Father John Tang was a missionary in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, living in China for nearly 50 years and making indelible contributions to the cultural exchanges between China and the West.
The ancient Chinese calendar underwent five major reforms, the last of which was John Tang's revised Shi constitutional calendar, which is the lunar calendar that we still use today.
Not only that, But John Tang also had an influence on the kangxi emperor's ascension to the throne.
Medical conditions in ancient times were not good, and many diseases were enough to kill people, even the emperors. The Shunzhi Emperor was unfortunately infected with acne at the age of twenty-four, and could hardly get out of bed in less than half a day.
When John Tang heard the news that the emperor was critically ill, he immediately entered the palace and asked to see His Majesty. At this time, the Shunzhi Emperor was already very weak, but he regarded Tang Ruowang as a grandfather and insisted on summoning him despite dissuasion.
John Tang was powerless against the emperor's terminal illness and could only show him the Gospels he had brought from the West. The Shunzhi Emperor also followed his advice and personally read the Gospels.
In fact, both he and John Tang knew very well that this would not have any effect, at best it would only bring a little psychological comfort, and now they had to prepare for the worst and quickly elect the heir to the throne.
In the beginning, the Shunzhi Emperor did not actually want to crown Kangxi as crown prince, and he did not even want to consider any of his sons, because they were too young to trust them. The Shunzhi Emperor thought about it and felt that one of his brothers was a good fit.
However, his mother, Empress Xiaozhuangwen, and some princes firmly disagreed, insisting that he choose from eight princes. The Shunzhi Emperor, at the urging of everyone, began to look favorably on an older prince again. Just when the Shunzhi Emperor was playing chess irregularly, he remembered John Tang and decided to send someone to ask his opinion.
John Tang did not approve of the Shunzhi Emperor's ideas, and he was as optimistic as the empress dowager of a prince who was not yet seven years old, the future Kangxi Emperor.
Since John Tang and the empress dowager held the same opinion, the Shunzhi Emperor abandoned the original prince, made Xinjue luo Xuanye the crown prince, and appointed four ministers, including AoBai and Suksaha, to assist the new emperor until he could personally govern. After arranging all this, the Shunzhi Emperor died within three days.
After Kangxi ascended the throne, John Tang visited four auxiliary ministers. These people did not actually want to see Western missionaries, especially Suksaha, because they did not like the faith of the Western missionaries, but they still received him very kindly and agreed that John Tang should continue to be an adviser to the emperor.
Tombstone of John Tang, Tombstone of Matteo Ricci, Tombstone of Nan Huairen
John Tang was not respected for no reason, on the contrary, most people in that period were not friendly to Westerners. Without a noble personality and outstanding talent, John Tang would not have been able to be respected.
Not long after Kangxi ascended the throne, five giant bronze bells were dug up near the capital. How big is it? According to later records by Father Nam Huai Ren, the largest bell was much larger than the largest aifu city bell recognized in Europe at that time.
Because the new emperor had just ascended the throne, everyone thought that this was a good omen, and they wanted to hang the most exquisite of the five bells, and the largest one, upstairs.
The idea is good, but how can it be implemented? This overwhelmed a crowd, and it was at this time that John Tang appeared with the drawings of the crane he had designed. With the crane, the big bell was successfully hoisted to the city tower, and John Tang won the applause of everyone.
Unfortunately, four months later, a fire hit the bell tower, and both the bell and the bell tower were damaged.
Two years later, John Tang hung another bell, but that was the last big thing he had done in China.
As mentioned earlier, Aobai and Suksaha did not want to see the Westerners, so after Kangxi ascended the throne, they restored the old calendar, although it was not as accurate as the new calendar. This was thanks to an ignorant official at that time, his name was Yang Guangxian, who held an important position in qin tianjian, responsible for observing celestial phenomena, revising the calendar, and other matters, but he knew nothing about astronomy.
Despite this, he still made a big fuss: we can not have a good calendar in the Qing Dynasty, but we absolutely cannot allow foreigners to stay here! John Tang, who was too old, was investigated for months and eventually sentenced to death.
Before the execution could be carried out, an earthquake struck the capital, causing the palace to catch fire. Some people throughout the capital said that this was because Ao Bai sentenced John Tang to capital punishment, and the heavens wanted to surrender to us. Empress Xiaozhuang also intervened in the matter, exempting John Tang from the death penalty. John Tang eventually died of hemiplegia and was not rehabilitated until after the Kangxi Emperor took over the government.
There is a myth in the West that human beings want to build the Tower of Babel in a vain attempt to sit on an equal footing with God. When God learned of this, he scattered humanity throughout the world and allowed them to develop different civilizations and languages. In this way, cultural differences and language barriers make it impossible for human beings to unite and never build the Tower of Babel.
Tower of Babel (Babel Tower)
Some say John Tang and others came to China only to promote their faith. There is nothing wrong with saying this, but in general, he built a bridge between Chinese and Western cultural exchanges, promoted the development and progress of Qing Dynasty science, and was a friendly cultural messenger. If one day all mankind can really unite as one, will it be possible to build the "Tower of Babel"?