Confucius-ing

What do you get when you have a Chinese philosopher, a Jesuit Priest, and a Kaifeng Jew?

Don’t know?... Neither do I.

​Confucius

Confucius (Chinese: 孔夫子; pinyin: Kǒng Fūzǐ; Wade-Giles: K’ung-fu-tzu), lit. “Master Kung,”[1] September 28, 551 BCE – 479 BCE) was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher, whose teachings and philosophy have deeply influenced Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese thought and life.

His philosophy emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice and sincerity. These values gained prominence in China over other doctrines, such as Legalism (法家) or Taoism (道家) during the Han Dynasty[2][3][4] (206 BC–220 AD). Confucius’ thoughts have been developed into a system of philosophy known as Confucianism (儒家). It was introduced to Europe by the Jesuit Matteo Ricci, who was the first to Latinise the name as “Confucius.”

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​Matteo Ricci

Matteo Ricci (October 6, 1552 – May 11, 1610; traditional Chinese: 利瑪竇; simplified Chinese: 利玛窦; pinyin: Lì Mǎdòu; courtesy name:西泰 Xītài) was an Italian Jesuit priest.

Matteo Ricci was born in 1552 in Macerata, then part of the Papal States. Ricci started learning theology and law in a Roman Jesuits’ school. In 1577, he filed an application to be a member of a Missionary to India, and his journey began in March 1578 from Lisbon, Portugal. He arrived in Goa, a Portuguese Colony, in September 1578, and four years later he was dispatched to China.

In 1601 he returned to Beijing where he was not initially granted an audience with the Emperor of China but, after he presented the Emperor with a chiming clock, Ricci was finally allowed to present himself at the Imperial court of Wanli thus becoming the first Westerner to be invited into the Forbidden City. Although Ricci was given free access to the Forbidden City he never met the Wanli Emperor; however, Wanli did grant him patronage by allotting to Ricci a generous stipend and the title of Superior-General of the Jesuits in China.[1] Ricci was able to meet important officials and leading members of the Beijing cultural scene.

He learned much about Chinese culture and history, and was the first Westerner to learn about the Kaifeng Jews.[2] He was personally contacted by a member of the Jewish community living in Beijing in 1605. Ricci never officially visited the community in Henan, but he did send a junior missionary there three years later in 1608, which was the first of many such missions commissioned by the church. In fact, the elderly Chief Rabbi of the Jews was ready to cede his power to Ricci, as long as he gave up eating pork, but he never accepted the position.[2] Ricci lived on in China until the end of his life. He died in Beijing on May 11th 1610.

Ricci could speak Chinese as well as read and write classical Chinese (wenyan), the literary language of scholars and officials. Added to this he was known for his appreciation of the indigenous culture of the Chinese.During his research he discovered that, in contrast to the cultures of South Asia, Chinese culture was strongly intertwined with Confucian values and therefore decided that Christianity had to be changed to fit Chinese culture in order to be attractive to the Chinese.[citation needed]

Later discovering that Confucian thought was dominant in Ming Dynasty,Ricci became the first to translate the Confucian classics into a western language, Latin, with assistance from the scholar Xu Guangqi.

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​Kaifeng Jews

It is surmised that the ancestors of the Kaifeng Jews came from Central Asia. The uninterrupted existence of this religious and ethnic group, lasting for more than 700 years in totally different socio-cultural surroundings strongly dominated by Confucian moral and ethical principles, is a unique phenomenon, not only in Chinese history, but also in the thousands of years of Jewish civilisation.

The current situation of Kaifeng Jewish descendants is complex. Within the framework of contemporary rabbinical Judaism, only matrilineal transmission of Jewishness is recognized (a Jew is a convert or someone whose mother is a Jew), while Chinese Jews recognized only patrilineal descent. They are not, therefore, recognized as Jews by other Jewish communities and are also ineligible for automatic Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return. Most descendants of Kaifeng’s Jewish community are vaguely aware of their ancestry, but few have direct sources indicating their descent; the vast majority are unfamiliar with a Jewish identity in common with Jews elsewhere. This situation may be changing as Jewish groups from outside China continue their efforts to educate the descendants of the Kaifeng community about their religious and ethnic heritage.

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So a Jesuit Priest who was the first Westerner to visit the Forbidden City, and discover an ancient Chinese/Jewish community, was also the man responsible for introducing Confucianism to Europe. Nothing unusual about that, I suppose.

Further Reading: The Jesuit Oath Exposed. (Alternate: PDF.)