Jesuit Mission and Submission: Qing Rulership and the Fate of Christianity in China, 1644–1735 by Litian Swen (review)

Reviewed by: Jesuit Mission and Submission: Qing Rulership and the Fate of Christianity in China, 1644–1735 by Litian Swen Claudia von Collani Jesuit Mission and Submission: Qing Rulership and the Fate of Christianity in China, 1644–1735. By Litian Swen. (Leiden: Brill. 2021. Pp. x, 227. 25. ISBN 978-9-004-44470-4. ) The center of Litian Swen's book is the interesting thesis that the Jesuit missionaries in China belonged to the class of the booi, meaning bondservants. This status, typical for the Manchu tradition, meant something like a higher-ranked slave belonging to the household of his master. In this close and personal relationship the booi could obtain the highest offices in the state. But was this true in the case of the Jesuits during the Kangxi era? Swen tries to prove his argument in six chapters covering the time of the young Kangxi Emperor (1662–1722) until the rule of the Yongzheng Emperor (1723–35). The first chapter dealing with the two Jesuits Gabriel de Magalhães (1611–77) and Lodovico Buglio (1606–82) comes closest to proving Swen's thesis. Forced to serve the rebel Zhang Xianzhong (1601–47) in Sichuan, they became prisoners of war and then dependent on the mighty Tong family, which was closely related to the Kangxi Emperor. Jealous of Johann (not Jonathan!) Adam Schall von Bell (1592–1666) for living in freedom as an astronomer at the Calendar Office, they fought him for a long time. In Swen's eyes the booi relation between Kangxi and the Jesuits started with these two Jesuits. As director at the Calendar Office, Schall was also responsible for divination and was therefore attacked by Buglio and Magalhães. Schall, however, received permission from Rome to carry out his office in the best interests of the mission. A short time later, the so-called Calendar Case (1664–68) was started by Yang Guangxian (1597–1669). Schall and his brethren in Beijing survived, thanks to the networks built up by Buglio and Magalhães, so Swen's opinion, whereas the other missionaries were expelled to Canton. Chapter 3 describes the Jesuits in the Imperial Household Department of Kangxi. From their relation to Confucian literati, they became members of the inner circle around the emperor, which finally led to the Edict of Toleration in 1692. Chapters 4 and 5 describe the two papal legations of Charles-Thomas Maillard de Tournon (1668–1710) and Carlo Ambrogio Mezzabarba to China (1685–1741). To sustain his thesis the author notes that these legations were not mentioned in official Chinese sources and therefore belonged to the Inner Household with the booi region. The Kangxi emperor acted in Swen's eyes only to defend his booi-slaves in the Chinese Rites Controversy, namely the Jesuits, whereas he had no problems with Tournon or Mezzabarba as such. The last chapter about Yongzheng and his relation to Christianity describes how the emperor's interest changed to Buddhism. End Page 441 The thesis about the master-slave relation of Kangxi and the Jesuits is quite new. Swen describes the court policy of Kangxi with fresh eyes. But the few proofs he presents can also be interpreted in another way, whereas he writes that Kangxi supported the Beijing Jesuits "because they were viewed as holding a status similar to his booi slaves" (164), for whom the emperor felt responsible. As for Kangxi and the Chinese Rites Controversy, he could and would not tolerate any challenge of the Confucian rites as one of the fundaments of the Chinese culture. Christianity was tolerable insofar as it adapted to China and obeyed its laws. As his main source Litian Swen uses the "Acta Pekinensia" written by Kilian Stumpf SJ (1655–1720) with additional Chinese sources and Western secondary literature. 1 It would be helpful if in the bibliography also the single letters of the Lettres édifiantes et curieuses would appear with the names of the authors and dates. Claudia von Collani University of Würzburg Footnotes 1. Kilian Stumpf, S. J. , The Acta Pekinensia or Historical Records of the Maillard de Tournon Legation, first transcribed edition and English annotated translation, ed. Paul Rule and Claudia von Collani. Vol. One. . .