Notes of Matteo Ricci China

Notes of Matteo Ricci China

The second chapter of Matteo Ricci's Notes on China is about the name, location and territory of the Chinese Empire.

"I have no doubt that this is the country known as the Silk Country, because there is no place in the Far East except China where silk is so rich, so not only the residents of that country, rich or poor, wear silk. But also exported to the most distant places in the world in large quantities. The bulk commodity that the Portuguese are most willing to ship is China silk ... Spaniards living in the Philippines also put China silk on their merchant ships and export it to New Spain and other parts of the world. "

"Father Matteo Ricci drew a map of the world for them and marked it with Chinese characters ... This arrangement made the Chinese empire occupy a central position. However, most people in China now admit their previous mistakes and regard them as a joke. " (Note: It is worth noting that China people were open and generous in the Ming Dynasty, but in the Qing Dynasty, due to the rule of backward ethnic groups, China people were far away from this open self-confidence and generosity and became arrogant and rigid. )

"The adult population paying imperial tax is more than 58.55 million, which does not include women in this country, nor men who do not pay taxes, such as soldiers, eunuchs, royalty, local governors, scholars and many others." (Note: This passage is very important. According to this passage, the population of China at the end of the Ming Dynasty was at least around1.200 million, which is a bottom line figure and will never be less than this. This is close to the estimation of some modern scholars.

According to their own research, scholars speculate that as early as the middle and late Ming Dynasty (about 1.600 years in Wanli period), the population of China was above 1 100 million, and the number was between1.200 million and 200 million (Note: See Gao Wangling: Population of China in Ming and Qing Dynasties (No.3 in Qing History Research).

In this case, the population loss in the early Qing Dynasty was far greater than originally thought. The population in the early Qing Dynasty was about 40 million. Even if we don't consider the population that should have increased during this period, the absolute loss has reached about 80 million to 90 million. It can be said that this is the biggest catastrophe in human history, and its degree exceeds World War II and the massacre of China by the Mongols. In other words, China lost nearly 70% of its population after the Qing Dynasty massacre, and most of them should have died in the Qing Dynasty massacre. In some areas, such as Sichuan, the whole population was slaughtered, which is also appalling in human history.

Jiangnan and Guangdong, the most prosperous and affluent areas in China, suffered the worst slaughter, which had a devastating impact on Chinese civilization.

Matteo Ricci's Notes on China, Chapter 6, Government Agencies in China.

Holding a glass and talking about Sang Ma —— On the occasion of Ming and Qing Dynasties

The way for Ming Chengzu to show his national strength was Zheng He's seven voyages to the Western Seas, while the Qing Emperor Kangxi's seven voyages to the South of the Yangtze River, seven voyages to the Western Seas and seven voyages to the South of the Yangtze River essentially summarized the differences between the Ming and Qing emperors.

Zhu Yuanzhang killed many people, but all of them were big landlords and bureaucrats with status, and the total number was only tens of thousands. But people were killed in the Qing Dynasty from Kangxi to Qianlong. Kangxi went to sea along the boundary, killing at least millions of coastal civilians in China, eliminating a minority by Qianlong, creating hundreds of literary prisons, destroying countless graves and tens of thousands of books.

Yongle repaired the Yongle ceremony, and the books were not changed at all, and they were all collected according to the order. Ganlong cleaned up, tampered with and destroyed the traditional culture and books in China.

Judging from the later emperors, Ming Xuanzong and Xiao Zong were remarkable, and Ming Wuzong had a strong personality. During his reign, great thinkers such as Wang Tingxiang and Wang Yangming appeared, and the behavior of going out to play was never worse than that of searching like locusts in Jiangnan, which was exaggerated in many places. This should have been an accepted fact.

Because Emperor Jiajing was scolded by Harry, some people did think he was useless, but in fact, no matter his personal ability (he was notoriously efficient in approving the memorial, and the memorial issued during the day was basically approved at night), his attitude towards state governance and intellectuals was far better than that of the Qing emperor.

From the early years of Jiajing, it was far stronger than the early years of Qianlong, and it was during this period that Wang Tingxiang became the Minister of War and the Prince of Taibao.

Needless to say, the three expeditions of Wanli sent troops to Korea and severely punished the Japanese, which were far superior to most Qing emperors in many aspects. As for the tolerance of employing people and treating criticism, it is even better than those emperors who engaged in literary inquisition in the Qing Dynasty.

I have Matteo Ricci's Notes on China, written by Matteo Ricci who lived in China for most of his life during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, and his missionary companion Kinnige. Let's see what the political system of China was recorded by them.