1.
Book frontispiece
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A frontispiece in books generally refers to a decorative or informative illustration facing a books title page, being the verso opposite the recto title page. While some books depict thematic elements, other books feature the portrait as the frontispiece. In medieval illuminated manuscripts, a miniature showing the book or text being presented was often used as a frontispiece. The word comes from the French frontispice, or the late Latin frontispicium, from the Latin frons, in English, it was originally used as an architectural term, referring to the decorative facade of a building. By then, the English spelling had also morphed, by way of folk etymology, book design Prints & People, A Social History of Printed Pictures, an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on book frontispieces
2.
Athanasius Kircher
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Athanasius Kircher, S. J. was a German Jesuit scholar and polymath who published around 40 major works, most notably in the fields of comparative religion, geology, and medicine. Kircher has been compared to fellow Jesuit Roger Boscovich and to Leonardo da Vinci for his enormous range of interests and he taught for more than forty years at the Roman College, where he set up a wunderkammer. A resurgence of interest in Kircher has occurred within the community in recent decades. Kircher claimed to have deciphered the writing of the ancient Egyptian language. He did, however, correctly establish the link between the ancient Egyptian and the Coptic languages, and some regard him as the founder of Egyptology. Kirchers work in geology included studies of volcanoes and fossils, Kircher also displayed a keen interest in technology and mechanical inventions, inventions attributed to him include a magnetic clock, various automatons and the first megaphone. The invention of the lantern is often misattributed to Kircher. A scientific star in his day, towards the end of his life he was eclipsed by the rationalism of René Descartes, in the late 20th century, however, the aesthetic qualities of his work again began to be appreciated. One modern scholar, Alan Cutler, described Kircher as a giant among seventeenth-century scholars, another scholar, Edward W. Schmidt, referred to Kircher as the last Renaissance man. Kircher was born on 2 May in either 1601 or 1602 in Geisa, Buchonia, near Fulda, currently Hesse, from his birthplace he took the epithets Bucho, Buchonius and Fuldensis which he sometimes added to his name. He attended the Jesuit College in Fulda from 1614 to 1618, the youngest of nine children, Kircher studied volcanoes owing to his passion for rocks and eruptions. He was taught Hebrew by a rabbi in addition to his studies at school and he studied philosophy and theology at Paderborn, but fled to Cologne in 1622 to escape advancing Protestant forces. On the journey, he escaped death after falling through the ice crossing the frozen Rhine — one of several occasions on which his life was endangered. Later, traveling to Heiligenstadt, he was caught and nearly hanged by a party of Protestant soldiers, from 1622 to 1624 Kircher was sent to begin his regency period in Koblenz as a teacher. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1628 and became professor of ethics and mathematics at the University of Würzburg, beginning in 1628, he also began to show an interest in Egyptian hieroglyphs. In 1631, while still at Würzburg, Kircher allegedly had a vision of a bright light. This was the year that Kircher published his first book, in 1633 he was called to Vienna by the emperor to succeed Kepler as Mathematician to the Habsburg court. On the intervention of Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc, the order was rescinded and he was sent instead to Rome to continue with his scholarly work, on the way, his ship was blown off course and he arrived in Rome before he knew of the changed decision
3.
Society of Jesus
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The Society of Jesus Latin, Societas Iesu, S. J. SJ or SI) is a religious congregation of the Catholic Church which originated in Spain. The society is engaged in evangelization and apostolic ministry in 112 nations on six continents, Jesuits work in education, intellectual research, and cultural pursuits. Jesuits also give retreats, minister in hospitals and parishes, and promote social justice, Ignatius of Loyola founded the society after being wounded in battle and experiencing a religious conversion. He composed the Spiritual Exercises to help others follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, ignatiuss plan of the orders organization was approved by Pope Paul III in 1540 by a bull containing the Formula of the Institute. Ignatius was a nobleman who had a background, and the members of the society were supposed to accept orders anywhere in the world. The Society participated in the Counter-Reformation and, later, in the implementation of the Second Vatican Council, the Society of Jesus is consecrated under the patronage of Madonna Della Strada, a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and it is led by a Superior General. The Society of Jesus on October 3,2016 announced that Superior General Adolfo Nicolás resignation was officially accepted, on October 14, the 36th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus elected Father Arturo Sosa as its thirty-first Superior General. The headquarters of the society, its General Curia, is in Rome, the historic curia of St. Ignatius is now part of the Collegio del Gesù attached to the Church of the Gesù, the Jesuit Mother Church. In 2013, Jorge Mario Bergoglio became the first Jesuit Pope, the Jesuits today form the largest single religious order of priests and brothers in the Catholic Church. As of 1 January 2015, Jesuits numbered 16,740,11,986 clerics regular,2,733 scholastics,1,268 brothers and 753 novices. In 2012, Mark Raper S. J. wrote, Our numbers have been in decline for the last 40 years—from over 30,000 in the 1960s to fewer than 18,000 today. The steep declines in Europe and North America and consistent decline in Latin America have not been offset by the significant increase in South Asia, the Society is divided into 83 Provinces with six Independent Regions and ten Dependent Regions. On 1 January 2007, members served in 112 nations on six continents with the largest number in India and their average age was 57.3 years,63.4 years for priests,29.9 years for scholastics, and 65.5 years for brothers. The current Superior General of the Jesuits is Arturo Sosa, the Society is characterized by its ministries in the fields of missionary work, human rights, social justice and, most notably, higher education. It operates colleges and universities in countries around the world and is particularly active in the Philippines. In the United States it maintains 28 colleges and universities and 58 high schools and he ensured that his formula was contained in two papal bulls signed by Pope Paul III in 1540 and by Pope Julius III in 1550. The formula expressed the nature, spirituality, community life and apostolate of the new religious order, the meeting is now commemorated in the Martyrium of Saint Denis, Montmartre
4.
Francis Xavier
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Saint Francis Xavier, S. J. was a Navarrese-Basque Roman Catholic missionary, born in Javier, Kingdom of Navarre, and a co-founder of the Society of Jesus. He was a companion of Saint Ignatius of Loyola and one of the first seven Jesuits who took vows of poverty and chastity at Montmartre, Paris in 1534. He led a mission into Asia, mainly in the Portuguese Empire of the time and was influential in evangelization work. He also was the first Christian missionary to venture into Japan, Borneo, the Maluku Islands, in those areas, struggling to learn the local languages and in the face of opposition, he had less success than he had enjoyed in India. Xavier was about to extend his missionary preaching to China but died in Shangchuan Island shortly before he could do so and he was beatified by Pope Paul V on 25 October 1619 and canonized by Pope Gregory XV on 12 March 1622. In 1624 he was made co-patron of Navarre alongside Santiago, known as the Apostle of the Indies, and the Apostle of Japan, he is considered to be one of the greatest missionaries since Saint Paul. In 1927, Pope Pius XI published the decree Apostolicorum in Missionibus naming Saint Francis Xavier, along with Saint Thérèse of Lisieux and he is now co-patron saint of Navarre with San Fermin. The Day of Navarre in Spain marks the anniversary of Saint Francis Xaviers death, Francis Xavier was born in the royal castle of Xavier, in the Kingdom of Navarre, on 7 April 1506 according to a family register. Francis mother was Doña María de Azpilcueta y Aznárez, sole heiress of two noble Navarrese families and he was thus related to the great theologian and philosopher Martín de Azpilcueta. In 1512, Ferdinand, King of Aragon and regent of Castile, invaded Navarre, three years later, Francis father died when Francis was only nine years old. In 1516, Franciss brothers participated in a failed Navarrese-French attempt to expel the Spanish invaders from the kingdom. The Spanish Governor, Cardinal Cisneros, confiscated the lands, demolished the outer wall, the gates. In addition, the height of the keep was reduced by half, only the family residence inside the castle was left. In 1525, Francis went to study in Paris at the Collège Sainte-Barbe, University of Paris, in the early days he acquired some reputation as an athlete and a fine high-jumper. In 1529, Francis shared lodgings with his friend Pierre Favre, a new student, Ignatius of Loyola, came to room with them. At 38, Ignatius was much older than Pierre and Francis, Pierre was won over by Ignatius to become a priest, but Francis had aspirations of worldly advancement. At first Francis was not much taken with Ignatius and he regarded the new lodger as a joke and was sarcastic about his efforts to convert students. Only after Pierre left their lodgings to visit his family, when Ignatius was alone with the proud Navarrese, was he was able to break down Franciss stubborn resistance
5.
Ignatius of Loyola
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Saint Ignatius of Loyola was a Spanish priest and theologian, who founded the religious order called the Society of Jesus and became its first Superior General. The Jesuit order served the Pope as missionaries, and they were bound by a vow of obedience to the sovereign pontiff in regard to the missions. They therefore emerged as an important political force during the time of the Counter-Reformation, Ignatius is remembered as a talented spiritual director. He recorded his method in a treatise called the Spiritual Exercises, a simple set of meditations, prayers. Ignatius was beatified in 1609, and then canonized, receiving the title of Saint on March 12,1622 and his feast day is celebrated on July 31. He is the saint of the provinces of Gipuzkoa and Biscay as well as the Society of Jesus. Ignatius is also a foremost patron saint of soldiers, Íñigo López de Loyola was born in the municipality of Azpeitia at the castle of Loyola in todays Gipuzkoa, Basque Country, Spain. He was baptized Íñigo, after St. Enecus Abbot of Oña and it is not clear when he began using the Latin name Ignatius instead of his baptismal name Íñigo. It seems he did not intend to change his name, but rather adopted a name which he believed was a variant of his own, for use in France. Íñigo was the youngest of thirteen children and his mother died soon after his birth, and he was then brought up by María de Garín, the local blacksmiths wife. Íñigo adopted the surname de Loyola in reference to the Basque village of Loyola where he was born, as a boy Íñigo became a page in the service of a relative, Juan Velázquez de Cuéllar, treasurer of the kingdom of Castile. As a young man Íñigo had a love for military exercises as well as a tremendous desire for fame. He framed his life around the stories of El Cid, the knights of Camelot, and the Song of Roland. He joined the army at seventeen, and according to one biographer, he strutted about with his cape slinging open to reveal his tight-fitting hose and boots, a sword and dagger at his waist. Upon encountering a Moor who denied the divinity of Jesus, he challenged him to a duel to the death and he dueled many other men as well. In 1509, at the age of 18, Íñigo took up arms for Antonio Manrique de Lara and his diplomacy and leadership qualities earned him the title servant of the court, which made him very useful to the Duke. Under the Dukes leadership, Íñigo participated in many battles without injury, but at the Battle of Pamplona in 1521 he was gravely injured when a French-Navarrese expedition force stormed the fortress of Pamplona on May 20,1521. A cannonball hit him in the legs, wounding his right leg, in the end these operations left one leg shorter than the other, Íñigo would limp for the rest of his life, and his military career was ended
6.
Christogram
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A Christogram is a monogram or combination of letters that forms an abbreviation for the name of Jesus Christ, traditionally used as a religious symbol within the Christian Church. One of the oldest Christograms is the Chi-Rho and it consists of the superimposed Greek letters chi and rho, which are the first two letters of Greek χριστός Christ. It was displayed on the military standard used by Constantine I in AD312. The IX monogram is a form, using the initials of the name Ἰησοῦς Χριστός Jesus Christ, as is the ΙΗ monogram. The name Jesus, spelt ΙΗΣΟΥΣ in Greek capitals, has the abbreviations IHS, in Eastern Christian tradition, the monogram ΙϹΧϹ is used for in both Greek and Cyrillic tradition. A Middle Latin term for abbreviations of the name of Christ is chrisimus, similarly, Middle Latin crismon, chrismon refers to the Chi Rho monogram specifically. In antiquity, the cross, i. e. the instrument of Christs crucifixion was taken to be T-shaped, while the X-shape had different connotations. In Platos Timaeus, it is explained that the two bands which form the world cross each other like the letter chi, possibly referring to the ecliptic crossing the celestial equator. The most commonly encountered Christogram in English-speaking countries in modern times is the Χ, representing the first letter of the word Christ, in such abbreviations as Xmas, the Alpha and Omega symbols may at times accompany the Chi-Rho monogram. Chrismon since the 17th century has been used as a New Latin term for the Chi Rho monogram. Because the chrismon was used as a kind of invocation at the beginning of documents of the Merovingian period, the term also came to be used of the cross-signatures in early medieval charters. Chrismon in this context may refer to the Merovingian period abbreviation I. C. N. for in Christi nomine, later also I. C. for in Christo, and still later just C. for Christus. The Greek letter iota is represented by I, and the eta by H, while the Greek letter sigma is either in its form, represented by C, or its final form. Because the Latin-alphabet letters I and J were not systematically distinguished until the 17th century, JHS and JHC are equivalent to IHS, IHS is sometimes interpreted as meaning Jesus Hominum Salvator, or connected with In Hoc Signo. Such interpretations are known as backronyms, used in Latin since the seventh century, the first use of IHS in an English document dates from the fourteenth century, in The vision of William concerning Piers Plowman. The IHS monogram with the H surmounted by a cross above three nails and surrounded by a Sun is the emblem of the Jesuits, according to tradition introduced by Ignatius of Loyola in 1541, english-language interpretations of IHS have included In His Service. On icons, this Christogram may be split, ΙϹ on the left of the image and it is sometimes rendered as ΙϹ ΧϹ ΝΙΚΑ, meaning Jesus Christ Conquers. ΙϹΧϹ may also be inscribed on the Ichthys
7.
Heaven
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According to the beliefs of some religions, heavenly beings can descend to earth or incarnate, and earthly beings can ascend to Heaven in the afterlife, or in exceptional cases enter Heaven alive. Some believe in the possibility of a Heaven on Earth in a World to Come, another belief is in an axis mundi or world tree which connects the heavens, the terrestrial world, and the underworld. In Indian religions, Heaven is considered as Svarga loka, and this cycle can be broken after a soul achieves Moksha or Nirvana. Any place of existence, either of humans, souls or deities, the modern English word heaven is derived from the earlier heven, this in turn was developed from the previous Old English form heofon. By about 1000, heofon was being used in reference to the Christianized place where God dwells, all of these have been derived from a reconstructed Proto-Germanic form *Hemina-. In Ancient Egyptian religion, belief in an afterlife is much more stressed than in ancient Judaism, Heaven was a physical place far above the Earth in a dark area of space where there were no stars, basically beyond the Universe. Their heart would finally be weighed with the feather of truth, almost nothing is known of Bronze Age Canaanite views of Heaven, and the archeological findings at Ugarit have not provided information. The 1st century Greek author Philo of Byblos may preserve elements of Iron Age Phoenician religion in his Sanchuniathon, in the Middle Hittite myths, Heaven is the abode of the gods. In the Song of Kumarbi, Alalu was king in Heaven for nine years before giving birth to his son, Anu was himself overthrown by his son, Kumarbi. The Baháí Faith regards the description of Heaven as a specific place as symbolic. The Baháí writings describe Heaven as a condition where closeness to God is defined as Heaven. For Baháís, entry into the life has the potential to bring great joy. Baháulláh likened death to the process of birth and he explains, The world beyond is as different from this world as this world is different from that of the child while still in the womb of its mother. Accordingly, Baháís view life as a stage, where one can develop. The key to progress is to follow the path outlined by the current Manifestation of God. Baháulláh wrote, Know thou, of a truth, that if the soul of man hath walked in the ways of God, it will, assuredly return, in Buddhism there are several Heavens, all of which are still part of samsara. Those who accumulate good karma may be reborn in one of them, however, their stay in Heaven is not eternal—eventually they will use up their good karma and will undergo rebirth into another realm, as a human, animal or other being. Because Heaven is temporary and part of samsara, Buddhists focus more on escaping the cycle of rebirth, Nirvana is not a heaven but a mental state
8.
Johann Adam Schall von Bell
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Johann Adam Schall von Bell was a German Jesuit and astronomer. He spent most of his life as a missionary in China, Schall von Bell was born to noble parents in Cologne or nearby Lüftelberg in the Holy Roman Empire. After he graduated from the Jesuit Gymnasium in Cologne he moved to Rome and studied such as mathematics. In 1611 he joined the Society of Jesus and continued his education at the Gregorianum, in 1618 he left for China on a Portuguese ship with a group of missionaries under the lead of Nicolas Trigault. The following year the group reached the Portuguese colony of Macao where Schall von Bell spent some time learning Chinese and he started missionary work inside China in 1622, but allegedly his success was limited. Schall von Bell and Giacomo Rho were sent to Beijing in 1630 to continue the work of the deceased Johann Schreck on a reform of the Chinese calendar and he participated in modifying the Chinese calendar and compiling what is known as the Chongzhen calendar. Named after the Chongzhen Emperor, the last emperor of the Ming dynasty, the modified calendar provided more accurate predictions of eclipses of the sun and the moon. After the Ming-Qing Transition in China, Schall von Bell gained access to the newly installed Shunzhi Emperor and he was made a mandarin and held an important post in connection with the mathematical school, Director of the Imperial Observatory and the Tribunal of Mathematics. His position enabled him to procure from the permission for the Jesuits to build churches. That way Schall von Bell is indirectly credited with 500,000 that are said to have been baptised by Jesuit missionaries within fourteen years, the Shunzhi Emperor died in 1661 and Schall von Bells position started to erode, he was imprisoned and condemned to death. The sentence was not carried out, but he died after his release owing to the privations he had endured, Schall von Bell and other Jesuits, Ferdinand Verbiest included, were imprisoned and condemned to death in a trial. However, after an earthquake, the Jesuits were released and the sentence was not carried out, Schall von Bell died within one year after his release due to his poor health situation caused by the conditions of his imprisonment. A collection of his manuscripts was deposited in the Vatican Library, in 1758, an allegation, which is disputed by most Jesuits and Catholic historians, was made public. No evidence was provided and the allegations are even contradicted by contemporaneous witnesses and it is stated that if true, the story would almost certainly have been reported by others who sought to discredit Schall von Bell and other Jesuits. In addition the Jesuit structure would most likely have reported the fact to authorities at higher levels of the order, the 1912 Catholic Encyclopedia suggests that the source of the rumor was most likely the adoption by Schall von Bell of the son of a former Chinese servant. Crown Prince Sohyeon, first son of King Injo of the Korean Joseon dynasty, was held hostage in Shenyang and he was highly interested in western sciences and visited Schall von Bell. Schall von Bell gave him books on western sciences as well as on the Catholic faith that drew the crown princes interest, Prince Sohyeon suddenly died when he entered Korea, which dissipated Schall von Bells hope to extend the Jesuits missionary work into Korea. Religion in China Jesuit China missions Christianity in China Christianity in Korea Väth, Johann Adam Schall von Bell SJ, Missionar in China, kaiserlicher Astronom und Ratgeber am Hofe von Peking 1592-1666, Steyler Verlag Nettetal
9.
Matteo Ricci
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Matteo Ricci, S. J. was an Italian Jesuit priest and one of the founding figures of the Jesuit China missions. His 1602 map of the world in Chinese characters introduced the findings of European exploration to East Asia and he is considered a Servant of God in Roman Catholicism. Ricci arrived at the Portuguese settlement of Macau in 1582 where he began his work in China. Ricci was born October 6,1552, in Macerata, part of the Papal States and he made his classical studies in his native town and studied law at Rome for two years. He entered the Society of Jesus in April 1571 at the Roman College, while there, in addition to philosophy and theology, he also studied mathematics, cosmology, and astronomy under the direction of Father Christopher Clavius. In 1577, he applied for an expedition to the Far East. He sailed from Lisbon, Portugal in March 1578 and arrived in Goa, a Portuguese Colony, Ricci remained there employed in teaching and the ministry until the end of Lent,1582, when he was summoned to Macau to prepare to enter China. Ricci arrived at Macau in the part of August. In August 1582, Ricci arrived at Macau, a Portuguese trading post on the South China Sea. At the time, Christian missionary activity in China was almost completely limited to Macau, paul Jesuit College, and to prepare for the Jesuits mission from Macau into Mainland China. Once in Macau, Ricci studied Chinese language and customs and it was the beginning of a long project that made him one of the first Western scholars to master Chinese script and Classical Chinese. With Ruggieri, he traveled to Guangdongs major cities, Canton, in 1583, Ricci and Ruggieri settled in Zhaoqing, at the invitation of the governor of Zhaoqing, Wang Pan, who had heard of Riccis skill as a mathematician and cartographer. Ricci stayed in Zhaoqing from 1583 to 1589, when he was expelled by a new viceroy and it was in Zhaoqing, in 1584, that Ricci composed the first European-style map of the world in Chinese, now called the Impossible Black Tulip after its rarity. No prints of the 1584 map survive, but six recopied, the manuscript was misplaced in the Jesuit Archives in Rome, rediscovered only in 1934, and published only in 2001. There is now a plaque in Zhaoqing to commemorate Riccis six-year stay there. Expelled from Zhaoqing in 1589, Ricci obtained permission to relocate to Shaoguan in the north of the province, further travels saw Ricci reach Nanjing and Nanchang in 1595. In August 1597, Alessandro Valignano, his superior, appointed him Major Superior of the mission in China, with the rank and powers of a Provincial and he moved to Tongzhou in 1598, and first reached the capital Beijing itself on 7 September 1598. However, because of a Korean/Japanese war at the time, Ricci could not reach the Imperial Palace, after waiting for two months, he left Beijing, first for Nanjing and then Suzhou in Southern Zhili Province
10.
Wanguo Quantu
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The Wanguo Quantu is a type of map that was developed by the Jesuits in the 1620s, within the context of the Jesuit China Missions. Aleni modified Riccis maps by responding to Chinese demands to have the Chinese Empire located at the center of the world map, kunyu Wanguo Quantu, Matteo Riccis 1602 world map. Shanhai Yudi Quantu, a contemporary Chinese map inspired by Matteo Riccis work, cheonhado, a contemporary Korean circular world map. Wigal, Donald Historic Maritime Maps, Parkstone Press, New York, ISBN 1-85995-750-1 The Sino-European Map in the Encyclopedia Sancai tuhui Roderich Ptak Vatican exhibit
11.
Giulio Alenio
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Giulio Alenio was an Italian Jesuit missionary and scholar. He was born at Brescia, in Italy, and died at Yanping and he became a member of the Society of Jesus in 1600, and was distinguished for his knowledge of mathematics and theology. In 1610, he was sent as a missionary to China, one of his converts, a scholar name Li Jiubiao, recorded Alenis responses to the questions and speculations of his parishioners and compiled them into a journal. He published works in Chinese on a variety of topics and his cosmography, Wanwu Zhenyuan, was translated into Manchu during the reign of Kang-he as ᡨᡠᠮᡝᠨ ᠵᠠᡴᠠᡳ ᡠᠨᡝᠩᡴᡳ ᠰᡝᡤᡳᠶᡝᠨ Wylie, Tumen chakai unengki segiyen, Möllendorff, Tumen jakai unengki segiyen. A copy was sent from Beijing to Paris in 1789 and he completed the work of earlier Jesuit scholars to produce the Zhifang waiji, Chinas first global geography. The life and works of Giulio Alenio are the subject of several conventions which have taken place in 1994 and 2010 and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Alenio, Giulio. Claudia von Collani, Biography of Giulio Aleni SJ, China missionary, includes a listing of works by and about Aleni. Aleni, Giulio, in Gerald Anderson, ed. Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, pp. 9-10 Lippiello, Tiziana, scholar from the West, Giulio Aleni S. J. and the Dialogue between Christianity and China. Brescia, Sankt Augustin, Fondazione civiltà bresciana, Monumenta Serica Institute,1997, sommervogel, Carlos, Bibliothèque de la Campagnie de Jesus, I,157 sq. Pfister, S. J. ALENI, Giulio, Geografia dei paesi stranieri alla Cina, woods, a publication now in the public domain. Ahn Jaewon, A comparative research on Ciceros orator perfectus and Confucius rex perfectus Life, digital facsimile of Alenios ca.1640 printing from Houghton Library, Harvard University
12.
Age of Discovery
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It also marks the rise of the period of widespread adoption in Europe of colonialism and mercantilism. Many lands previously unknown to Europeans were discovered during this period, from the perspective of many non-Europeans, the Age of Discovery marked the arrival of settlers and invaders from a previously unknown continent. This represented one of the most-significant global events concerning ecology, agriculture and it also allowed for the expansion of Christianity throughout the world with the spread of missionary activity, becoming the worlds largest religion. The Portuguese began systematically exploring the Atlantic coast of Africa from 1418, in 1488 Bartolomeu Dias reached the Indian Ocean by this route. In 1492 the Catholic Monarchs of Castile and Aragon funded Christopher Columbuss plan to sail west to reach the Indies by crossing the Atlantic and he landed on a continent uncharted by Europeans and seen as a new world, the Americas. In 1498, a Portuguese expedition commanded by Vasco da Gama reached India by sailing around Africa, soon, the Portuguese sailed further eastward, to the valuable Spice Islands in 1512, landing in China one year later. In 1513, Spanish Vasco Núñez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama, thus, Europe first received news of the eastern and western Pacific within a one-year span around 1512. Meanwhile, from the 1580s to the 1640s, Russians explored and conquered almost the whole of Siberia, another source was the Radhanite Jewish trade networks of merchants established as go-betweens between Europe and the Muslim world during the time of the Crusader states. Knowledge about the Atlantic African coast was fragmented and derived mainly from old Greek and Roman maps based on Carthaginian knowledge, the Red Sea was barely known and only trade links with the Maritime republics, the Republic of Venice especially, fostered collection of accurate maritime knowledge. Indian Ocean trade routes were sailed by Arab traders, between 1405 and 1421, the Yongle Emperor of Ming China sponsored a series of long range tributary missions under the command of Zheng He. The fleets visited Arabia, East Africa, India, Maritime Southeast Asia, by 1400 a Latin translation of Ptolemys Geographia reached Italy coming from Constantinople. The rediscovery of Roman geographical knowledge was a revelation, both for mapmaking and worldview, although reinforcing the idea that the Indian Ocean was landlocked, a prelude to the Age of Discovery was a series of European expeditions crossing Eurasia by land in the late Middle Ages. A series of Europeans took advantage of these to explore eastwards, most were Italians, as trade between Europe and the Middle East was controlled mainly by the Maritime republics. The close Italian links to the Levant raised great curiosity and commercial interest in countries which lay further east, christian embassies were sent as far as Karakorum during the Mongol invasions of the Levant, from which they gained a greater understanding of the world. The first of these travellers was Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, dispatched by Pope Innocent IV to the Great Khan, about the same time, Russian prince Yaroslav of Vladimir, and subsequently his sons Alexander Nevsky and Andrey II of Vladimir, travelled to the Mongolian capital. Though having strong political implications, their journeys left no detailed accounts, other travellers followed, like French André de Longjumeau and Flemish William of Rubruck, who reached China through Central Asia. After returning, he dictated an account of his journeys to a scholar he met in Granada, the Rihla, between 1357 and 1371 a book of supposed travels compiled by John Mandeville acquired extraordinary popularity. These overland journeys had little immediate effect, the Mongol Empire collapsed almost as quickly as it formed and soon the route to the east became more difficult and dangerous
13.
History of cartography
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Cartography, or mapmaking, has been an integral part of the human history for thousands of years. Maps began as drawings but can also adopt three-dimensional shapes. The term cartography is modern, loaned into English from French cartographie in the 1840s, the earliest known maps are of the stars, not the earth. Dots dating to 16,500 BC found on the walls of the Lascaux caves map out part of the night sky, the Cuevas de El Castillo in Spain contain a dot map of the Corona Borealis constellation dating from 12,000 BC. Cave painting and rock carvings used simple visual elements that may have aided in recognizing landscape features, another ancient picture that resembles a map was created in the late 7th millennium BC in Çatalhöyük, Anatolia, modern Turkey. This wall painting may represent a plan of this Neolithic village, however, Maps in Ancient Babylonia were made by using accurate surveying techniques. For example, a 7.6 ×6.8 cm clay tablet found in 1930 at Ga-Sur, near contemporary Kirkuk, cuneiform inscriptions label the features on the map, including a plot of land described as 354 iku that was owned by a person called Azala. Most scholars date the tablet to the 25th to 24th century BC, Leo Bagrow dissents with a date of 7000 BC. Hills are shown by overlapping semicircles, rivers by lines, the map also is marked to show the cardinal directions. An engraved map from the Kassite period of Babylonian history shows walls, in contrast, the Babylonian World Map, the earliest surviving map of the world, is a symbolic, not a literal representation. It deliberately omits peoples such as the Persians and Egyptians, who were known to the Babylonians. The area shown is depicted as a circular shape surrounded by water, examples of maps from ancient Egypt are quite rare. Its originality can be seen in the inscriptions, its precise orientation. In reviewing the literature of early geography and early conceptions of the earth, all lead to Homer. Regardless of the doubts about Homers existence, one thing is certain, Homers knowledge of the Earth was very limited. He and his Greek contemporaries knew very little of the Earth beyond Egypt as far south as the Libyan desert, the south-west coast of Asia Minor, furthermore, the coast of the Black Sea was only known through myths and legends that circulated during his time. In his poems there is no mention of Europe and Asia as geographical concepts and that is why the big part of Homers world that is portrayed on this interpretive map represents lands that border on the Aegean Sea. Additional statements about ancient geography may be found in Hesiods poems, through the lyrics of Works and Days and Theogony he shows to his contemporaries some definite geographical knowledge. He introduces the names of rivers as Nile, Ister, the shores of the Bosporus, and the Euxine, the coast of Gaul, the island of Sicily
14.
Foreign relations of China
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The foreign relations of China, officially the Peoples Republic of China, guides the way in which it interacts with foreign nations. As a great power and emerging superpower, Chinas foreign policy, China officially states it unswervingly pursues an independent foreign policy of peace. China is a member of international organizations, holding key positions such as a permanent membership on the United Nations Security Council. The PRCs diplomatic goals were expansionist for achieving international communist revolution before the Cultural Revolution ended, in the early 1970s, the PRC replaced the ROC as the recognised government of China in the UN following Resolution 2758. As a nuclear power, China signed Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in the UN context, like most other nations, Chinas foreign policy is carried out by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However, the Foreign Affairs Ministry is subordinate to the Foreign Affairs Leading Group, unlike most other nations, much of Chinese foreign policy is formulated in think tanks sponsored and supervised by, but formally outside of the government. One distinctive aspect of Sino-American relations is that much of the foreign policy discussion takes place between interlocutors who form the think tanks, because these discussions are unofficial, they are generally more free and less restricted than discussions between government officials. China is also distinctive for having a body of Chinese strategic thought. By the mid 19th century, Chinese stability had come under increasing threat from domestic and international sources. Social unrest and serious revolts became more common while the army had decayed into an ineffective force. Chinese leaders increasingly feared the impact of Western ideas, after 1724 Christian propaganda was prohibited, and after 1757 international trade was confined to the port of Canton under the strictly limited Canton System. European commercial interests sought to end the barriers, but China fended off repeated efforts by Britain to regularize the trading system. Increasing sales of Indian opium to China by British traders led to the First Opium War, military technology like steamboats and Congreve rockets forced China to open trade with the West on Western terms. A series of treaties, including the Treaty of Nanking, the treaties of Tianjin, and the Beijing Conventions, forced China to open new treaty ports, including Canton, Amoy. The treaties also allowed the British to set up Hong Kong as a colony, since the 1920s, the unequal treaties have been a centerpiece of Chinese grievances against the West. For centuries China had claimed authority over numerous adjacent areas. The areas had internal autonomy but were theoretically under the protection of China in terms of foreign affairs, by the 19th century the relationships were nominal, and China exerted little or no actual control. The Western powers rejected the concept and one by one seized the suzerain areas, Japan took Korea and the Ryukyus, France took Vietnam, Britain took Upper Burma and Nepal, Russia took parts of Siberia
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Christianity in China
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Christianity in China has a history going back to the 7th century during the Tang dynasty. Today, it comprises Catholics, Protestants, and a number of Orthodox Christians. Accurate data on Chinese Christians is hard to access, according to the most recent internal surveys there are approximately 31 million Christians in China today. On the other hand, some international Christian organizations estimate there are tens of millions more, the practice of religion continues to be tightly controlled by government authorities. Members of such groups are said to represent the silent majority of Chinese Christians, shen, also widely used by Chinese Protestants, defines the gods or generative powers of nature in Chinese traditional religions. Historically, Christians have also adopted a variety of terms from the Chinese classics as referents to God, for example Ruler, terms for Christianity in Chinese include, Protestantism, Catholicism, and Eastern Orthodox Christians. The whole of Orthodox Christianity is named Zhèng jiào, Christians in China are referred to as Christ followers/believers or Christ religion followers/believers. Two monks were preaching Christianity in India in the 6th century before they smuggled silkworm eggs from China to the Byzantine Empire, the first documentation of Christianity entering China was written on an 8th-century stone tablet known as the Nestorian Stele. It records that Christians reached the Tang dynasty capital Xian in 635 and were allowed to establish places of worship, the leader of the Christian travelers was Alopen. Some modern scholars question whether Nestorianism is the term for the Christianity that was practiced in China. The 13th century saw the Mongol-established Yuan dynasty in China, Christianity was a major influence in the Mongol Empire, as several Mongol tribes were primarily Nestorian Christian, and many of the wives of Genghis Khans descendants were Christian. Contacts with Western Christianity also came in time period, via envoys from the Papacy to the Mongol capital in Khanbaliq. In 1289, Franciscan friars from Europe initiated mission work in China, for about a century they worked in parallel with the Nestorian Christians. The Franciscan mission disappeared from 1368, as the Ming dynasty set out to all foreign influences. The Chinese called Muslims, Jews, and Christians in ancient times by the same name, crossworshipers were called Hwuy who abstain from animals with the cloven foot, Muslims were called Hwuy who abstain from pork, Jews were called Hwuy who extract the sinews. Hwuy-tsze or Hwuy-hwuy is presently used almost exclusively for Muslims, at Kaifeng, Jews were called Teaou-kin-keaou, extract-sinew religion. Jews and Muslims in China shared the name for synagogue and mosque. The synagogue and mosques were also known as Le-pae sze, a tablet indicated that Judaism was once known as Yih-tsze-lo-nee-keaou and synagogues known as Yih-tsze lo née leen, but it faded out of use
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Shangchuan
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Shangchuan Island also written is the main island of Chuanshan Archipelago on the southern coast of China. Its name originated from São João and it is part of the Guangdong province, in the South China Sea. Located 14 km from the mainland, it is the largest island in the province, the largest island of the province used to be Hainan Island, which was carved out of Guangdong to form a separate province in 1988. The population of the island is 16,320 and it is known in history for having been the place of death of St. Francis Xavier. Administratively, Chuandao is one of the 16 towns of Taishan county-level city, Shangchuan Island was one of the first bases established by the Portuguese off the China coast, during the 16th century. They abandoned this base after the Chinese government gave consent for a permanent, the Spanish Jesuit missionary St. Francis Xavier died on the island on December 2,1552, as he was waiting for a ship to take him to mainland China. The island has been isolated from the mainland since the last ice age and it is located near Xiachuan Island, which lies west of Shangchuan. The two islands, together with smaller islet, form Chuanshan Archipelago, Shangchuan covers the main Shangshuan Island, and 12 islets. The total area of the town is 156.7 km², Shangshuan Island has an area of 137.3 km². The island has a 217 km long coastline, dalangwan Shadi, a fishing port on the southwestern coast Shangchuan and Xiachuan have been established as a Tourism Open Integrated Experimental Zones. Feisha Beach Resort is a commercial tourist resort located on the eastern shore. Shangchuan Island is linked by ferry to Guanghai, Haiyan and Xiachuan Island, Chuanshan Archipelago Tamão, Lampacau, Shuangyu List of islands of the Peoples Republic of China List of islands in the South China Sea Stuckey, Peter, Bailey, Chris. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch, Satellite view on Google Maps Website about Shangchuan Shangchuan on taishan. com on tsinfo. com. cn Pictures of the island Old map Picture of Shangchuan island. The chapel marks the location of Francis Xaviers death Another picture of the chapel Satellite view of the chapel
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Christian mission
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A Christian mission is an organized effort to spread Christianity. Missions often involve sending individuals and groups, called missionaries, across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries and this involves evangelism, and humanitarian work, especially among the poor and disadvantaged. There are a few different kinds of trips, short-term, long-term, relational. Some might choose to dedicate their lives to missions as well. Missionaries have the authority to preach the Christian faith, and provide work to improve economic development, literacy, education, health care. Christian doctrines permit the provision of aid without requiring religious conversion, the earliest examples of Christian missionary activity are those recorded in writings that would eventually come to form the New Testament. Early writings include the letters of Apostle Paul, written in the course of his activity in Asia Minor. His activities were preceded by an expansion of Christianity from the first followers of Jesus in Jerusalem throughout Syro-Palestine and this is also described in the Acts of the Apostles. The earliest Christian mission, then, the Great Commission and Dispersion of the Apostles, was active within Second Temple Judaism, as Christianity had not yet split from Judaism. Whether a Jewish proselytism existed or not that would have served as a model for the early Christians is unclear, soon, the expansion of the Christian mission beyond Judaism to those who were not Jewish became a contested issue, notably at the Council of Jerusalem. The Apostle Paul was a proponent of this expansion, and contextualized the Christian message for the Greek and Roman cultures, permitting it to reach beyond its Hebrew. From Late Antiquity onward, much activity was carried out by members of religious orders. Monasteries followed disciplines and supported missions, libraries, and practical research, all of which were perceived as works to reduce human misery and suffering, for example, Nestorian communities evangelized parts of Central Asia, as well as Tibet, China, and India. Cistercians evangelized much of Northern Europe, as well as developing most of European agricultures classic techniques, st Patrick evangelized many in Ireland. St David was active in Wales, during the Middle Ages, Ramon Llull advanced the concept of preaching to Muslims and converting them to Christianity by means of non-violent argument. A vision for mission to Muslims would die with him. Additional events can be found at the timeline of Christian missions, during the Middle Ages Christian monasteries and missionaries such as Saint Patrick, and Adalbert of Prague propagated learning and religion beyond the boundaries of the old Roman Empire. In the seventh century Gregory the Great sent missionaries, including Augustine of Canterbury, the Hiberno-Scottish mission began in 563
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Confucianism
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Confucianism, also known as Ruism, is described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or simply a way of life. In the Han dynasty, Confucian approaches edged out the proto-Taoist Huang-Lao, the disintegration of the Han political order in the second century CE opened the way for the doctrines of Buddhism and Neo-Taoism, which offered spiritual explanations lacking in Confucianism. A Confucian revival began during the Tang dynasty of 618-907, in the late Tang, Confucianism developed in response to Buddhism and Taoism and was reformulated as Neo-Confucianism. This reinvigorated form was adopted as the basis of the imperial exams, the abolition of the examination system in 1905 marked the end of official Confucianism. The New Culture intellectuals of the twentieth century blamed Confucianism for Chinas weaknesses. In the late twentieth century Confucian work ethic has been credited with the rise of the East Asian economy, with particular emphasis on the importance of the family and social harmony, rather than on an otherworldly source of spiritual values, the core of Confucianism is humanistic. While Tiān has some characteristics that overlap the category of deity, it is primarily an impersonal absolute principle, Confucianism focuses on the practical order that is given by a this-worldly awareness of the Tiān. Confucian thought focuses on the cultivation of virtue and maintenance of ethics, Some of the basic Confucian ethical concepts and practices include rén, yì, and lǐ, and zhì. Rén is the essence of the human being which manifests as compassion and it is the virtue-form of Heaven. Yì is the upholding of righteousness and the disposition to do good. Lǐ is a system of norms and propriety that determines how a person should properly act in everyday life according to the law of Heaven. Zhì is the ability to see what is right and fair, or the converse, Confucianism holds one in contempt, either passively or actively, for failure to uphold the cardinal moral values of rén and yì. In the 20th century Confucianisms influence diminished greatly, in the last decades there have been talks of a Confucian Revival in the academic and the scholarly community and there has been a grassroots proliferation of various types of Confucian churches. In late 2015 many Confucian personalities formally established a national Holy Confucian Church in China to unify the many Confucian congregations, strictly speaking, there is no term in Chinese which directly corresponds to Confucianism. In the Chinese language, the character rú 儒 meaning scholar or learned man is used both in the past and the present to refer to things related to Confucianism. The character rú in ancient China has diverse meanings, Some examples include, weak, soft, to tame, to comfort and to educate or to refine. Rújiā contains the character jiā, which means family. Rújiào and Kǒngjiào contain the Chinese character jiào, the teaching or transmission, used in such terms as education
19.
Nicolas Trigault
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Nicolas Trigault was a Walloon Jesuit, and a missionary in China. He was also known by his latinised name Trigautius or Trigaultius, born in Douai, he became a Jesuit in 1594. Trigault left Europe to do work in Asia around 1610, eventually arriving at Nanjing. He was later brought by the Chinese Catholic Li Zhizao to his hometown of Hangzhou where he worked as one of the first missionaries ever to reach that city and was eventually to die there in 1629. In late 1612 Trigault was appointed by the China Missions Superior and he sailed from Macau on February 9,1613, and arrived in Rome on October 11,1614, by way of India, the Persian Gulf and Egypt. Peter Paul Rubens did a portrait of Trigault on 17 January 1617 and it was during this trip to Europe that Trigault edited and translated Matteo Riccis China Journal, or De Christiana expeditione apud Sinas. The work was published in 1615 in Augsburg, it was translated into many European languages. The French translation, which appeared in 1616, was translated from Latin by Trigaults own nephew, in April 1618, Trigault sailed from Lisbon with over 20 newly recruited Jesuit missionaries, and arrived in Macau in April 1619. Trigault produced one of the first systems of Chinese Romanisation in 1626, Trigault wrote his book in Shanxi province. Aided by a converted Chinese, he produced the first Chinese version of Aesops Fables. Brockey, Journey to the East, The Jesuit mission to China, 1579-1724, dehaisnes, Vie du Père Nicolas Trigault, Tournai,1861. D’Elia, Daniele Bartoli e Nicola Trigault, Rivista Storica Italiana, dunne, Generation of Giants, Notre Dame,1962, pp. 162–182. L. Fezzi, Osservazioni sul De Christiana Expeditione apud Sinas Suscepta ab Societate Iesu di Nicolas Trigault, Rivista di Storia e Letteratura Religiosa 1999, – Amanuensis or Propagandist. J. in China. September 11–16,1983, II, Taipei,1983, pp. 1–94, J. Gernet, Della Entrata della Compagnia di Giesù e Cristianità nella Cina de Matteo Ricci et les remaniements de sa traduction latine, Académie des Inscriptions & Belles Lettres. E. Lamalle, La propagande du P, Nicolas Trigault en faveur des missions de Chine, Archivum Historicum Societatis Iesu IX,1940, pp. 49–120. Liam M. Brockey, “The Death and Disappearance of Nicolas Trigault, S. J. ”The Journal of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, vol. Bibliographical information of Xiru Ermu Zi at the Ricci 21st Century Roundtable database, supported only by 5.0 or later versions of Internet Explorer Facsimile of Xiru Ermu Zi at Gallica
20.
Peter Paul Rubens
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Sir Peter Paul Rubens was a Flemish/Netherlandish draughtsman and painter. He is widely considered as the most notable artist of Flemish Baroque art school, the catalogue of his works by Michael Jaffé lists 1,403 pieces, excluding numerous copies made in his workshop. His commissioned works were mostly history paintings, which included religious and mythological subjects and he painted portraits, especially of friends, and self-portraits, and in later life painted several landscapes. Rubens designed tapestries and prints, as well as his own house and he also oversaw the ephemeral decorations of the royal entry into Antwerp by the Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand in 1635. His drawings are mostly extremely forceful but not overly detailed and he also made great use of oil sketches as preparatory studies. For altarpieces he painted on slate to reduce reflection problems. Rubens was born in the city of Siegen to Jan Rubens and he was named in honour of Saint-Peter and Paul, because he was born on their solemnety. His father, a Calvinist, and mother fled Antwerp for Cologne in 1568, after increased religious turmoil and persecution of Protestants during the rule of the Spanish Netherlands by the Duke of Alba. Jan Rubens became the adviser of Anna of Saxony, the second wife of William I of Orange. Following Jan Rubens imprisonment for the affair, Peter Paul Rubens was born in 1577, the family returned to Cologne the next year. In 1589, two years after his fathers death, Rubens moved with his mother Maria Pypelincks to Antwerp, religion figured prominently in much of his work and Rubens later became one of the leading voices of the Catholic Counter-Reformation style of painting. In Antwerp, Rubens received a Renaissance humanist education, studying Latin, by fourteen he began his artistic apprenticeship with Tobias Verhaeght. Subsequently, he studied under two of the leading painters of the time, the late Mannerist artists Adam van Noort. Much of his earliest training involved copying earlier works, such as woodcuts by Hans Holbein the Younger. Rubens completed his education in 1598, at time he entered the Guild of St. Luke as an independent master. In 1600 Rubens travelled to Italy and he stopped first in Venice, where he saw paintings by Titian, Veronese, and Tintoretto, before settling in Mantua at the court of Duke Vincenzo I Gonzaga. The colouring and compositions of Veronese and Tintoretto had an effect on Rubenss painting. With financial support from the Duke, Rubens travelled to Rome by way of Florence in 1601, there, he studied classical Greek and Roman art and copied works of the Italian masters
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Xu Guangqi
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Xu Guangqi, who later adopted the baptismal name Paul, was a Chinese scholar-bureaucrat, agricultural scientist, astronomer, and mathematician in the Ming Dynasty. Xu was a colleague and collaborator of the Italian Jesuits Matteo Ricci and Sabatino de Ursis and they translated several classic Western texts into Chinese and he was also the author of the Nong Zheng Quan Shu, one of the first comprehensive treatises on the subject of agriculture. He was one of the Three Pillars of Chinese Catholicism and his current title is Servant of God. Xu Guangqi was born into a poor family in Shanghai on April 24,1562. Xu received the equivalent of his bachelors degree at nineteen, afterwards, he spent the majority of his time in positions of high office serving the Ming court. When he died, he held positions of Minister of Rites and he lived in a period when Chinese mathematics had gone into decline. The earlier efforts at algebra had been almost forgotten, Xu blamed some of the failures on a decline in interest of practical science in China and became something of a critic of Chinese society. He was a colleague and collaborator of Matteo Ricci, the Italian Jesuit, together they translated several classic Western texts into Chinese, as well as several Chinese Confucian texts into Latin. Riccis influence led to Xu being baptized as a Roman Catholic in 1603 and his descendants remained as Catholics and Protestants into the 21st century. From 1607 until 1610, Xu was forced to retire from public office and it was during this time that he experimented with Western-style irrigation methods. He also experimented with the cultivation of potatoes, cotton. He was called once more to serve the Chinese bureaucracy, where he rose to a high rank, yet he continued to experiment and learn of new agricultural practices while he served his office, promoting the use of wet-rice in the Northeast of China. From 1613 until 1620 he often visited Tianjin, where he helped organize self-sufficient military settlements, Xu Guangqis tomb still exists in Shanghai in Guangqi Park just a short walk from the Xujiahui Cathedral in the Xujiahui area on Nandan Road. Xu Guangxi was especially worried about the ability of his country to defend itself and he wrote a book on military techniques and strategies entitled Cook Xus Words in response to the criticisms he faced for daring discuss military matters in spite of being a mere scholar. He frequently cited the Xunzi and Guanzi, and made use of rewards and punishments along the lines of the Legalists, at least in relief activities. Xu Guangqi put forward the concept of a Rich country and strong army, in 1607, Xu and Ricci translated the first parts of Euclids Elements into Chinese, introducing his countrymen to new concepts in mathematics and Western logic. Chinese scholars credit Xu as having started Chinas enlightenment, after followers of Xu and Ricci publicly predicted a solar eclipse in 1629, Xu was appointed by the Emperor as the leader of an effort to reform the Chinese calendar. The reform, which constituted the first major collaboration between scientists from Europe and from the Far East, was completed after his death
22.
Euclid's Elements
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Euclids Elements is a mathematical and geometric treatise consisting of 13 books attributed to the ancient Greek mathematician Euclid in Alexandria, Ptolemaic Egypt circa 300 BC. It is a collection of definitions, postulates, propositions, the books cover Euclidean geometry and the ancient Greek version of elementary number theory. Elements is the second-oldest extant Greek mathematical treatise after Autolycus On the Moving Sphere and it has proven instrumental in the development of logic and modern science. According to Proclus, the element was used to describe a theorem that is all-pervading. The word element in the Greek language is the same as letter and this suggests that theorems in the Elements should be seen as standing in the same relation to geometry as letters to language. Euclids Elements has been referred to as the most successful and influential textbook ever written, for centuries, when the quadrivium was included in the curriculum of all university students, knowledge of at least part of Euclids Elements was required of all students. Not until the 20th century, by which time its content was taught through other school textbooks. Scholars believe that the Elements is largely a collection of theorems proven by other mathematicians, the Elements may have been based on an earlier textbook by Hippocrates of Chios, who also may have originated the use of letters to refer to figures. This manuscript, the Heiberg manuscript, is from a Byzantine workshop around 900 and is the basis of modern editions, papyrus Oxyrhynchus 29 is a tiny fragment of an even older manuscript, but only contains the statement of one proposition. Although known to, for instance, Cicero, no record exists of the text having been translated into Latin prior to Boethius in the fifth or sixth century. The Arabs received the Elements from the Byzantines around 760, this version was translated into Arabic under Harun al Rashid circa 800, the Byzantine scholar Arethas commissioned the copying of one of the extant Greek manuscripts of Euclid in the late ninth century. Although known in Byzantium, the Elements was lost to Western Europe until about 1120, the first printed edition appeared in 1482, and since then it has been translated into many languages and published in about a thousand different editions. Theons Greek edition was recovered in 1533, in 1570, John Dee provided a widely respected Mathematical Preface, along with copious notes and supplementary material, to the first English edition by Henry Billingsley. Copies of the Greek text still exist, some of which can be found in the Vatican Library, the manuscripts available are of variable quality, and invariably incomplete. By careful analysis of the translations and originals, hypotheses have been made about the contents of the original text, ancient texts which refer to the Elements itself, and to other mathematical theories that were current at the time it was written, are also important in this process. Such analyses are conducted by J. L. Heiberg and Sir Thomas Little Heath in their editions of the text, also of importance are the scholia, or annotations to the text. These additions, which distinguished themselves from the main text. The Elements is still considered a masterpiece in the application of logic to mathematics, in historical context, it has proven enormously influential in many areas of science
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Pope
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The pope is the Bishop of Rome and, therefore, the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church. The current pope is Francis, who was elected on 13 March 2013, the office of the pope is the papacy. The pope is considered one of the worlds most powerful people because of his diplomatic and he is also head of state of Vatican City, a sovereign city-state entirely enclaved within the Italian capital city of Rome. The papacy is one of the most enduring institutions in the world and has had a prominent part in world history, the popes in ancient times helped in the spread of Christianity and the resolution of various doctrinal disputes. In the Middle Ages, they played a role of importance in Western Europe. Currently, in addition to the expansion of the Christian faith and doctrine, the popes are involved in ecumenism and interfaith dialogue, charitable work, Popes, who originally had no temporal powers, in some periods of history accrued wide powers similar to those of temporal rulers. In recent centuries, popes were gradually forced to give up temporal power, the word pope derives from Greek πάππας meaning father. The earliest record of the use of title was in regard to the by then deceased Patriarch of Alexandria. Some historians have argued that the notion that Peter was the first bishop of Rome, the writings of the Church Father Irenaeus who wrote around AD180 reflect a belief that Peter founded and organised the Church at Rome. Moreover, Irenaeus was not the first to write of Peters presence in the early Roman Church, Clement of Rome wrote in a letter to the Corinthians, c. 96, about the persecution of Christians in Rome as the struggles in our time and presented to the Corinthians its heroes, first, the greatest and most just columns, the good apostles Peter and Paul. St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote shortly after Clement and in his letter from the city of Smyrna to the Romans he said he would not command them as Peter and Paul did. Given this and other evidence, many agree that Peter was martyred in Rome under Nero. Protestants contend that the New Testament offers no proof that Jesus established the papacy nor even that he established Peter as the first bishop of Rome, others, using Peters own words, argue that Christ intended himself as the foundation of the church and not Peter. First-century Christian communities would have had a group of presbyter-bishops functioning as leaders of their local churches, gradually, episcopacies were established in metropolitan areas. Antioch may have developed such a structure before Rome, some writers claim that the emergence of a single bishop in Rome probably did not occur until the middle of the 2nd century. In their view, Linus, Cletus and Clement were possibly prominent presbyter-bishops, documents of the 1st century and early 2nd century indicate that the Holy See had some kind of pre-eminence and prominence in the Church as a whole, though the detail of what this meant is unclear. It seems that at first the terms episcopos and presbyter were used interchangeably, the consensus among scholars has been that, at the turn of the 1st and 2nd centuries, local congregations were led by bishops and presbyters whose offices were overlapping or indistinguishable
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Mongol Empire
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The Mongol Empire existed during the 13th and 14th centuries and was the largest contiguous land empire in history. The Mongol Empire emerged from the unification of tribes in the Mongol homeland under the leadership of Genghis Khan. The empire grew rapidly under the rule of him and his descendants, the Toluids prevailed after a bloody purge of Ögedeid and Chagataid factions, but disputes continued even among the descendants of Tolui. Kublai successfully took power, but civil war ensued as Kublai sought unsuccessfully to control of the Chagatayid and Ögedeid families. The Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260 marked the point of the Mongol conquests and was the first time a Mongol advance had ever been beaten back in direct combat on the battlefield. In 1304, the three western khanates briefly accepted the suzerainty of the Yuan dynasty, but it was later taken by the Han Chinese Ming dynasty in 1368. What is referred to in English as the Mongol Empire was called the Ikh Mongol Uls, in the 1240s, one of Genghiss descendants, Güyük Khan, wrote a letter to Pope Innocent IV which used the preamble Dalai Khagan of the great Mongolian state. After the succession war between Kublai Khan and his brother Ariq Böke, Ariq limited Kublais power to the part of the empire. Kublai officially issued an edict on December 18,1271 to name the country Great Yuan to establish the Yuan dynasty. Some sources state that the full Mongolian name was Dai Ön Yehe Monggul Ulus, the area around Mongolia, Manchuria, and parts of North China had been controlled by the Liao dynasty since the 10th century. In 1125, the Jin dynasty founded by the Jurchens overthrew the Liao dynasty, in the 1130s the Jin dynasty rulers, known as the Golden Kings, successfully resisted the Khamag Mongol confederation, ruled at the time by Khabul Khan, great-grandfather of Temujin. The Mongolian plateau was occupied mainly by five powerful tribal confederations, Keraites, Khamag Mongol, Naiman, Mergid, khabuls successor was Ambaghai Khan, who was betrayed by the Tatars, handed over to the Jurchen, and executed. The Mongols retaliated by raiding the frontier, resulting in a failed Jurchen counter-attack in 1143, in 1147, the Jin somewhat changed their policy, signing a peace treaty with the Mongols and withdrawing from a score of forts. The Mongols then resumed attacks on the Tatars to avenge the death of their late khan, the Jin and Tatar armies defeated the Mongols in 1161. During the rise of the Mongol Empire in the 13th century and it is thought that as a result, a rapid increase in the number of war horses and other livestock significantly enhanced Mongol military strength. Known during his childhood as Temujin, Genghis Khan was the son of a Mongol chieftain, when he was young he was from one of Yesugis orphaned and deserted families, he rose very rapidly by working with Toghrul Khan of the Kerait. Kurtait was the most powerful Mongol leader during this time and was given the Chinese title Wang which means Prince, Temujin went to war with Wang Khan. After Temujin defeated Wang Khan he gave himself the name Genghis Khan and he then enlarged his Mongol state under himself and his kin
25.
Marco Polo
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He learned the mercantile trade from his father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo, who travelled through Asia and met Kublai Khan. In 1269, they returned to Venice to meet Marco for the first time, the three of them embarked on an epic journey to Asia, returning after 24 years to find Venice at war with Genoa, Marco was imprisoned and dictated his stories to a cellmate. He was released in 1299, became a merchant, married. He died in 1324 and was buried in the church of San Lorenzo in Venice, Marco Polo was not the first European to reach China, but he was the first to leave a detailed chronicle of his experience. This book inspired Christopher Columbus and many other travellers, there is a substantial literature based on Polos writings, he also influenced European cartography, leading to the introduction of the Fra Mauro map. Marco Polo was born in 1254 in Venice Republic and his exact date and place of birth are archivally unknown. Some historians mentioned that he was born on September 15 but that date is not endorsed by mainstream scholarship, Marco Polos birthplace is generally considered Venice, but also varies between Constantinople, and the island of Korčula. There is dispute as to whether the Polo family is of Venetian origin, the first recorded Polo is Venetian Domenico Polo who was mentioned in 971 regarding the prohibition of trade with the Arabs. Later other Polos were also mentioned in the service of the realm, whether they were related with the family of Marco Polo is uncertain, but this could indicate that his ancestors travelled between Venice and Dalmatia. Some of the first indications of where his family originated and were resident come from Venetian documents and manuscripts. Some scholars argued that this account could go along with the note from Il Milione that his father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo Polo, the non-Venetian i. e. Sanuto also mentioned a captain from Korčula, Antonio di Polo. Moule cited two early 17th century Venetian manuscripts questi ueneno de dalmatia, Polo questi uene de Dalmatia, scholars etymologically argued that his family name derives from Latin Paulus, the name of a certain bird species, or like Albert tSerstevens considered - from Eastern origin. However, the habitat of the shorebird is non-existent on Korčula, the surname Polo seems related with other widespread Dalmatian surnames. The lack of evidence makes the Korčula theory as a specific birthplace strongly disputed, in 1168, his great-uncle, Marco Polo, borrowed money and commanded a ship in Constantinople. His grandfather, Andrea Polo of the parish of San Felice, had three sons, Maffeo, yet another Marco, and the travellers father Niccolò and this genealogy, described by Ramusio, is not universally accepted as there is no additional evidence to support it. His father, Niccolò Polo, a merchant, traded with the Near East, becoming wealthy, Niccolò and his brother Maffeo set off on a trading voyage before Marcos birth. In 1260, Niccolò and Maffeo, while residing in Constantinople, then the capital of the Latin Empire, foresaw a political change, they liquidated their assets into jewels and moved away. According to The Travels of Marco Polo, they passed through much of Asia, and met with Kublai Khan and their decision to leave Constantinople proved timely
26.
Church of the East
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The Church of the East, also known as the Nestorian Church, is a Christian church within the Syriac tradition of Eastern Christianity. It was the Christian church of the Sassanian Empire, and quickly spread widely through Asia, between the 9th and 14th centuries, the Church represented the worlds largest Christian church in terms of geographical extent, with dioceses stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to China and India. Several modern churches claim continuity with the historical Church of the East, the Church of the East was headed by the Patriarch of the East, continuing a line that, according to tradition, stretched back to the Apostolic Age. Liturgically, the church adhered to the East Syrian Rite, and theologically, it adopted the doctrine of Nestorianism, which emphasises the distinctness of the divine and human natures of Jesus. This doctrine and its namesake, Nestorius, were condemned by the Council of Ephesus in 431, leading to the Nestorian Schism and a subsequent exodus of Nestorius supporters to Sasanian Persia. The existing Christians in Persia welcomed these refugees and gradually adopted Nestorian doctrine by the 5th century, the church grew rapidly under the Sassanians, and following the Muslim conquest of Persia it was designated as a protected dhimmi community under Muslim rule. In the 13th and 14th centuries the church experienced a period of expansion under the Mongol Empire. From its peak of geographical extent, the experienced a rapid period of decline starting in the 14th century. The Ancient Church of the East further distinguished itself from the Assyrian Church of the East in the 20th century over reforms such as the use of the Gregorian Calendar. In the early 21st century, both the Assyrian Church of the East and Chaldean Catholic Church had approximately 500,000 members, the Church of the East was headed by the Patriarch of the East, an office that traces its origin to the Apostolic Age. The head of the church bears the title Catholicos. Like the churches from which it developed, the Church of the East has an ordained clergy divided into the three orders of deacon, priest, and bishop. Also like other churches, it has an episcopal polity, organisation by dioceses, each headed by a bishop, dioceses are organised into provinces under the authority of a metropolitan bishop. The office of bishop is an important one, and comes with additional duties and powers. The Patriarch also has the charge of the Province of the Patriarch, most of these latter were located farther afield within the territory of the Sasanian Empire, but very early on, provinces formed beyond the empires borders as well. By the 10th century, the church had between 20 and 30 metropolitan provinces including in China and India, the Chinese provinces were lost in the 11th century, and in the subsequent centuries, other exterior provinces went into decline as well. However, in the 13th century, during the Mongol Empire, other names for the church include Persian Church, Syriac or Syrian, and Assyrian. Nestoriuss doctrine represented the culmination of a philosophical current developed by scholars at the School of Antioch and this became a source of controversy when Nestorius publicly challenged usage of the title Theotokos for the Virgin Mary
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Christianity among the Mongols
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Overall, Mongols were highly tolerant of most religions, and typically sponsored several at the same time. Many Mongols had been proselytized by the Church of the East since about the seventh century, in the time of Genghis Khan, his sons took Christian wives of the Keraites, and under the rule of Genghis Khans grandson, Möngke Khan, the primary religious influence was Christian. The practice of Nestorian Christianity was somewhat different from that practiced in the West, however, the Europeans also had legends about a figure known as Prester John, a great Christian leader in the East who would come to help with the Crusades. One version of the legend connected the identity of Prester John with a Christian Mongol leader, Toghrul, when the Mongols conquered northern China, establishing the Yuan dynasty, the Church of the East was reintroduced to China after a gap of centuries. As the Mongols further expanded, the Christian sympathies of the court, primarily through the influential wives of the khans, during the Mongols siege of Baghdad, many of the citizens of the city were massacred, but Christians were spared. As the Mongols further encroached upon Palestine, there were attempts at forming a Franco-Mongol alliance with the Christians of Europe against the Muslims. Mongol contacts with the West also led to many missionaries, primarily Franciscan and Dominican, the Mongols had been proselytised since about the seventh century. Many Mongol tribes, such as the Keraites, the Naimans, the Merkit, the Ongud, Genghis Khan himself believed in traditional Mongolian shamanism, but was tolerant of other faiths. His sons were married to Christian princesses of the Keraites clan who held influence at his court. Under the Great Khan Mongke, Genghiss grandson, the religious influence was that of the Nestorians. After the death of Abaqas mother Doquz, Maria filled her role as a major Christian influence in the Ilkhanate. Sartaq Khan, son of Batu Khan, who converted to Christianity during his lifetime, Kitbuqa, general of Mongol forces in the Levant, yahballaha III, an Ongud Mongol earlier known as Rabban Marcos, became the Patriarch of the Church of the East from 1281 to 1317. Rabban Bar Sauma, a Chinese monk who made a pilgrimage from Khanbaliq, the Mongols had no churches or monasteries, but claimed a set of beliefs that descended from the Apostle Thomas, which relied on wandering monks. Further, their style was based more on practice than belief, the primary interest in Christianity for many, was the story that Jesus had healed the sick and survived death, so the practice of Christianity became interwoven with the care of the sick. Jesus was considered to be a shaman, and another attraction was that the name Jesus sounded like Yesu. It was a number to the Mongols, and was also the name of Genghis Khans father. The use of non-permanent churches is also well-documented, again according to Weatherford, the Mongols also adapted the Christian cross to their own belief system, making it sacred because it pointed to the four directions of the world. They had varied readings of the Scriptures, especially feeling an affinity to the wandering Hebrew tribes, Christianity also allowed the eating of meat
28.
Yuan dynasty
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The Yuan dynasty, officially the Great Yuan, was the empire or ruling dynasty of China established by Kublai Khan, leader of the Mongolian Borjigin clan. His realm was, by point, isolated from the other khanates and controlled most of present-day China and its surrounding areas. Some of the Mongolian Emperors of the Yuan mastered the Chinese language, while others used their native language. The Yuan dynasty is considered both a successor to the Mongol Empire and an imperial Chinese dynasty and it was the khanate ruled by the successors of Möngke Khan after the division of the Mongol Empire. In official Chinese histories, the Yuan dynasty bore the Mandate of Heaven, following the Song dynasty, the dynasty was established by Kublai Khan, yet he placed his grandfather Genghis Khan on the imperial records as the official founder of the dynasty as Taizu. In addition to Emperor of China, Kublai Khan also claimed the title of Great Khan, supreme over the other khanates, the Chagatai, the Golden Horde. As such, the Yuan was also referred to as the Empire of the Great Khan. However, while the claim of supremacy by the Yuan emperors was at times recognized by the khans, their subservience was nominal. In 1271, Kublai Khan imposed the name Great Yuan, establishing the Yuan dynasty, dà Yuán is from the clause 大哉乾元 in the Commentaries on the Classic of Changes section regarding Qián. The counterpart in Mongolian language was Dai Ön Ulus, also rendered as Ikh Yuan Üls or Yekhe Yuan Ulus, in Mongolian, Dai Ön is often used in conjunction with the Yeke Mongghul Ulus, resulting in Dai Ön Yeke Mongghul Ulus, meaning Great Mongol State. Nevertheless, both terms can refer to the khanate within the Mongol Empire directly ruled by Great Khans before the actual establishment of the Yuan dynasty by Kublai Khan in 1271. Genghis Khan united the Mongol and Turkic tribes of the steppes and he and his successors expanded the Mongol empire across Asia. Under the reign of Genghis third son, Ögedei Khan, the Mongols destroyed the weakened Jin dynasty in 1234, Ögedei offered his nephew Kublai a position in Xingzhou, Hebei. Kublai was unable to read Chinese but had several Han Chinese teachers attached to him since his early years by his mother Sorghaghtani and he sought the counsel of Chinese Buddhist and Confucian advisers. Möngke Khan succeeded Ögedeis son, Güyük, as Great Khan in 1251 and he granted his brother Kublai control over Mongol held territories in China. Kublai built schools for Confucian scholars, issued paper money, revived Chinese rituals and he adopted as his capital city Kaiping in Inner Mongolia, later renamed Shangdu. Many Han Chinese and Khitan defected to the Mongols to fight against the Jin, two Han Chinese leaders, Shi Tianze, Liu Heima, and the Khitan Xiao Zhala defected and commanded the 3 Tumens in the Mongol army. Liu Heima and Shi Tianze served Ogödei Khan, Liu Heima and Shi Tianxiang led armies against Western Xia for the Mongols
29.
Ming dynasty
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The Ming dynasty was the ruling dynasty of China – then known as the Empire of the Great Ming – for 276 years following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming, described by some as one of the greatest eras of orderly government, although the primary capital of Beijing fell in 1644 to a rebellion led by Li Zicheng, regimes loyal to the Ming throne – collectively called the Southern Ming – survived until 1683. He rewarded his supporters and employed them as a counterweight against the Confucian scholar-bureaucrats. One, Zheng He, led seven enormous voyages of exploration into the Indian Ocean as far as Arabia, the rise of new emperors and new factions diminished such extravagances, the capture of the Zhengtong Emperor during the 1449 Tumu Crisis ended them completely. The imperial navy was allowed to fall into disrepair while forced labor constructed the Liaodong palisade, haijin laws intended to protect the coasts from Japanese pirates instead turned many into smugglers and pirates themselves. The growth of Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch trade created new demand for Chinese products and produced an influx of Japanese. This abundance of specie remonetized the Ming economy, whose money had suffered repeated hyperinflation and was no longer trusted. While traditional Confucians opposed such a prominent role for commerce and the newly rich it created, combined with crop failure, floods, and epidemic, the dynasty collapsed before the rebel leader Li Zicheng, who was defeated by the Manchu-led Eight Banner armies who founded the Qing dynasty. The Mongol-led Yuan dynasty ruled before the establishment of the Ming dynasty, consequently, agriculture and the economy were in shambles, and rebellion broke out among the hundreds of thousands of peasants called upon to work on repairing the dykes of the Yellow River. A number of Han Chinese groups revolted, including the Red Turbans in 1351, the Red Turbans were affiliated with the White Lotus, a Buddhist secret society. Zhu Yuanzhang was a peasant and Buddhist monk who joined the Red Turbans in 1352. In 1356, Zhus rebel force captured the city of Nanjing, with the Yuan dynasty crumbling, competing rebel groups began fighting for control of the country and thus the right to establish a new dynasty. In 1363, Zhu Yuanzhang eliminated his archrival and leader of the rebel Han faction, Chen Youliang, in the Battle of Lake Poyang, arguably the largest naval battle in history. Known for its ambitious use of ships, Zhus force of 200,000 Ming sailors were able to defeat a Han rebel force over triple their size, claimed to be 650. The victory destroyed the last opposing rebel faction, leaving Zhu Yuanzhang in uncontested control of the bountiful Yangtze River Valley, Zhu Yuanzhang took Hongwu, or Vastly Martial, as his era name. Hongwu made an effort to rebuild state infrastructure. He built a 48 km long wall around Nanjing, as well as new palaces, Hongwu organized a military system known as the weisuo, which was similar to the fubing system of the Tang dynasty. With a growing suspicion of his ministers and subjects, Hongwu established the Jinyiwei, some 100,000 people were executed in a series of purges during his rule
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Saint Paul's College, Goa
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St. Pauls College was a Jesuit school, and later college, founded circa 1542 by saint Francis Xavier, at Old Goa. It was once the main Jesuit institution in the whole of Asia and it housed the first printing press in India, having published the first books in 1556. The original building, however, was abandoned progressively after the outbreak of plague in 1578, the ruins were demolished in 1832. The only vestige of the college and of the collegiate church consecrated on 25 January 1543 is the Gate of the College of St. Paul. The arch with a niche at the top and a cross crowning it, is built of laterite, the legacy of St. Pauls College endures until today in the Rachol Seminary. In 1542 the first Jesuits arrived at India headed by Francis Xavier, co-founder of the new Society of Jesus and they were sent by King John III of Portugal to help on religious issues in the Portuguese Empire, under the Padroado agreement. Soon they renamed it St. Pauls College as it became the Jesuit headquarters in Asia, the college had classes in grammar, rhetoric, and lectures on classical authors. It had also a school for 450 local students, teaching reading and writing, on 10 March 1554 the college got a grant from king John III of Portugal entitling it to the rents of the temples in Goa and nearby islands. It was also entitled to the gifts from local chiefs to the king, the French traveler François Pyrard de Laval, who visited Goa c.1608, described the College of St Paul, praising the variety of the subjects taught there free of charge. Like many other European travelers who visited the College, he recorded that at time it had 3000 students. Its Library was one of the biggest in Asia, and the first Printing Press was mounted there, the art of printing first entered India through St. Pauls College in Goa. Circumstances prevented this printing press from leaving India, and consequently, printing began in Goa in 1556. That year, D. Gaspar de Leão Pereira in 1560 and he introduced the printing press to Goa. The individual responsible for the initiation of printing in India was Joao De Bustamante, Bustamante, an expert printer sent accompanying the printing press, along with his Indian assistant set up the new press and began to operate it. Among others, four books are known to have been printed by Bustamante, a year later, the printing press published its second book, Catecismo da Doutrina Christã, five years after the death of its author, St. Francis Xavier. This was followed by the printing of Garcia da Orta’s Colóquios dos simples e drogas he cousas medicinais da Índia on 10 April 1563 by Joao de Endem, in 1568, the first illustrated cover page was printed in Goa for the book Constituciones Do Arcebispado De Goa. The earliest, surviving printed book in India is the Compendio Spiritual Da Vide Christaa of Gaspar Jorge de Leão Pereira, blessed Miguel de Carvalho, Jesuit priest, and Martyr of Japan Saint Joseph Vaz, Oratorian priest and Apostle of Ceylon
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Goa
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Goa /ˈɡoʊ. ə/ is a state in India within the coastal region known as the Konkan in western India. It is bounded by Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the east and it is Indias smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Goa is Indias richest state, with a GDP per capita two and a half times that of the country, Panaji is the states capital, while Vasco da Gama is its largest city. The historic city of Margao still exhibits the influence of the Portuguese. Goa is a former Portuguese province, the Portuguese overseas territory of Portuguese India existed for about 450 years until it was annexed by India in 1961. Goa is visited by large numbers of international and domestic tourists each year for its beaches, places of worship and it has rich flora and fauna, owing to its location on the Western Ghats range, a biodiversity hotspot. In ancient literature, Goa was known by names, such as Gomanchala, Gopakapattana, Gopakapattam, Gopakapuri, Govapuri, Govem. In the 3rd century BC, Goa was known as Aparantha and is mentioned by the Greek geographer Ptolemy, in the 13th century, the Greeks referred to Goa as Nelkinda. Other historical names for Goa are Sindapur, Sandabur, and Mahassapatam, Goas history goes back 20, 000–30,000 years. The rock art engravings exhibit the earliest traces of life in India. Upper Paleolithic or Mesolithic rock art engravings have been found on the bank of the river Kushavati at Usgalimal. Petroglyphs, cones, stone-axe, and choppers dating to 10,000 years ago have been found in places in Goa, such as Kazur, Mauxim. Evidence of Palaeolithic life is seen at Dabolim, Adkon, Shigao, Fatorpa, Arli, Maulinguinim, Diwar, Sanguem, Pilerne, difficulty in carbon dating the laterite rock compounds poses a problem for determining the exact time period. Early Goan society underwent radical change when Indo-Aryan and Dravidian migrants amalgamated with the aboriginal locals, in the 3rd century BC, Goa was part of the Maurya Empire, ruled by the Buddhist emperor, Ashoka of Magadha. Buddhist monks laid the foundation of Buddhism in Goa, between the 2nd century BC and the 6th century AD, Goa was ruled by the Bhojas of Goa. The rule later passed to the Chalukyas of Badami, who controlled it between 578 and 753, and later the Rashtrakutas of Malkhed from 753 to 963, from 765 to 1015, the Southern Silharas of Konkan ruled Goa as the feudatories of the Chalukyas and the Rashtrakutas. Over the next few centuries, Goa was successively ruled by the Kadambas as the feudatories of the Chalukyas of Kalyani, in 1312, Goa came under the governance of the Delhi Sultanate. The kingdoms grip on the region was weak, and by 1370 it was forced to surrender it to Harihara I of the Vijayanagara empire, the Vijayanagara monarchs held on to the territory until 1469, when it was appropriated by the Bahmani sultans of Gulbarga
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Guangdong
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Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the Peoples Republic of China. The provincial capital Guangzhou and economic hub Shenzhen are among the most populous, the population increase since the census has been modest, the province at 2014 end had 107,240,000 people. Since 1989, Guangdong has topped the total GDP rankings among all divisions, with Jiangsu and Shandong second. According to state statistics, Guangdongs GDP in 2014 reached RMB6,779 billion, or US$1.104 trillion, since 2011, Guangdong has the highest GDP among all provinces of Mainland China. The province contributes approximately 12% of the PRCs national economic output, Guangdong also hosts the largest import and export fair in China called the Canton Fair in Guangdongs capital city Guangzhou. Guǎng means expanse or vast, and has associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD226. Guangdong and neighbouring Guangxi literally mean expanse east and expanse west, together, Guangdong and Guangxi are called Loeng gwong. During the Song dynasty, the Two Guangs were formally separated as Guǎngnán Dōnglù and Guǎngnán Xīlù, one should note that Canton, though etymologically derived from Cantão, refers only to the provincial capital instead of the whole province, as documented by authoritative English dictionaries. The local people of the city of Guangzhou and their language are commonly referred to as Cantonese in English. Because of the prestige of Canton and its accent, Cantonese sensu lato can also be used for the phylogenetically related residents, Chinese administration and reliable historical records in the region began with the Qin dynasty. After establishing the first unified Chinese empire, the Qin expanded southwards and set up Nanhai Commandery at Panyu, the region was independent as Nanyue between the fall of Qin and the reign of Emperor Wu of Han. Under the Wu Kingdom of the Three Kingdoms period, Guangdong was made its own province, for example, internal strife in northern China following the rebellion of An Lushan resulted in a 75% increase in the population of Guangzhou prefecture between 740s–750s and 800s–810s. As more migrants arrived, the population was gradually assimilated to Han Chinese culture or displaced. Multiple women originating from the Persian Gulf lived in Guangzhous foreign quarter, together with Guangxi, Guangdong was made part of Lingnan Circuit, or Mountain-South Circuit, in 627 during the Tang dynasty. The Guangdong part of Lingnan Circuit was renamed Guangnan East Circuit guǎng nán dōng lù in 971 during the Song dynasty, Guangnan East is the source of Guangdong. As Mongols from the north engaged in their conquest of China in the 13th century, the Battle of Yamen 1279 in Guangdong marked the end of the Southern Song Dynasty. During the Mongol Yuan dynasty, large parts of current Guangdong belonged to Jiangxi and its present name, Guangdong Province was given in early Ming dynasty. Since the 16th century, Guangdong has had extensive links with the rest of the world
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Macau
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Macau, also spelled Macao, officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China, is an autonomous territory on the western side of the Pearl River Delta in East Asia. Macau is bordered by the city of Zhuhai in Mainland China to the north, Hong Kong lies about 64 kilometres to its east across the Delta. With a population of 650,900 living in an area of 30.5 km2, Macau was administered by the Portuguese Empire and its inheritor states from the mid-16th century until late 1999, when it constituted the last remaining European colony in Asia. Portuguese traders first settled in Macau in the 1550s, in 1557, Macau was leased to Portugal from Ming China as a trading port. The Portuguese Empire administered the city under Chinese authority and sovereignty until 1887, sovereignty over Macau was transferred back to China on 20 December 1999. The Joint Declaration on the Question of Macau and Macau Basic Law stipulate that Macau operate with a degree of autonomy until at least 2049. Macau participates in international organizations and events that do not require members to national sovereignty. Macau is a city in Southern China, known for its casinos. Its gaming revenue has been the worlds largest since 2006, with the heavily dependent on gaming. According to The World Factbook, Macau has the fourth highest life expectancy in the world, the present Chinese name means Inlet Gates. Macau is otherwise known in Chinese as Haojing or Jinghai, the name Macau is thought to be derived from the A-Ma Temple, a temple built in 1448 dedicated to Mazu, the goddess of seafarers and fishermen. It is said that when the Portuguese sailors landed at the coast just outside the temple and asked the name of the place, the Portuguese then named the peninsula Macau. The history of Macau is traced back to the Qin dynasty, the first recorded Chinese inhabitants of the area were people seeking refuge in Macau from invading Mongols during the Southern Song. Under the Ming dynasty, fishermen migrated to Macau from Guangdong, the Macau native people were Tanka boat people. Macau did not develop as a settlement until the Portuguese arrived in the 16th century. In 1513, Jorge Álvares became the first Portuguese to land in China, in 1535, Portuguese traders obtained the rights to anchor ships in Macaus harbours and to carry out trading activities, though not the right to stay onshore. In 1557, the Portuguese established a permanent settlement in Macau, the Portuguese continued to pay an annual tribute up to 1863 in order to stay in Macau. By 1564, Portugal commanded western trade with India, Japan, but their pride was damaged by the indifference with which the Chinese treated them
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Pearl River Delta
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The Pearl River Delta, also known as Zhujiang Delta or Zhusanjiao, is the low-lying area surrounding the Pearl River estuary, where the Pearl River flows into the South China Sea. It is one of the most densely urbanized regions in the world and is a hub of China. This region is considered an emerging megacity. The nine largest cities of PRD had a population of 57.15 million at the end of 2013. According to the World Bank Group, the PRD has become the largest urban area in the world in size and population. The river delta, also known as the Golden Delta of Guangdong, is formed by three rivers, the Xi Jiang, Bei Jiang, and Dong Jiang. The flat lands of the delta are criss-crossed by a network of tributaries and distributaries of the Pearl River, the Pearl River Delta is actually two alluvial deltas, separated by the core branch of the Pearl River. The Bei Jiang and Xi Jiang converge to flow into the South China Sea and Pearl River in the west, the Xi Jiang begins exhibiting delta-like characteristics as far west as Zhaoqing, although this city is not usually considered a part of the PRD region. After passing through the Lingyang Gorge and converging with the Bei Jiang, major distributaries of the Xi include Donghui Shuidao, Jiya Shuidao, Hutiaomen Shuidao, Yinzhou Hu, and the main branch of the Xi Jiang. Jiangmen and Zhongshan are the major found in the western section of the delta. The Bei Jiang enters the plains at Qingyuan but doesnt begin to split until near Sanshui. From here the two main distributaries are Tanzhou Shuidao and Shunde Shuidao which form multiple mouths along the west side of the Pearl Rivers estuary. Two other distributaries, Lubao Yong and Xinan Yong, split from the Bei further north, the other major city in the north section of the delta is Foshan. The Dong Jiang flows through Huizhou into the delta and it begins diverging northeast of Dongguan into many distributaries, including the Dongguan Shuidao. Distributuares enter the Pearl River as far north as Luogang and as far south as Hu Men, saltwater crocodiles were present within the Pearl River estuary during antiquity. The eastern side of the PRD, dominated by foreign capital, is the most developed economically, the western areas, dominated by local private capital, are open for development. New transport links between Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai in the PRD are expected to open up new areas for development, further integrate the cities, and facilitate trade within the region. 1985, the PRD had been dominated by farms and small rural villages, but after the economy was reformed and opened
35.
Guangzhou
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Guangzhou, traditionally romanised as Canton, is the capital and most populous city of the province of Guangdong in southern China. Guangzhou is currently, the third city in mainland China, behind Beijing and Shanghai, holds sub-provincial administrative status. In 2015 the citys area was estimated to have a population of 13,501,100. Some estimates place the population of the area of the Pearl River Delta Mega City as high as 44 million without the Hong Kong SAR and 54 million including it. Guangzhou is ranked as a Beta+ Global city, in recent years, there has been a rapidly increasing number of foreign residents and illegal immigrants from Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe, as well as from Africa. This has led to it being dubbed the Capital of the Third World, the migrant population from other provinces of China in Guangzhou was 40 percent of the citys total population in 2008. Long the only Chinese port accessible to foreign traders, the city fell to the British during the First Opium War. No longer enjoying a monopoly after the war, it lost trade to ports such as Hong Kong and Shanghai. In modern commerce, Guangzhou is best known for its annual Canton Fair, for the three consecutive years 2013–2015, Forbes ranked Guangzhou as the best commercial city on the Chinese mainland. Guǎngzhōu is the pinyin romanisation of the Chinese name 廣州, which was simplified in mainland China to 广州 in the 1950s, before acquiring its current name, the town was known as Panyu, a name still borne by one of Guangzhous districts. The origin of the name is uncertain, with 11 various explanations being offered. The city has sometimes been known as Guangzhou Fu or Guangfu after its status as the capital of a commandery. From this latter name, Guangzhou was known to medieval Persians such as Al-Masudi, under the Southern Han, the city was renamed Xingwang. Under the Qing, it was known to its inhabitants as simply The Provincial Capital. The Chinese abbreviation for Guangzhou is 穗, after its nickname Rice City, the former name City of the Immortals came from the same story. The more recent City of Flowers is usually taken as a reference to the areas greenery. The English name Canton derived from Portuguese Cantão or Cidade de Cantão, although it originally and chiefly applied to the walled city, it was also used in English in reference to Guangdong generally. It was adopted as the Postal Map Romanization of Guangzhou and remained in use until the gradual adoption of pinyin
36.
Alessandro Valignano
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Alessandro Valignano was an Italian Jesuit missionary born in Chieti, part of the Kingdom of Naples, who helped supervise the introduction of Catholicism to the Far East, and especially to Japan. Valignano joined the Society of Jesus in 1566, and was sent to East Asia in 1573, Valignano was born in Chieti, then part of the Kingdom of Naples, a part of the Spanish Monarchy. He excelled as a student at the University of Padua, where he studied Christian theology, Valignanos insights into Christian message convinced many within the Church that he was the perfect individual to carry the spirit of the Counter-Reformation to the Far East. He was ordained in the Society of Jesus and, at the age of 34 and he made his profession of the fourth vow after only seven years in the Society. As Visitor, it was his responsibility to examine and whenever necessary reorganize mission structures and methods throughout India, China and he was given an enormous amount of leeway and discretion, especially for someone so young, and was answerable only to the Jesuit Superior General in Rome. His commanding presence was increased by his unusual height, enough to turn heads in Europe. Valignano formed a strategy for Catholic proselytism, which is usually called adaptationism. He put the advance of Jesuits influence above adherence to traditional Christian behavior and he attempted to avoid cultural frictions by making a compromise with local customs that other missionaries viewed as conflicting with Catholic values. His strategy was in contrast to those of mendicant orders including Franciscans and Dominicans and this action eventually contributed to the Chinese Rites controversy. Soon after Valignano arrived in Portuguese Macau in September 1578, he realized none of the missionaries stationed in Macau had succeeded in establishing himself in mainland China. In his view, to improve the Jesuits penetration rate into the country and their success at converting the locals, it was necessary first to learn to speak, read, and write the Chinese language. To this end, he wrote to the orders Superior in India, asking him to send to Macau a person who would be equal to the task, namely Bernardino de Ferraris. However, as de Ferraris was busy as the new rector of the Jesuits at Cochin, another Jesuit scholar, Valignano left Macau for Japan in July 1579, leaving behind instructions for Ruggieri, who was to arrive within days. Once Ruggieri started studying Chinese and realized the immensity of the task, he wrote to Valignano, asking him to send Matteo Ricci to Macau as well, to share the work. Forwarded by Valignano to the Orders Superior in India in 1580, Ruggieris request was fulfilled, together, the two were to become the first European scholars of China and the Chinese language. Valignano made the first visit to Japan from 1579 to 1582, in 1581, he wrote Il Cerimoniale per i Missionari del Giappone to set forth guidelines for Jesuits. In the writing, he mapped Jesuit hierarchy to that of Zen Buddhists even though he detested them and he claimed that, in order not to be despised by the Japanese, every Jesuit should behave according to the class he belonged to. As a result, Jesuit fathers served daimyōs sumptuous dishes and walked around Nagasaki with armed Japanese servants, such a luxurious life and authoritarian attitudes among Jesuits in Japan were criticized not only by rival mendicant orders but also by some Jesuits
37.
St. Paul's College, Macau
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St. Pauls College of Macau also known as College of Madre de Deus was a university founded in 1594 in Macau by Jesuits at the service of the Portuguese under the Padroado treaty. It claims the title of the first Western university in East Asia, St. Pauls University College of Macau was funded by Alessandro Valignano in 1594 by upgrading the previous Madre de Deus school, as a stopover to prepare Jesuit missionaries traveling east. The College was the base for Jesuit missionaries travelling to China, Japan and East Asia, after a revolt blamed on religious influence, Japan expelled the Portuguese and banned Catholicism, and the college became then a shelter for fleeing Christian priests. Jesuits abandoned it in 1762 when they were expelled by the Portuguese authorities, the buildings were destroyed in a fire in 1835. In 2005, the ruins of St. Pauls - notably the facade of the Madre de Deus church - were officially enlisted as part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site - Historic Centre of Macau. Since 1557, Portuguese Macau had been the center for exchange between China and Japan, and from there to Europe via Goa. Missionary activities in Japan had begun in 1549, when Jesuit co-founder Francis Xavier was received in a friendly manner, Jesuits established congregations in Hirado, Yamaguchi and Bungo and many daimyos converted to Christianity, some to gain access to trade and arms. In 1576 Pope Gregory XIII included Japan in the Portuguese diocese of Macau, in September 1578 Alessandro Valignano arrived at Macau as a visitor of Jesuit Missions in the Indies, to examine and when necessary reorganize, answering to the Jesuit Superior in Rome. No missions had succeeded in establishing in mainland China, while in Japan they multiplied, language study had always been one of the core problems, in his view, it was necessary first to learn to speak, read, and write the Chinese language. To this end, he wrote to the Superior in India, Ricci joined him in Macau in 1582. and together, they become the first European scholars of China and the Chinese language. In 1579 Valignano made his first visit to Japan, before the Visitor arrived, seventeen of Valignanos personally appointed missionaries wrote to him complaining that language training was totally nonexistent. Lacking fluency in the Japanese language, Francis Xavier had limited to reading aloud a Japanese translation of a catechism, in 1563 Oda Nobunaga favored Jesuit missionary Luís Fróis, and generally tolerated Christianity. On 9 June 1580 Omura Sumitada ceded jurisdiction over Nagasaki and Mogi to the Society of Jesus. In 1582, from Japan, Valignano sent an embassy to the Pope and the kings of Europe sponsored by Kirishitan daimyos Sumitada, Otomo Sorin and Arima Harunobu, in 1583, the Portuguese in Macau were permitted to form a Senate and kept sovereignty. Macau prospered, and Jesuits engaged in the trade and this breach of ecclesiastical practice did not go unnoticed by other European missions in the area, or by those living via inter-Asiatic trade. Eventually, the Pope was forced to intervene, and, in 1585, Valignano made an impassioned appeal to the Pope, as Jesuit needed the funds to their many enterprises. In 1594 St. Pauls College of Macau was authorized by the Jesuit superior in Rome, at first the college included two seminaries for lay brothers, a university with faculties of arts, philosophy and theology, a primary school and a school of music and arts. The main body of the grammar and dictionary was compiled from 1590–1603, between 1597 and 1762 it had immense influence on the learning of Eastern languages and culture by missionary Jesuits, making Macau a base for the spreading of Christianity in China and in Japan
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Michele Ruggieri
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Michele Ruggieri was an Italian Jesuit priest. One of the fathers of the Jesuit China missions. Born Pompilio Ruggieri in Spinazzola, Puglia in 1543, he obtained, in Naples, a doctorate in utroque iure, that is, in civil and canon law and he entered the Society of Jesus on 27 October 1572, in Rome, taking the name Michele. Ruggieri left Europe with a group of missionaries which included Rudolph Acquaviva, arriving in India, he promptly started to study the language used on the Malabar coast and in 6 months reached such proficiency that he could hear confession. It is probably this gift for language made him an ideal choice for the beginning of the Chinese mission. Ruggieri was assigned to Macau to study the Chinese language and customs and he landed at the Portuguese trade centre and started at once to learn to read and write Chinese. In the process, and aware that several will be following him, he set up Shengmaerding Jingyuan, as such he is one of the very first Christian missionaries to have enteredMing Dynasty Mainland China. In 1584 Ruggieri published the first Chinese catechism, visiting villages in the region he baptized several families that formed the nucleus of further Christian communities in mainland China. A Chinese Jesuit Lay Brother Sebastiano Fernandez, who had grown up and been trained in Macau, unfortunately, the manuscript was misplaced in the Jesuit Archives in Rome, and re-discovered only in 1934, by Pasquale dElia. This dictionary was published in 2001. The manuscript is now preserved in the State Archives of Rome, ms.493 In November 1588 and this plan had been proposed as a means to allow Jesuits to reach Beijing and to be received by the emperor. But nothing came out of it, the Popes kept dying on him, his own health deteriorated, and eventually the weary Jesuit retired to Salerno, in Salerno, the retired Jesuit carried on intellectual work that would make China better known in Europe. He completed the Latin translation of the Four Books, wrote poetry in Chinese, Ruggieri was also a much sought after spiritual guide and confessor in the school of Salerno. Biography at the National Digital Library of China About Ruggieri and Ricci at the Vatican Radio DUNNE, G. Generation of giants, GRISONDI, F. A. M. Ruggieri, Missionario in Cina e primo sinologo europeo, Milano,1999. SHIH, Joseph, Le P. Ruggieri et le problème de lévangélisation en Chine, RUGGIERI Michele, Atlante della Cina di Michele Ruggieri S. I. a cura di Eugenio Lo Sardo, Roma, Istituto poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato,1993. ISBN 882400380X Facsimile edition of Tianzhu Shengjiao Shilu
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Buddhism
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Buddhism is a religion and dharma that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and spiritual practices largely based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. Buddhism originated in India sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE, from where it spread through much of Asia, two major extant branches of Buddhism are generally recognized by scholars, Theravada and Mahayana. Buddhism is the worlds fourth-largest religion, with over 500 million followers or 7% of the global population, Buddhist schools vary on the exact nature of the path to liberation, the importance and canonicity of various teachings and scriptures, and especially their respective practices. In Theravada the ultimate goal is the attainment of the state of Nirvana, achieved by practicing the Noble Eightfold Path, thus escaping what is seen as a cycle of suffering. Theravada has a following in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. Mahayana, which includes the traditions of Pure Land, Zen, Nichiren Buddhism, Shingon, rather than Nirvana, Mahayana instead aspires to Buddhahood via the bodhisattva path, a state wherein one remains in the cycle of rebirth to help other beings reach awakening. Vajrayana, a body of teachings attributed to Indian siddhas, may be viewed as a branch or merely a part of Mahayana. Tibetan Buddhism, which preserves the Vajrayana teachings of eighth century India, is practiced in regions surrounding the Himalayas, Tibetan Buddhism aspires to Buddhahood or rainbow body. Buddhism is an Indian religion attributed to the teachings of Buddha, the details of Buddhas life are mentioned in many early Buddhist texts but are inconsistent, his social background and life details are difficult to prove, the precise dates uncertain. Some hagiographic legends state that his father was a king named Suddhodana, his mother queen Maya, and he was born in Lumbini gardens. Some of the stories about Buddha, his life, his teachings, Buddha was moved by the innate suffering of humanity. He meditated on this alone for a period of time, in various ways including asceticism, on the nature of suffering. He famously sat in meditation under a Ficus religiosa tree now called the Bodhi Tree in the town of Bodh Gaya in Gangetic plains region of South Asia. He reached enlightenment, discovering what Buddhists call the Middle Way, as an enlightened being, he attracted followers and founded a Sangha. Now, as the Buddha, he spent the rest of his teaching the Dharma he had discovered. Dukkha is a concept of Buddhism and part of its Four Noble Truths doctrine. It can be translated as incapable of satisfying, the unsatisfactory nature, the Four Truths express the basic orientation of Buddhism, we crave and cling to impermanent states and things, which is dukkha, incapable of satisfying and painful. This keeps us caught in saṃsāra, the cycle of repeated rebirth, dukkha
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Taoism
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Taoism, also known as Daoism, is a religious or philosophical tradition of Chinese origin which emphasizes living in harmony with the Tao. The Tao is an idea in most Chinese philosophical schools, in Taoism, however. Taoism differs from Confucianism by not emphasizing rigid rituals and social order, the Tao Te Ching, a compact book containing teachings attributed to Laozi, is widely considered the keystone work of the Taoist tradition, together with the later writings of Zhuangzi. By the Han dynasty, the sources of Taoism had coalesced into a coherent tradition of religious organizations. In earlier ancient China, Taoists were thought of as hermits or recluses who did not participate in political life, Zhuangzi was the best known of these, and it is significant that he lived in the south, where he was part of local Chinese shamanic traditions. Women shamans played an important role in this tradition, which was strong in the southern state of Chu. Early Taoist movements developed their own institution in contrast to shamanism, shamans revealed basic texts of Taoism from early times down to at least the 20th century. Institutional orders of Taoism evolved in various strains that in recent times are conventionally grouped into two main branches, Quanzhen Taoism and Zhengyi Taoism. After Laozi and Zhuangzi, the literature of Taoism grew steadily and was compiled in form of a canon—the Daozang—which was published at the behest of the emperor, throughout Chinese history, Taoism was nominated several times as a state religion. After the 17th century, however, it fell from favor, Chinese alchemy, Chinese astrology, Chan Buddhism, several martial arts, traditional Chinese medicine, feng shui, and many styles of qigong have been intertwined with Taoism throughout history. Beyond China, Taoism also had influence on surrounding societies in Asia, Taoism also has a presence in Hong Kong, Macau, and in Southeast Asia. English speakers continue to debate the preferred romanization of the words Daoism and Taoism, the root Chinese word 道 way, path is romanized tao in the older Wade–Giles system and dào in the modern Pinyin system. In linguistic terminology, English Taoism/Daoism is formed from the Chinese loanword tao/dao 道 way, route, principle and the native suffix -ism. The debate over Taoism vs. Daoism involves sinology, phonemes, loanwords, Daoism is pronounced /ˈdaʊ. ɪzəm/, but English speakers disagree whether Taoism should be /ˈdaʊ. ɪzəm/ or /ˈtaʊ. ɪzəm/. In theory, both Wade–Giles tao and Pinyin dao are articulated identically, as are Taoism and Daoism, an investment book titled The Tao Jones Averages illustrates this /daʊ/ pronunciations widespread familiarity. In speech, Tao and Taoism are often pronounced /ˈtaʊ/ and ˈtaʊ. ɪzəm/, lexicography shows American and British English differences in pronouncing Taoism. Taoist philosophy or Taology, or the mystical aspect — The philosophical doctrines based on the texts of the I Ching, the Tao Te Ching and these texts were linked together as Taoist philosophy during the early Han Dynasty, but notably not before. It is unlikely that Zhuangzi was familiar with the text of the Daodejing, however, the discussed distinction is rejected by the majority of Western and Japanese scholars
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Chongzhen Emperor
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The Chongzhen Emperor, personal name Zhu Youjian, was the 16th and last emperor of the Ming dynasty in China, reigning from 1627–1644. Chongzhen, the era name of his reign, means honorable, Zhu Youjian was the fifth son of Zhu Changluo, the Taichang Emperor. His mother, Lady Liu, was a concubine of the Taichang Emperor. When Zhu Youjian was four years old, his mother was executed by his father for reasons unknown and was buried secretly, Zhu Youjian was then adopted by his fathers other concubines. He was first raised by Consort Kang, and then by Consort Zhuang after Consort Kang adopted Zhu Youjians eldest brother, all of the Taichang Emperors sons died before reaching adulthood except for Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Youjian. Zhu Youjian grew up in a lonely but quiet environment. After the Taichang Emperor died in 1620, Zhu Youxiao succeeded his father and was enthroned as the Tianqi Emperor and he granted the title Prince of Xin to Zhu Youjian and posthumously honoured Zhu Youjians mother, Lady Liu, as Consort Xian. At the time, the Tianqi Emperor was gravely ill and wanted Zhu Youjian to rely on Wei Zhongxian in the future, when the Tianqi Emperor died in October 1627, Zhu Youjian, then about 16 years old, ascended the throne as the Chongzhen Emperor. His succession was helped by Empress Zhang, despite the manoeuvres of Wei Zhongxian to keep dominating the imperial court, from the beginning of his rule, the Chongzhen Emperor did his best to salvage the Ming dynasty. His efforts at reform focused on the top ranks of the civil, however, years of internal corruption and an empty treasury made it almost impossible to find capable ministers to fill important government posts. The Chongzhen Emperors reign was marked by his fear of factionalism among his officials, soon after his brothers death, the Chongzhen Emperor immediately eliminated Wei Zhongxian and Madam Ke, as well as other officials thought to be involved in the Wei-Ke conspiracy. Meanwhile, partisans of the Donglin Academy faction, which had been devastated under Wei Zhongxians influence, chief among these was the Fushe, or Restoration Society, whose members were a new generation of scholars who identified with the old Donglin faction. They succeeded in placing their members into government posts through the imperial examinations of 1630 and 1631. The reversal of Wei Zhongxians fortunes resulted in a renewal of the Donglin factions influence at court, the nomination of Donglin favorite Qian Qianyi for the post of Grand Secretary led to accusations of corruption and factionalism by his rival Wen Tiren. Qian Qianyi was imprisoned on the emperors orders, though he was soon released, his status was reduced to that of a commoner and he returned to Jiangnan. Wen Tiren would later become Grand Secretary himself, in the early 17th century, persistent drought and famine driven by the Little Ice Age accelerated the collapse of the Ming dynasty. Two major popular uprisings swelled up, led by Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng, at the same time, Ming armies were occupied in the defence of the northern border against the Manchu ruler Huangtaiji, whose father, Nurhaci, had united the Manchu tribes into a cohesive force. In 1636, after years of campaigns against Ming fortifications north of the Great Wall, through the 1630s, rebellion spread from Shaanxi to nearby Huguang and Henan
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Manchu people
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The Manchu are an ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. They are sometimes called red-tasseled Manchus, a reference to the ornamentation on traditional Manchu hats, the Later Jin, and Qing dynasty are established by Manchus, who are descended from the Jurchen people who earlier established the Jin dynasty in China. Manchus form the largest branch of the Tungusic peoples and are distributed throughout China and they can be found in 31 Chinese provincial regions. They also form the largest minority group in China without an autonomous region, among them, Liaoning has the largest population and Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Inner Mongolia and Beijing have over 100,000 Manchu residents. About half of the live in Liaoning and one-fifth in Hebei. The Sushen used flint-headed wooden arrows, farmed, hunted and fished, the cognates Sushen or Jichen again appear in the Shan Hai Jing and Book of Wei during the dynastic era referring to the Tungusic Mohe tribes of the far northeast. The Mohe practiced pig farming extensively and were sedentary. They were predominantly farmers and grew soybeans, wheat, millet and rice, in the 10th century CE, the term Jurchen first appeared in documents of the late Tang dynasty in reference to the state of Balhae in present-day northeastern China. Following the fall of Balhae, the Jurchens became vassals of the Khitan-led Liao dynasty, in the year 1114, Wanyan Aguda united the Jurchen tribes and established the Jin dynasty. His brother and successor, Wanyan Wuqimai defeated the Liao dynasty, after the fall of the Liao dynasty, the Jurchens went to war with the Northern Song dynasty, and captured most of northern China in the Jin–Song wars. During the Jin dynasty, the first Jurchen script came into use in the 1120s and it was mainly derived from the Khitan script. The Jurchens were sedentary, settled farmers with advanced agriculture and they farmed grain and millet as their cereal crops, grew flax, and raised oxen, pigs, sheep and horses. Their farming way of life was different from the pastoral nomadism of the Mongols. In 1206, the Mongols, vassals to the Jurchens, rose in Mongolia and their leader, Genghis Khan, led Mongol troops against the Jurchens, who were finally defeated by Ögedei Khan in 1234. From that time, the Jurchens of North China increasingly merged with the Han Chinese while those living in their homeland started to be Mongolized and they adopted Mongolian customs, names and the Mongolian language. As time went on, fewer and fewer Jurchens could recognize their own script, the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty was replaced by the Ming dynasty in 1368. In 1387, Ming forces defeated the Mongol commander Naghachus resisting forces who settled in the Haixi area, at the time, some Jurchen clans were vassals to the Joseon dynasty of Korea such as Odoli and Huligai. Their elites served in the Korean royal bodyguard, the Joseon Koreans tried to deal with the military threat posed by the Jurchen by using both forceful means and incentives, and by launching military attacks
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Qing dynasty
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It was preceded by the Ming dynasty and succeeded by the Republic of China. The Qing multi-cultural empire lasted almost three centuries and formed the base for the modern Chinese state. The dynasty was founded by the Jurchen Aisin Gioro clan in Manchuria, in the late sixteenth century, Nurhaci, originally a Ming vassal, began organizing Banners, military-social units that included Jurchen, Han Chinese, and Mongol elements. Nurhaci formed the Jurchen clans into an entity, which he renamed as the Manchus. By 1636, his son Hong Taiji began driving Ming forces out of Liaodong and declared a new dynasty, in 1644, peasant rebels led by Li Zicheng conquered the Ming capital, Beijing. The Ten Great Campaigns of the Qianlong Emperor from the 1750s to the 1790s extended Qing control into Central Asia, the early rulers maintained their Manchu ways, and while their title was Emperor, they used khan to the Mongols and they were patrons of Tibetan Buddhism. They governed using Confucian styles and institutions of government and retained the imperial examinations to recruit Han Chinese to work under or in parallel with Manchus. They also adapted the ideals of the system in dealing with neighboring territories. The Qianlong reign saw the apogee and initial decline in prosperity. The population rose to some 400 million, but taxes and government revenues were fixed at a low rate, corruption set in, rebels tested government legitimacy, and ruling elites did not change their mindsets in the face of changes in the world system. Following the Opium War, European powers imposed unequal treaties, free trade, the Taiping Rebellion and the Dungan Revolt in Central Asia led to the deaths of some 20 million people, most of them due to famines caused by war. In spite of disasters, in the Tongzhi Restoration of the 1860s, Han Chinese elites rallied to the defense of the Confucian order. The initial gains in the Self-Strengthening Movement were destroyed in the First Sino-Japanese War of 1895, in which the Qing lost its influence over Korea, New Armies were organized, but the ambitious Hundred Days Reform of 1898 was turned back by Empress Dowager Cixi, a conservative leader. Sun Yat-sen and other revolutionaries competed with reformist monarchists such as Kang Youwei, after the deaths of Cixi and the Guangxu Emperor in 1908, the hardline Manchu court alienated reformers and local elites alike. The Wuchang Uprising on October 11,1911, led to the Xinhai Revolution, General Yuan Shikai negotiated the abdication of Puyi, the last emperor, on February 12,1912. Nurhaci declared himself the Bright Khan of the Later Jin state in both of the 12–13th century Jurchen Jin dynasty and of his Aisin Gioro clan. His son Hong Taiji renamed the dynasty Great Qing in 1636, there are competing explanations on the meaning of Qīng. The character Qīng is composed of water and azure, both associated with the water element and this association would justify the Qing conquest as defeat of fire by water
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Martino Martini
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Martino Martini was an Italian Jesuit missionary, cartographer and historian, mainly working on ancient Imperial China. Martini was born in Trento, in the Bishopric of Trent, after finishing high school studies in Trent in 1631, he entered the Society of Jesus, from where he was sent to study classical letters and philosophy at the Roman College, Rome. However his interest was more in astronomy and mathematics which he studied under Athanasius Kircher and his request to be sent as a missionary to China had already been granted by Mutius Vitelleschi, the then Superior General of the Jesuits. He did his studies in Portugal —already on his way to China—where he was ordained priest. He set out for China in 1640, and arrived in Portuguese Macau in 1642 where he studied Chinese for some time and he made great use of his talents as missionary, scholar, writer and superior. Soon after Martinis arrival to China, the Ming capital Beijing fell to Li Zichengs rebels and then to the Manchus, and the last legitimate Ming emperor, the Chongzhen Emperor, hanged himself. Down in Zhenjiang, Martini continued working with the regime of Zhu Yujian, Prince of Tang. Soon enough, the Manchu troops reached Zhejiang, according to Martinis own report, the Jesuit was able to switch his allegiance to Chinas new masters in an easy enough, but bold, way. Under the poster he set up tables with European books, astronomical instruments, when the Manchu troops arrived, their commander was sufficiently impressed with the display to approach Martini politely and ask if he wished to switch his loyalty to the new Qing Dynasty. Martini agreed, and had his head shaved in the Manchu way, the Manchus then allowed him to return to his Hangzhou church, and provided him and the Hangzhou Christian community with necessary protection. In 1651 Martini left China for Rome as the Delegate of the Chinese Mission Superior and he took advantage of the long, adventurous voyage. Further, and still on his way to Rome, he met printers in Antwerp, Vienna and Munich to submit to them historical, the works were printed and made him famous. When passing through Leyden, Martini was met by Jacobus Golius, Golius was familiar with the discussion of the Cathayan calendar in Zij-i Ilkhani, a work by the Persian astronomer Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, completed in 1272. The story, soon published by Martini in the Additamentum to his Atlas of China, seemed to have convinced most Europeans scholars that China. On his way to Rome, Martini met his then 10-year-old cousin Eusebio Kino who later became another famed Jesuit missionary explorer, in the spring of 1655 Martini reached Rome. There, in Rome, was the most difficult part of his journey and he had brought along a long and detailed communication from the Jesuit missionaries in China, in defence of their inculturated missionary and religious approach, the so-called Chinese Rites. Discussions and debates took place for five months, at the end of which the Propaganda Fide issued a decree in favour of the Jesuits, a battle was won, but the controversy did not abate. In 1658, after a most difficult journey, he was back in China with the favourable decree
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Wenzhou
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Wenzhou is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Zhejiang province in the Peoples Republic of China. Wenzhou is located at the south east of Zhejiang Province with its borders connecting to Lishui on the west, Taizhou on the north. It is surrounded by mountains, the East China Sea, and 436 islands, while its lowlands are almost entirely along its East China Sea coast, most of Wenzhous area is mountainous as almost 76 percent of its 11, 784-square-kilometre surface area is classified as mountains and hills. It is said that Wenzhou has 7/10 mountains, 1/10 water, Wenzhou, which translates to a mild and pleasant land, derives its name from its climate, as it is neither extremely hot in summer nor extremely cold in the winter. Originally known as Yongjia, Yung-chia or Yungkia, Wenzhou was a prosperous treaty port. Wenzhou people make up a number of ethnic Chinese residents of Italy, France. Wenzhou has a history which goes back to about 2500 BC, when it became known for its production as one of the cities of origin of celadon in ancient China. Around 760AD in Tang Dynasty, the founding emperor Emperor Gaozu of Tang named Yongkia by its current name Wenzhou because of its mild weather, throughout its history, Wenzhous traditional economic role has been as a port giving access to the mountainous interior of southern Zhejiang Province. In early European sources, the name Wenzhou-Fu or -Foo was often transcribed Ouen-tcheou-fou after the accounts of French-speaking missionaries, in 1876, Wenzhou was opened for tea exports, but no foreign settlement was ever established there. Between 1937 and 1942, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, Wenzhou achieved importance as one of the few ports still under Chinese control and it declined in the later years of the war, but began to recover after coastal trade along the Zhejiang coast was re-established in 1955. When Guo Pu climbed to the top of West Guo Mountain in Wenzhou, he saw the range of mountains of Wenzhou together shaped as dipper and the city itself aside from mountains shaped as key. Therefore, Wenzhou is now nicknamed as the dipper city based on the popular geographical saying of the city mountains as dipper. Legends have it that during the time when Wenzhou was being established and developed, today, the Deer City District is the name of downtown Wenzhou and White Deer theater located at downtown is the most popular theater among the locals. Wenzhou is the city in China designed by the founder of Fengshui philosophical system Guo Pu. Nowadays, the local Wenzhounese people usually see Guo Pu as the architect, in 2003, the local Wenzhou government built and put up a statue of Guo Pu in downtown Wenzhou. Being the only city in China and the world designed by the pioneer of Fengshui, Wenzhou is usually considered as the city in China with the best Feng Shui condition. Other cities in China that are considered to possess excellent Fengshui nature are Beijing, Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Kunming, Hengyang. However, none of these cities is designed entirely on the basis of philosophy of Fengshui or designed by the father of Fengshui Guo Pu, moreover, Wenzhou has an enormous cultural impact and influence on the history of China
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