Friendship and Hospitality

Dongfeng Xu

Description

The Jesuit mission to China more than four hundred years ago has been the subject of sustained scholarly investigation for centuries. Focusing on the concepts of friendship and hospitality as they were both theorized and practiced by the Jesuit missionaries and their Confucian hosts, this book offers a new, comparative, and deconstructive reading of the interaction between these two vastly different cultures. Dongfeng Xu analyzes how the Jesuits presented their concept of friendship to achieve their evangelical goals and how the Confucians reacted in turn by either displaying or denying hospitality. Challenging the hierarchical view in traditional discourse on friendship and hospitality by revealing the irreducible otherness as the condition of possibility of the two concepts, Xu argues that one legacy of the Jesuit-Confucian encounter has been the shared recognition that cultural differences are what both motivated and conditioned cross-cultural exchanges and understandings.
Acknowledgments

Introduction

Part I: Friendship and the Jesuits

1. Striving for Divine Union: The Wholly Other and the Jesuit Vocation

2. Other Rhetoric: Reading Matteo Ricci's On Friendship

Part II: Hospitality and the Confucians

3. The Subject of Hospitality and Sino-centrism: Theory and Chinese Cultural Background

4. Situating the Middle Kingdom: Matteo Ricci's World Map, the Wobbling Center, and the Undoing of the Host

5. Reforming the Calendar: The Ming Empire's Stairway to Heaven through the Jesuits

6. The Confucian Hospitality: Responding to the Jesuits

Conclusion

Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index

Sujets

• Philosophie
• Philosophie du langage
• Philosophie de la langue
• Comparative religion
• History of Asia
• History of religions
• Confucianism
• China

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 août 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438484969
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 11 Mo

Extrait

Friendship and Hospitality
SUNY series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture

Roger T. Ames, editor
Friendship and Hospitality
The Jesuit-Confucian Encounter in Late Ming China
DONGFENG XU
Cover image: Chinese world map, drawn by the Jesuits, early seventeenth century. Reproduction in Historic Maritime Maps by Donald Wigal. Author unknown.
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2021 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Name: Xu, Dongfeng, author
Title: Friendship and hospitality : the Jesuit-Confucian encounter in late Ming China
Description: Albany : State University of New York Press, [2021] | Series: SUNY series in Chinese philosophy and culture| Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: ISBN 9781438484952 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781438484969 (ebook)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2021939445
Further information is available at the Library of Congress.
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Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
PART ONE FRIENDSHIP AND THE JESUITS
1 Striving for Divine Union: The Wholly Other and the Jesuit Vocation
2 Other Rhetoric: Reading Matteo Ricci’s On Friendship
PART TWO HOSPITALITY AND THE CONFUCIANS
3 The Subject of Hospitality and Sino-centrism: Theory and Chinese Cultural Background
4 Situating the Middle Kingdom: Matteo Ricci’s World Map, the Wobbling Center, and the Undoing of the Host
5 Reforming the Calendar: The Ming Empire’s Stairway to Heaven through the Jesuits
6 The Confucian Hospitality: Responding to the Jesuits
Conclusion
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
In the course of writing this book I have incurred numerous debts to many teachers, friends, and colleagues, so many that it is impossible for me even to recall, much less mention, them all.
I must first thank my teachers, and first and foremost the late Professor Anthony C. Yu, my mentor and supervisor, under whom it was my good fortune to study and to whom I owe the deepest thanks. Throughout the years, he was always in my corner, providing guidance, encouragement, and support, and from him I learned a great deal about literature, religion, and culture. He greatly contributed to my intellectual and professional growth, and his absence has left a void in my life. I thank Professor Walter Rulph Johnson for teaching me. He is a teacher who is impressive, with his vast knowledge of literature and culture, ancient, modern, and postmodern, and at the same time extremely easygoing, with his good humor and unpretentious personality. Only I know how much appreciation I have for him for his kindness and instruction. My heartfelt thanks go to Professor Françoise Meltzer for her immense kindness to me. Forever supportive, she is always genuinely happy to know whatever little progress I make. Her sharp-mindedness and excellent scholarship have always been inspiring to me. To Professor Joshua Scodel, I owe special thanks for his support and encouragement to me through the years. His help to me continues up to this day. His support and kindness have meant a great deal to me. I wish to mention with deep gratitude these Chicago teachers who taught and helped me: Professors Edward Shaughnessy, Michael Murrin, Marshall Sahlins, Robert von Hallberg, Susan Schreiner, David Tracy, Bernard McGinn, Prasenjit Duara, Judith Zeitlin, Donald Harper, William Schweiker, Peter White, George Zhao. I thank Mr. Cai Fangpei, Dr. Yang Jun, and Dr. Wang Youqin. I must also thank the late Professors David T. Roy, Nancy Helmbold, and Frank Reynolds, who taught and helped me.
At Chicago, I was particularly privileged to have a group of good friends, many of whom are now experienced teachers and accomplished scholars. First, I want to mention these close friends of mine. Li Sher-shiueh has helped me in many ways. Because we both work on the Jesuit mission to China, he has always been generous and helpful in sharing with me his ideas and work. It was with his help that I spent a year working as a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Literature and Philosophy, Academia Sinica, in Taiwan. Zhou Yiqun, my fellow student of Professor Yu, is one of the first friends I made at Chicago. The many conversations we have had have been as enjoyable as they have been inspiring to me. A good and true friend, she is always ready to give her support and help. For her unfailing support, thoughtful help, and constant encouragement, to say that I am most grateful to her is somewhat of an understatement. Richard G. Wang, also a student of Professor Yu, has been a true friend from the beginning. He always encourages me and helps me. A dedicated and learned scholar, he never fails to impress me with his broad knowledge and good understanding of Chinese culture, literature, and religion. His friendship has been the source of my strength. Lam Ling Hon and Bao Weihong have been good and inspiring friends who, with their unfailing devotion to scholarship, constantly read, think, and write. The laughter we have shared, the numerous discussions we have had, and the movies we have watched together will always be remembered. It is a pity that we now live with virtually the entire country of America between us. But every communication we have, by phone or email, brings the same immense joy and scholarly stimulation as before. Corinne Bayerl, Ichiro Yuhara, Max Bohnenkamp, and Helen Hi-sun Kim have been great friends through the years.
Good friends from the Chicago years also include Rebecca (Rivi) Handler-Spitz, Hulya Adak, James St. André, Catherine Stuer, Paize Keulemans, Eugenia Lean, Nicole Zhan’ge Ni, George Streeter, Rocco Lacorte, Magnus Fiskesjö, Chris Lehrich, Kimberley Borchard, Juan Pablo Gil, Li Yuhang, Viren Murthy, Dr. Elias Dakwa, Liu Wei, Wang Shengyu, Paulo Brito, Xu Peng, Yang Lin, Justin Howell, Peng Ke, Wang Yi, Miao Xin, and many others. Their kindness, help, encouragement, and support brought much warmth and joy to me. The ties we formed remain strong and continue to get me support and help.
My thanks also go to Dr. Zhou Yuan, and the late Dr. Tai-loi Ma, present and past curators of Regenstein Library’s East Asian Collections, and the able librarians Qian Xiaowen and the late William Alspaugh, for helping me locate needed books. I am grateful to Michael Berger at the Center for the Studies of Languages for his help and friendship through the years. He has been a good friend. To Theodore N. Foss, former vice director at the Center for East Asian Studies, I owe special thanks. I have learned tremendously from him about the Jesuit mission to late imperial China. The many books he lent to me, and the books he gave me as gifts, which include a set of the invaluable, beautiful, and useful Fonti Ricciane , have been crucial for my work.
After leaving Chicago, I have come to know a number of friends and fellow scholars through jobs and at conferences who have been so kind as to share ideas, provide help, and offer support. They include Ho Wan Li, Raymond Ho, Joan Qiong Le, Zhang Na, Ao Xuegang, Li Hong, Li Yu, Elena Glazov-Corrigan, Cai Rong, Julliette Stapanian-Apkarian in Atlanta, Georgia; Lin Hsi-chiang (Kid), Liao Chin-Ping, Huang Ya-hsien, Chao Tung-ming, and Hsu Yu-lung at Academia Sinica, who, so kind to me during my stay in Taiwan, have been good friends; Professors Hu Siao-chen, Chow Ta-hsing, Lin Yueh-hui, Liao Chao-heng, Yang Chen-te, Yang Chin-lung, Tsai Chang-lin, Chiang Chiu-hua, Chang Ji-lin, Chen Hsiang-yin, Liu Chiung-yun, Lin Mei-yi, and Pham Lee-moi at Academia Sinica, who offered help and displayed hospitality to me; and Professors Huang (Kevin) Kuan-yun (now at City University of Hong Kong) and Liu Cheng-hui at Tsing-hua University.
In 2012–2013, when I taught in the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, I got much help from Ming-Bao Yue (then chair of the department), David McCraw, Roger Ames, Cynthia Y. Ning, Hong Jiang, and Daniel Tschudi. I thank them all for their support and friendship. I must also thank C. S. Tang, Wenjing Yang, and the legendary Professor Chi-tang Lo, who, into his early nineties, would still go to campus every day to read in the library. All these colleagues, who remain good friends, enriched my work and my stay there.
Bringing this book project to completion, I must go back in time to thank the late Karl S. Y. Kao, my mentor at the University of Alberta. An extremely kind man and erudite scholar, he introduced me to sinology in the West. He taught me, both by example and by precept, how to apply Western critical theories in my own studies. I miss him. Also, I must thank Jennifer Jay for her help and support for many years. I owe heartfelt thanks to Garry Sherbert and Troni Grande at University of Regina. Our friendship began when we were fellow students at Alberta. Throughout the years, they gave me so much academic and emotional support that I will never forget.
Now I must mention with deep thanks my colleagues and friends at Colgate University, my home institution. First, I thank my colleagues in the department. Yukari Hirata is so kind and thoughtful all the time. Jing Wang is always ready to lend a helping hand. Gloria Bien, now in retirement, never hesitates to offer me needed advice. John Crespi, departmental chair, has done a great deal to help me, including taking time to read my paper and provide searching criticism. Sco