A missionary who lived in China during the Wannian calendar

Matteo Ricci, an Italian missionary, lived in China during the Wanli period. Matteo Ricci (October 6, 1552 - May 11, 1610) was an Italian Jesuit missionary and scholar.

He came to live in China during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty.

His original name in Chinese is literally translated as Matteo Ricci, and Matteo Ricci is his Chinese name, also known as Xitai, Qingtai, and Xijiang.

He was highly respected by scholar-bureaucrats in China and was respectfully called "Taiwan Confucian Scholar".

He was one of the pioneers of Catholic missionary work in China and the first Western scholar to read Chinese literature and study Chinese classics.

In addition to spreading Catholic teachings, he also made friends with Chinese officials and celebrities, and spread Western scientific and technological knowledge such as astronomy, mathematics, and geography.

His writings not only made important contributions to exchanges between China and the West, but also had an important impact on the understanding of Western civilization in Japan and the countries on the Korean Peninsula.

Lifetime: Matteo Ricci was born in Macerata, Marche, Italy in 1552. His family ran Ricci Pharmacy and was a well-known local family.

Matteo Ricci had been studying in a middle school run by the Jesuits here, and his father had always been worried about Ricci joining the Jesuits.

Matteo Ricci came to Rome at the age of sixteen, studied preparatory courses at the College of St. Tondorea, and joined the Society of Jesus on the Feast of the Assumption of Mary in 1571.

In 1572, he studied philosophy and theology at the Roman College sponsored by the Jesuits, and learned astrology from the mathematician Christopher Klau. At that time, Father Alessandro Valignani was also his teacher.

During this period he also learned Latin and Greek, and also spoke Portuguese and Spanish.

Journey to India In 1577, Matteo Ricci was allowed to go to the Far East to preach.

On March 24, 1578, Matteo Ricci set out from Lisbon by ship and went to India with 14 other Jesuits to preach.

Along the way, they circled the Cape of Good Hope and passed through Mozambique. After six months of sailing, they finally arrived at Goa, India - Portugal's most important colony in Asia - on September 13.

The journey was very arduous, and 13 of the 400 slaves from Mozambique on board died before reaching Goa.

Before Matteo Ricci came to India, due to Francis Xavier's previous praise of India and the deification of the church, the India he heard was very fascinating and it was relatively easy to preach here.

But the contrast in reality puzzled him.

In 1580, he wrote in Portuguese to the Jesuit historian Maffei: "If you look at the commentaries and maps about India and Japan, you will find that there are obvious fallacies everywhere." But the Jesuits in Japan

The mission was very successful, and Nestorian (Nestorian) followers were also found in India.

This made Ricci and others very energetic.

Matteo Ricci spent four years as a missionary in India and Cochin China.

During this period, he also studied humanities at the seminary in Goa. After he was promoted to a priest on July 26, 1580, he also studied theology.

He realized in India that locals should be allowed to also study European culture such as philosophy, catechism and theology, and wrote to the Jesuit headquarters raising this issue.

He felt that if they were "prevented from holding office in the company of others - from rising to prominence through learning - I fear they would hate us, and the main purpose of our Jesuits in India, to convert the heathen and convert them to our holy faith, would

"It came to nothing." This view remained consistent throughout his life, and it was also the attitude he adopted after entering China.

Luo Guang's "The Biography of Matteo Ricci" written by Luo Guang said that this was "the reason why he was able to win the respect of our country's scholar-bureaucrats." When arriving in Macau, due to the closed-door policy of the Ming Dynasty, previous missionaries were unable to enter China to preach.

And can only stay in Macau.

Therefore, Father Michele de Ruggieri recommended Matteo Ricci to Fan Li'an, the General Inspector of the East.

In 1582 (the tenth year of Wanli), Matteo Ricci was called to preach in China and arrived in Macau on August 7.

The missionaries wanted to attract the Chinese by writing about Catholic doctrine in Chinese, "to practice writing in their language as a means of attracting and capturing their hearts." Therefore, they first worked hard to learn Chinese in Macau.

When Matteo Ricci began to learn Chinese, he was very excited about Chinese characters that were completely different from the pinyin script and found it incredible.

In addition, when he was in Macau, the Tianzheng delegation from Japan happened to pass by, and Matteo Ricci took this opportunity to learn a little Japanese.

The first stop when entering China: Zhaoqing In 1584, Matteo Ricci was allowed to settle in Zhaoqing, Guangdong with Father Luo Mingjian.

They claimed to Chinese officials that they were from "Tianzhu", causing the Chinese to think that they were Buddhists.

Matteo Ricci explained the reason for coming to China: "We are priests from the far west. Because we admire China, we hope to stay and serve God here until death." He did not dare to directly answer the purpose of missionary work, otherwise he might

will be expelled.

In order to preach, they brought many supplies from the West, such as statues of the Virgin, maps, astrolabes, and prisms.

Among them is Euclid's "Elements of Geometry".