During the Ming Dynasty, an Italian missionary traveled thousands of miles to China. As soon as he entered China, he was attracted by Chinese civilization, in addition to being impressed by the erudition of Chinese and began to seriously study Chinese culture, he also became a foreign teacher, imparting to Chinese the western science knowledge of astronomy, mathematics, geography and so on, which he was good at.
Born on 6 October 1552 (the 31st year of Jiajing), Matteo Ricci was born in the Italian city of Marcelata and began attending the City's Jesuit schools as a teenager. At the age of sixteen, he went to Rome to study law, while continuing his studies in philosophy and theology at a Jesuit-sponsored school, studying celestial arithmetic with famous mathematicians. In the 15th and 16th centuries, when new shipping routes were opened and geographical discoveries were discovered, Christian groups were eager to make Asia and other regions a new "gospel" place, so they organized delegations to the Far East. Matteo Ricci volunteered to join the missionary community, and in the fifth year of the Wanli Calendar (1577), he signed up for the Jesuit mission to India. Later, he entered the center of the Jesuit training Eastern Mission, Gao inlipan University, for a short time. By this time, he had acquired a wealth of knowledge of theology, philosophy, history, and the natural sciences.
On September 10, 1583, Matteo Ricci and Luo Mingjian entered China. In the summer of 1589, the seventeenth year of the Wanli Calendar, the new governor of Guangdong expelled the missionaries from Zhaoqing. In 1590, Matteo Ricci was ordered by Fan Li'an to draft a letter to Emperor Daming in the name of the Pope, hoping that Emperor Ming would approve the mission and send it along the way. After much effort, Matteo Ricci was sent to Shaozhou, where he established a second missionary post. In 1590, Matteo Ricci recruited his first disciple, Kuí. For the first time, Matteo Ricci was a "foreign teacher", crossing the gap between language and culture, teaching with all his heart, and Qu Rukui was ecstatic when he first came into contact with such mathematical knowledge. Qu Rukui's father was a Rebbe Shangshu, which doomed his network to be extraordinary, and under his advice and introduction, Matteo Ricci changed into a Confucian costume and became acquainted with many people of the scholar class.
At the beginning of July 1598, on the occasion of the birthday of the Wanli Emperor, Wang Zhongming of the Nanjing Rebbe Shangshu invited Matteo Ricci to join him in Beijing to celebrate his birthday, and Matteo Ricci also prepared European objects such as chiming bells and octopus for the emperor. On September 7, 1598, Matteo Ricci arrived in Beijing after two months. Matteo Ricci wrote in his notes: "This is truly a joyous thing, and we should not be silent in putting it aside; just think of how many oceans the Christian faith has crossed, and after such a long period of approaching, it has finally entered this kingdom, and its messengers have finally entered the royal capital." However, things didn't go as smoothly as Matteo Ricci had imagined. Because it was the time of Japan's war against Korea, the whole capital was heavily guarded and the atmosphere was tense, and people were afraid of getting into trouble by making friends with foreigners. Matteo Ricci, as a foreigner, could not stay in Beijing for long, and encountered financial difficulties, and had to return to Nanjing after only living for more than a month. Although he was never able to meet the emperor, Matteo Ricci's first trip to Beijing was very rewarding. He first proved that the Khitan recorded in Marco Polo's Travels was China, and the capital of the country, "Khan Bali", was Beijing. During the trip, Matteo Ricci also edited the first Chinese and Western dictionary "Ordinary Questions and Answers" with father Guo Jujing, and tried to use the Latin alphabet for the first time to pronounce Chinese characters. In addition, he completed the translation and annotation of the Four Books, which played an important role in the spread of Chinese culture to the West. Matteo Ricci settled in Nanjing on 6 February 1599. A fourth missionary station was established.
On May 18, 1600 (the twenty-eighth year of the Wanli calendar), Matteo Ricci set out from Nanjing with Father Poundy and a gift prepared for the Emperor, arriving in Beijing on January 24, 1601. As soon as Matteo Ricci arrived in Beijing, he began to organize gifts for the emperor. A total of 16 tributes were listed on the list of self-chiming bells, Bibles, "Atlas of All Nations", Atlantic Organs and other gifts, and the Wanli Emperor was full of interest in these tributes, and for those religious relics, the Wanli Emperor felt both novel and awe-inspiring, he called Jesus on the cross "living immortals" and gave the statue of the Virgin Mary to his mother, Empress Dowager Cisheng. The Wanli Emperor was the favorite of the two self-chiming bells, the small one he took with him and often played with it; the large one was placed in the exquisite attic, and the time was announced in the palace. Due to the complexity of the chiming clock and the need for frequent maintenance, missionaries were allowed to enter the palace regularly to inspect it. The Wanli Emperor was also curious about the Western organ that Matteo Ricci had been appointed to, and he ordered Matteo Ricci to teach the eunuchs to play it. Matteo Ricci asked his assistant Ponty I to teach the eunuch, and he himself composed 8 pieces of music in the form of religious hymns, filled in with short Chinese lyrics, and named them "Eight Pieces of Xiqin". Whenever the melodious sound of the piano echoed in the palace, the Wanli Emperor would think of this priest from the West.
It was these "European objects" that opened matteo Ricci's door to the court, and the Wanli Emperor appreciated him and allowed him to stay in Beijing, which was deeply trusted. In Beijing, Matteo Ricci took in his second student, Xu Guangqi. Xu Guangqi accidentally met Matteo Ricci, and was soon impressed by Matteo Ricci's achievements in astronomical calendars, in order to learn mathematics, astronomy, geography and other knowledge, Xu Guangqi, who was admitted to the jinshi, took The Lion's Shoulder as a teacher. Through matteo Ricci's careful cultivation, Xu Guangqi's scientific knowledge has made great progress. Using the astronomical knowledge he learned from Matteo Ricci, he compiled the Chongzhen Calendar (which laid the foundation of the current lunar calendar in China) and was appointed by the emperor to preside over the only calendar reform in the history of the Ming Dynasty.
Matteo Ricci also took in a student named Li Zhizao. In the twelfth year of the Wanli calendar of Emperor Myōshin (1584), Matteo Ricci arrived in Guangzhou and made his own "Atlas of All Nations". In the twenty-ninth year of the Wanli Calendar (1601), Matteo Ricci went to Kyoshi to present a map, which was deeply loved by the Myōjin Sect. The original map of the Kunyu Wanguo Quantu was drawn by the Ming Dynasty official Li Zhizao, which is the earliest painted world map in China, which was modeled on the Western world map at that time, changing the prevailing pattern of Europe in the center of the map, but placing eastern Asia in the center of the world map, which set a precedent for China to draw a world map.
The geographical information in the "Kunyu All Nations Map" is rich, and in the absence of aerial photography and satellite positioning in ancient times, it basically reflects the actual situation at that time, which can be described as a miracle. Similarly, at Matteo Ricci's suggestion, Li Zhizao worked with his teacher to complete the translation of the work "Hun Gai Tong Xian Tu Shu".
(This article has been reprinted exclusively by the old man Weng who told the story on the WeChat public account)