"In recent years, many shrewd barbarians have come from faraway lands. For instance, there were Dio de Pantoja and Sabbathinus de Ursis in the imperial capital, Emmanuel Diaz in Nanking and many others in the provinces and prefectures. They call their faith the Catholic religion.
"When your humble official (Shen himself) first came to Nanking, he was surprised to learn of the huge following and influence these barbarians had built up. Your humble official at first wanted to invoke the laws of Cathay to arrest and deport them.
"Nevertheless, the apologists came and described luridly the number and influence of the barbarians, who have eroded the hearts of many, including members of the literati. Your humble official could not but issue a lengthy sigh."
The minister described the Catholics as part of the rebellious Chinese White Lily sect and sought imperial sanction to wipe them out.
Hsu Kuang-chi in his robes. (File photo)
There was no imperial answer. The minister went ahead with his suppressive campaign. Three months later, he arrested 13 Catholics, including one foreign missionary, and twice pleaded for royal permission to behead or exile them.
That was the persecution of 1616 in the last years of the Ming Dynasty. But it did not last long nor result in large-scale bloodshed. In the court, there was a man who gave asylum to such prominent Jesuit fathers as Nicolaus Longobardi, Lazarus Cattaneo, Nicolaus Trigault, Julius Aleni and Franciscus Sambiasi.
All these names - Italian, German, Swiss, Dutch or French - played a leading role in the growth of Catholicism and modernization of China. They, together with Matteo Ricci and the man who, though subsequently a Chinese prime minister, hid them in his own house, were principally instrumental in changing the face of ancient Cathay.
The Chinese who did more than anybody else in trying to cultivate modern ideas and the Catholic faith in China was Hsu Kuang-chi— scholar, missionary and statesman. Christened Paul (one Jesuit entry erroneously gave his name as Jean), Hsu stood out so strongly that all Chinese-Christians, Confucianists and Buddhists-joined this year to celebrate the 400th anniversary of his birth.
Indeed, his name seems to be immortal. In Shanghai, where he was born, a large area in the western port of what used to be the French Concession is known as Ziekawei. Zie is the Shanghai spelling of Hsu. And the famous Ziewei Middle School - Catholic, of course-is also named after him. In Ziekawei, there is also an observatory, a Catholic church and a printing works.
In 1956, the Society of Jesuits established a Kuang Chi Middle School in the Philippines. It already has more than 2,000 students. A Kuang Chi Publications Company is to be found in Taichung. The Jesuit fathers of the company have been working for more than 10 years to compile a dictionary in five languages—one of the most impressive scholarly undertakings in this part of the world. In Taipei, a Kuang Chi Middle School is planned.
Great Contributions
Paul Hsu, who lived in the 16th and 17th Centuries, is still very much with us. Why?
Hsu Kuang-chi was a great man because:
1. He helped Catholicism establish a beachhead and then prosper in China.
2. Far ahead of his time, he wanted to modernize China and introduce reform. He urged highly un-Chinese methods to beat back the invading Manchus. He was very patriotic.
3. He brought Western science to Chinese soil. His calendar, although no longer in use, was revolutionary in his time.
To understand Hsu Kuang-chi, we must look at the Catholic, the statesman and the scientist simultaneously.
Hsu Kuang-chi and Matteo Ricci were not the first to bring Christianity to China. The annals say that about 1,000 years before Hsu was born, a religion called Ching found its way into China. All that remains of it today is a tablet in northwestern China. The tablet establishes the sect as Nestorian, a branch of Christianity that insisted the Holy Mother gave birth only to Christ's body, not his soul.
Nestorianism, which came to China in 639 by way of Persia, had its moment. But the chaos of the Tang Dynasty later erased the Nestorians.
The second Christian invasion, this time by the Roman Catholic Church, occurred 700 years after the Nestorian setback. The Mongolians were the rulers of China then, but the missionaries from the Holy See even converted an emperor and his queen mother of the Yuan (Mongol) Dynasty. The Pontiff named an archbishop of Peking who also was in charge of the Far East.
The Yuan court was soon overthrown. When the Ming Dynasty took over, it immediately battened down the doors and drove out all foreigners—Persians, Catholics and Asian neighbors alike.
Catholicism came and stayed for good in 1577 when Italian Jesuit Father Michel Ruggieri arrived in Macao with the Bible. In two years, he made five trips to Canton to spread the Word. After looking at the Chinese people and their thinking, Father Ruggieri suggested that the Society send to China Matteo Ricci, an Italian missionary well versed in science and young enough (29) to shoulder the strenuous tasks that lay ahead.
First Catholic Church
Ricci arrived in 1582. The next year, he and Ruggieri built the first Catholic church in China at Shachiang, Kwangtung. Soon he extended his activities northward.
Matteo Ricci knew it was impossible to change the Chinese overnight. He learned to speak and write Chinese, to observe Chinese customs and in general to make Catholicism and foreigners acceptable to the Chinese. He succeeded notably.
Ricci also tried to bring science to China. Missionary work through education became the modus operandi. To Matteo Ricci, the shortest route to a man's heart was through his mind.
The landmark year came in 1600, when Matteo Ricci and Hsu Kuang-chi, a Chinese traditional scholar who wrote better prose than poetry, met in Shanghai. It was a historic meeting.
Hsu had known of Catholicism for five years but had not been converted. Not yet in government service, Hsu was baptized in 1603. He was given the Christian name of Paul.
Once he had become a Catholic, he started to propagate his faith with a zeal and devotion rarely to be found.
Hsu Kuang-chi came to prominence by dint of diligence and character. He was born in 1562 to a farming family. His father was more or less a recluse. The responsibility of his upbringing rested on the shoulders of his mother. The biographers say that once when Hsu was about to take part in a government examination, his mother gave him all the food there was and that she went hungry for several days.
At the age of 20, Hsu Kuang-chi qualified as shiu tsai. He began to become a breadwinner by teaching students. Fifteen years later he advanced another rung up the official scholarship ladder. In another seven years he became ching shih, the highest rank.
At that time, Matteo Ricci arrived in the imperial capital at Peking. Through Hsu, he wrote to the emperor. Showing his perfect knowledge of the Chinese, Ricci called himself "your guest official from the Atlantic region" and praised China as "the heavenly country." His Majesty was told that Ricci had come to China to learn and "to be with your people all my life so that this life won't be spent in vain."
Two pages from the Complete Book of Farming (top); Euclid's Geometry as translated by Hsu Kuang-chi (center); Books on astronomy translated from Western originals (bottom). (File photo)
Emperor Flattered
Ricci presented many gifts to the Emperor—a portrait of God, two portraits of the Holy Mother, a Bible, a pearl-inlaid cross, a chiming clock, a world map and a harp. All these were new to the Emperor and he accepted them happily.
Ricci then told the Emperor he knew something about astronomy and geography. "I have seen the secret of the heavenly map and degrees which are in conformity with the ancient methods of China," he said, suggesting that he be permitted to demonstrate his knowledge in a royal audience.
This was not granted. But Ricci, through the assistance of Hsu and together with the many new Jesuits coming to China, managed to make Catholicism a living force in the cities of China.
Hsu Kuang-chi converted his own father, son, other relatives and many friends. He and two close friends, Li Tse-chao and Yang Ting-jung, used their own houses as meeting places or rented halls.
There are no official records of the number of Catholics at that time. One account says that within a year Hsu helped convert 200 in Shanghai. That was in 1609, when Hsu also built a Catholic church.
Hsu Kuang-chi was a mild and gentle scholar who took a dim view of invective and polemics. Even when his political enemies, among whom Shen Chueh was the bitterest, attacked him, he preferred to retire from politics for a while without using strong language against anybody.
But when it came to an argument with the Buddhists, Hsu suddenly switched over to the offensive. On one occasion, he said, "Buddhism has been in China for 18 centuries and yet morals and mores have kept on degenerating. Has Buddhism benefited anybody?
"Now if one should believe in Catholicism, one becomes a good person in a short time. And the whole country soon would see better days than those under Emperors Yao and Shun."
Defense of Church
Then came the persecution of 1616. Hsu Kuang-chi, upon hearing of Shen Chueh's letter to the Emperor, immediately sent in his own. He defended the missionaries vigorously, saying they were righteous men of great learning.
Hsu's plea won the day. Still, Shen Chueh went ahead with plans for persecution. The Catholic missionaries had to lie low for a long time.
Since then, Catholicism in China has continued to put down deep roots.
Hsu Kuang-chi was not born in a good era.
At the court of Ming, the eunuch Wei Chung-hsien followed a parade of illiterate but arrogant eunuchs to become the power behind the throne. The corrupted officials joined forces with the eunuch and fought the Confucianists. Political crises succeeded each other until there was chaos.
Japanese pirates raided and pillaged the East China seaboard. General Chi Chi-kuang had barely subdued the Japanese when pirates of Chinese origin began raiding. Among them was Chen Tse-lung, whose son, Koxinga, was to became a patriot and the conqueror of Taiwan.
Throughout the land, hungry and misruled people rebelled. Bands of rebels roved from place to place. One group might grow into a force of more than a million men, only to dissipate a few weeks later. But two group were showing signs of challenging the throne.
North of the Great Wall, the Manchus were fast growing into strong and militant force.
This was the background of Hsu's youth. A historian wrote about 1617: "The dynasty seemed to be nearing its end. Bandits invaded Szechuan province. Floods ravaged parts of Kiangsu and Anhwei. The wakos (Japanese) attacked Wenchow and the troops mutinied in Hangchow. Ethnic barbarians (Manchus) attacked the western part of Liaoning. All provinces reported famine."
Into this picture stepped Hsu Kuang-chi, confident that given authority, he could turn the tide.
Hsu failed—but greatly. At first, the eunuchs and their henchmen stood in his way. Later, the traditionalists did not like his revolutionary ideas. Three times he was forced to leave Peking and go into semi-retirement. Each time he was called back to active service by the Emperor.
Crowning Irony
The crowning irony came when Hsu was 72. He was made the prime minister. Scarcely able to serve, Hsu begged to be relieved. The Emperor chided him, granted him leaves of absence but never let him go.
Emperor Chung Cheng ordered a one-day stoppage of court ceremonies when Hsu died.
Yet it was the same Emperor who did not follow Hsu's advice. He liked Hsu Kuang-chi the man but the latter's novel ideas were too much for him.
When Hsu Kuang-chi wanted to lead his new troops into Korea and attack the Manchus from the rear, the Emperor would not let him go. "Hsu Kuang-chi," the royal decree said blandly, "knows so much about military affairs that we need him near us for constant consultation."
Hsu pleaded for an elite army, small but well trained, well disciplined and heavily armed. Three times he brought this before the Emperor. The Emperor merely acknowledged receipt of the recommendation without comment. No such centralized army was formed.
Hsu Kuang-chi also advanced detailed programs regarding salt administration, taxation, farming and coastal defenses. They were bold and progressive.
The Emperor put the suggestions in the royal file and forgot about them.
Western Artillery
What disappointed Hsu the most was the apathy toward his pleas for Western artillery to fight the Manchus.
The first suggestion was blocked by a royal censor who merely snorted "un-Chinese!" The Emperor shelved the plan. Hsu left the political scene for a while.
Major General Hsu Mou-hsi, left, 13th generation lineal descendant of Hsu Kuang-chi, is commandant of a military school. Hsu Chu-kuo, right, 14th generation lineal descendant is an airline engineer. (File photo)
The next time Hsu advanced the idea, it was accepted. Several cannon were purchased in Macao. Again, Hsu's political foes intervened. The cannon were diverted to Kwangsi province.
Hsu finally got the pieces to Peking. Two of them exploded. More pieces were purchased. Hsu busily worked on programs to train artillery. He did not get very far.
In a campaign in Shantung, two foreign missionaries helped the government forces by manning the artillery pieces. They did very well. But the troops would have none of such help. The missionaries lost their lives in an ensuing battle.
All this saddened Hsu tremendously. Toward the end, he could count a few cannon and some hundreds of muskets he had ordered made.
Ten years after Hsu's death, the Ming Dynasty fell.
As a religious leader, Hsu was unmatched for courage and devotion. As a statesman, Hsu had everything but the ready ear of the Emperor. As a propagator of science, Hsu is remembered by most Chinese as highly successful.
It was Matteo Ricci and Hsu Kuang-chi who teamed to bring science from the West.
It was almost a miracle that Hsu, a Confucian scholar, should have interested himself in science. But Ricci said Hsu had a better scientific grasp than anyone else he knew.
Book on Farming
Ricci and Hsu translated Euclid's Geometry into Chinese. Hsu then went on to translate trigonometry, surveying and many books on science.
Hsu wrote the Complete Book on Farming, which urged a scientific approach.
The most important scientific contribution by Hsu Kuang-chi was his reformation of the Chinese calendar system.
Since the Shang Dynasty, the calendar had undergone more than 70 major changes in 3,300 years. But the system still was lunar and grossly unscientific.
The lunar calendar was quite efficient in predicting the tides. But it had many drawbacks. It had to have a number of leap months, thus making the four seasons irregular and confusing to farmers.
Hsu Kuang-chi was determined to change the system. He was living about the same time as Galileo and not long after Coppernicus.
Hsu, like his tutor Ricci, believed that the sun moved around the earth. Some of his other convictions were similarly incorrect: there were small wheels under the planets, the earth did not rotate, the earth was the center of the universe and so on.
Still, he was groping toward science. Typical Chinese astronomers did not know anything about the universe and were merely trying to forecast the future.
Branded as Heretic
When Hsu first suggested a reform in calendar making, he was assailed and branded as a heretic. The Emperor ordered the creation of a five-man study board. Hsu defended his proposal.
Royal astronomers made a mistake in calculating the time and duration of the 1610 eclipse of the sun. Chinese and foreign experts met and discussed the relative merits of the lunar and solar systems of timekeeping. In 1612, Hsu was appointed the key official in calendar reformation.
Hsu advanced three possible plans. At last he agreed on a project to reform the calendar and simultaneously advance a program of scientific education. Again, his proposals were praised and shelved by the Emperor.
In 1629, the royal astronomer failed once more in forecasts of an eclipse of the sun. Hsu Kuang-chi had made a perfect forecast. The Emperor asked him to devise a new calendar.
A bureau was set up. Longobardi and Joannes Torrenz were invited to help. Three years later, two more Jesuit fathers—Adam Schall von Bell and Johannes de Rocha—joined in the work. A gigantic translation campaign was linked to the project.
Hsu Kuang-chi did not live to see his work completed. But the Hsu calendar emerged and was used by the Ching (Manchu) Dynasty. It was a compromise between the Chinese and Western calendars. All calculations and basic theories were Western but as with a lunar calendar, every month began at the time of the new moon.
It was the biggest change in Chinese calendar-making to that time.
Hsu Kuang-chi contributed greatly to China in religion, the acceptance of outside ideas and dedication to the scientific method. In the 400 years since, few have matched his dedication and his diligence.