Renewal in Late Ming China written by Catherine Jami and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2021-07-26 with total page 479 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first comprehensive work on one of the key figures in early Chinese-Western relations. Xu Guangqi was one of the first promoters of Western science in China, worked together with the Jesuit Matteo Ricci on translations of Western science, was one of the first Chinese converts, a high-ranking statesman, organizer of a major calendar reform, introduced Western weapons into the Chinese army, etc. etc. His astonishingly multifarious activities are now for the first time pieced together within their (Chinese and Western) social, intellectual and cultural context. The result is a composite profile of this complex figure that is solidly anchored in Chinese (and Western) primary sources A major achievement.