Work of the Christian Missionaries Converting China to...

The Christian missionaries knew it wasn’t going to be easy. Going to China at the time was a one way trip to an unknown land. The task of converting China to Christianity was rife with challenges due to continued resistance to any sort of outside influence that was a tradition of China for many years. Never-the-less the missionaries still went to China and by leveraging what advantages they could find, they were able to find some measure of success over the years. One of the men who made so much headway in China was a Jesuit named Ricci. Ricci was gifted, and knew the value of the gifts he possessed. As a linguist, Ricci used his western mnemonic techniques that were unfamiliar to the Chinese to impress the literati. The Chinese†¦show more content†¦The mutual interests and lifestyles acted in favor of more free exchange of ideas. Furthermore, the acceptance from the scholar-officials was necessary for the missionaries to be allowed to remain in China. In this early time of the missionary work, late Ming China was in a state of being more culturally open. During this period the Jesuits had successes converting prominent scholar-officials. The Jesuits learned they couldn’t convert people to Christianity if it was presented as an independent concept, so they came to blend Confucianism (the religion most popular to the literati) with Christianity. Culturally during this time the Ming dynasty possessed a lesser sense Confucian orthodoxy. They were willing to synthesize various teachings of the different religions into a harmonious unity. The Jesuits used the open spirit of the Ming to blend Christianity with Confucianism. Combining religions gave an advantage to the Jesuits because they could present Christianity as something already familiar in some concepts as the religion already practiced by the literati. Even while blending Confucianism with Christianity, they also criticized Buddhism and Daoism religions that were seen as lower class. By appealing to the upper class in this was they gained a few prominent converts in the 17th century and even Xu, one of highest official member of the Ming dynasty. As a testament to the effect thisShow MoreRelatedMungello, the Great Encounter or China and the West1945 Words   |  8 PagesThe Great Encounter of China and the West 1500-1800 The Chinese and European cultures came together for the first time in the fifteenth century when great Chinese fleets traveled throughout the Indian Ocean and along the coast of Africa. These voyages created much concern for China. They lead to a period of isolation for security reasons. By the time the first Europeans arrived in China there was little to no evidence of these voyages. 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