作者：施惠淳 Shield, Bernard J.
SHIUHING 1583: MATTEO RICCI 'S ACCOUNT OF WHAT HAPPENED
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
Matteo Ricci (利玛窦) arrived in Macao on the 7th August, 1582. He crossed into China and on 10th September, 1583 reached the city of Shiuhing in Guangdong Province, there founding the first Catholic mission in China in modern times. The fourth centenary of that momentous event is now being celebrated in several countries and in a variety of ways.
The present article attempts to offer a modest tribute to this great religious and cultural bridge-builder who has been hailed as "one of the most remarkable and brilliant men in history"(1) and whose influence continues down to today, sometimes in unlikely places.
Ricci's own writings are not easily available, at least in English. His monumental work on the entry of Christianity into China(2) was completed shortly before his death in Peking in 1610. However, his own Italian text was not published but instead was translated into Latin by a Belgian confrere called Nicolas Trigault. Trigault's Latin version appeared in many printings and translations in various parts of Europe in the early 17th century.(3) As a translation, however, it is seriously defective, taking great liberties with Ricci's text and making substantial additions and subtractions without alerting the reader.(4)
Unfortunately when it was decided in the 1950 's to make a belated English version of Ricci's work(5), this was done from Trigault's Latin rather than from Ricci's own Italian text, even though Ricci's original had by then been finally published.(6)
If there is any truth in Buffon's much-quoted maxim that "Style is the man"(7), then to sample some of Ricci's distinctive style of writing directly from his own words should throw some light on the character and motivation of the man. It is with this hope that the following translation is offered, based directly on D’ Elia's edition and giving Ricci's first-hand account of how he and his confreres tried to communicate the Christian message to the Chinese people. Following D'Elia I have inserted the Chinese characters where relevant and also added some numbered notes to supply necessary information or clarification at certain points of the text.(8)
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On the Entry into China of the Society of Jesus and of the Christian Religion
Book II, Chapter 4: "The Fathers Gradually Begin to Speak with the Chinese about the Holy Christian Religion"(9)
245
At this early stage, so as not to make people suspicious of something so new as this, the Fathers were not keen on preaching very clearly about our holy law but in the time remaining to them after receiving visitors they empoyed themselves instead in learning well their spoken and written language and polite customs, in winning over the goodwill of the Chinese and in influencing them with the example of a good life towards what they could not do by language nor time permit.One thing with which all the Chinese showed themselves very pleased was the fact that the Fathers together with all the members of their household dressed like the more respected people of this country, their dress being modest and long, with long sleeves also, not very different from our own.(10) The house had two rooms on either side with a sort of living-room in the middle. This the Fathers arranged as a chapel with an altar in the centre where they placed the picture of Our Lady with the Child in her arms.
246
Since there is no name in the Chinese language which corresponds to the name "God" nor can even "Dio" be properly pronounced in Chinese, there not being the letter "D",(11) they began to call God T' ien Chu (天主), which means "The Lord of Heaven", as He is called up to now throughout China as well as in The Teaching of the Christian Religion (天主紧要) (12) and the other books which they wrote .(13)And this fits in very well with our purpose, since the Chinese adore Heaven as the supreme deity (which some people think of as the material heaven), using the same name as we have given to God, and so it is stated clearly how much greater is our God than what they take to be the supreme deity, since God is the Lord of Heaven. For this reason they call Our Lady by another name which means Lady Holy Mother of God (天主圣母娘娘).(14)
247
This picture of Our Lady and her Son which we placed on the altar all the mandarins and other literati, the ordinary people and likewise their pagan priests,(15) who came to visit the Fathers, all adored, bowing and touching the forehead to the floor with much respect, and they were in admiration of the artistic qualities of our painting.It is true that shortly afterwards they put in place of Our Lady another painting of the Saviour, since the Fathers said that we must adore only one God, and when the Chinese saw the picture of Our Lady on the altar, it not being possible so soon to explain the mystery of the Incarnation, they became a little confused and- many of them spread the report elsewhere that the God whom we adored was a woman.
248
And since many people also came to ask questions about the doctrine from the Fathers, having doubts (and with good reason) about their own religion, the Fathers put the Ten Commandments of the Decalogue (祖传天主十诫) into Chinese characters and had them printed. They then distributed them to many people who asked for them and who said that they wanted to practise them because they saw that they were in such conformity with reason and the natural law.
249
Many people also began to make presents of incense to incense the altar and to give alms to the Fathers for their sustenance and for oil for the lamp which was kept buring before the altar. And it would have been easy to obtain from the mandarins some income from the land around their temples; but it seemed to the Fathers that it would be better not to accept this income so as not to become dependent on the mandarins, as the pagan priests are. In this way also they acquired the reputation of not furthering their own interests. And so all the mandarins wanted to make contacts with them, being sure that they had nothing to ask from them, unlike all those who deal with them and are constantly making demands on them.
250
With this way of communicating, more by actions than by words, the good fragrance of our law came to be spread through all of China. And even though many came only out of curiosity to see something new, still they always brought away something to help towards their conversion at home, or something which they heard the Fathers say, either through an interpreter(16) or by means of what they were learning of the Chinese language, about the good customs found in the Christian kingdoms, the falseness of idol-worshipping, the conformity of the law of God with the light of natural reason and what their first sages taught in their books.
251
The first person to become a Christian in China was a poor man with an incurable disease, given up by the doctors and who was therefore thrown out of his house by his relatives into a field because they could not support him. And when the Fathers learnt of this, they asked him if he wanted to be a Christian and so save his soul, seeing that he could not save his body. And when he saw that none of his own people took care of him any more and that some among the foreigners visited him, it seemed to him that this assistance had come from heaven and he replied that he would accept our law very willingly indeed, since he considered that if it taught people to do such works of charity, it could not but be true. So they got the servants of the house to make a small hut for him in a clean place and they sent him every day from our house everything he needed, and at the same time they instructed him in our Holy Faith, until he seemed to be sufficiently instructed, when they gave him holy baptism, and he died some days later. Since God willed that this great work should begin from the smallest beginnings possible and in order that this work should be more meritorious, God permitted that it should be badly interpreted by the Chinese. They could not convince themselves that anyone in the world could succeed in doing such a difficult work as this without any self-interest and spread the report throughout the city that the Fathers knew that that man had a precious stone inside his head and that they wanted to take care of him so as to extract the stone from his head after his death.
252
The Fathers－and consequently the Christian religion－always acquired no little reputation in China because of the many books about our sciences and the laws of our kingdoms. Some of these volumes were large, such as the canonical texts, and others were worked in gold and very well bound. Although they could not read nor understand what they contained, still from the external magnificence and the fineness of the printing they convinced themselves that those books must deal with important things, seeing that such account was made of them in our kingdom; and that in the matter of books our country was ahead, not only of all the other nations known to China, but even of China itself which they thought up to then was superior in letters to all the kingdoms of the world. In addition they saw that the Fathers always had some good scholar of Chinese literature in the house and that they studied with great diligence by day and night, studying the written language, and for this purpose had bought many of their books and also filled the whole study-room with them. And so they came to understand both that letters and the sciences are highly esteemed in our country and also that in their own country the Fathers were scholars also in their sciences, which is the only thing in which nobility consists in China, as we have explained. Hence, on comparing our priests with those of their religion, in whom ignorance reigns, they easily thought how much better based on reason is the law which Ours profess than what was taught by their pagan priests.
253
And since the literati wished to know something more than was said about our law in the printed Commandments, with the help of a scholar who was in the house(17) the Fathers arranged a Catechism (天主实录) in this script, in which were refuted some points from the religions of China and the main heads of the Holy Faith were explained, especially those which could be more easily understood with the light of natural reason. All the more important citizens were very happy and satisfied with this, and especially the Governor, Wang P' an (王泮).
Ours gave away many hundreds and thousands of copies of this, so that the name of the Christian law, never heard of or known to the Chinese, was spread more rapidly and to more distant places. This was because the books reached places where the Fathers could not and our message is rather better explained in this kingdom by the written than by the spoken word, because of the great power which their characters possess.
254
There is a custom that the important magistrates, when they wish to pay some great honour to someone, send to him with great solemnity and celebrations a wooden tablet in a frame on which they write and engrave two or three rather large and meaningful characters in praise of that person. And to one side is written the title and name of the magistrate and to the other side the year in which it was made, which in this country is usually the year of enthronement of the king(18) then reigning. And wishing to pay this compliment to the Fathers because of the good opinion he had of htem sna so that the people would have more respect for them, the Governor of the city and protector of the Fathers sent two of these tablets to them. One was to be placed over the door of the house, which was also the door of the chapel, and it said, translated into our language: "The Chapel of the Flower of the Saints" (僊花寺); the other was to be placed in the hall and said: "Those who have come from the Holy Land of the West" (西来净土).(19) When these tablets were set up in their places, it gave great credit to the Fathers in the eyes of all sorts of people who passed through that street and who entered the house and saw how much they were esteemed by that mandarin, who not only had a great reputation in this province because of his position and learning, but also because of his virtue and reputation for good government.(20)
1)Joseph Needham, Science and Civilization in China, Cambridge, vol. 1, 2nd edition, 1961, p. 148; quoted by F.A. Rouleau, S.J., "Ricci, Matteo", New Catholic Encyclopedia, New York, 1967, vol. 12, p. 471.
2)Della Entrata della Compagnia di Giesu e Christianita nella Cina. After a comprehensive account of China and the Chinese, the work describes the step by step progress of Ricci and his companions from Macao to Peking. P.M. D' Elia (see Note 6, below) examines the historical value of this work, in Fonti Ricciane, I, pp. c1xxxvi－c1xxxvii.
3)Nicolas Trigault, S. J., De Christiana expeditione apud Sinas suscepta ab Societate Jesu ex P. Matthaei Ricci ejusdem Societatis Commentariis Libri V, auctore P. Nicolao Trigautio, Belga, Augsburg, 1615, with four subsequent Latin editions in 1616, 1617, 1623 and 1648. It appeared in French (1616), in German (1617), in Spanish (1621) and even in Italian (1621), but in English only in excerpts until 1953.
4)See, e.g. the comments of George Dunne, S. J., quoting D. Bartoli and D' Elia, in Generation of Giants: The Story of the Jesuits in China in the Last Decades of the Ming Dynasty, Notre Dame/London, 1962, pp. 175-176.
5)Louis J. Gallagher, S. J., China in the Sixteenth Century: The Journals of Matthew Ricci: 1583-1610. New York, 1953.
6)Matteo Ricci, S. J., Fonti Ricciane: Storia dell'Introduzione del Cristianesimo in Cina. ed. Pasquale M. D' Elia, S. J., 3 vols., Rome, 1942-1949. There is now a French translation: G. Bessiere, Histoire de l' expedition chretienne au royaume de la China 1582-1610, Paris, 1978. I have heard that an English translation was made in the U.S.A. in the 1950's but never published. It is greatly to be hoped that the present centenary celebrations will provide the stimulus for both an English and a Chinese translation of D' Elia's text.
7)"Le style est l' homme meme", Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon (1707-1788), Discours sur le style.
8)The translator acknowledges his indebtedness to Father Sergio Ticozzi, PIME, for his assistance in interpreting more than a few places in Ricci's Italian text.
9)D' Elia dates the events of this chapter to the period between October 1583 and November 1584 when Ricci had established himself at Shiuhing (肇庆; sometimes written "Chao Ch 'ing" or “Zhaoqing”). This city on the West River is about fifty miles west of the Province capital Canton (Guangzhou).
10)At this early stage Ricci wore the robe of a Buddhist bonze(和尚).
11)“Dio” is the name for God in Italian. Ricci presumably means that the sound “D”, rather than the letter "D", does not exist in Chinese. In fact there is a "D" sound in both Mandarin and Cantonese, but the quality differs from the Italian "D" as found in the word "Dio''.
12)D' Elia, Fonti Ricciane, I, p. 193, points out that in this work, written for Chinese Catholics, Ricci uses exclusively the term天主.
13)In his important apologetic work T' ien Chu Shih I(天主实义) Ricci uses four different terms for God: 天主，上帝，天主上帝，天上帝，cf. D' Eiia, ibid. An English translation of this book is expected later this year.
14)D' Elia says that this Chinese title for Our Lady－or at least the Niang Niang part of it－was borrowed from the pagans. It was used briefly by the Catholics at Shiuhing before being abandoned.
15)"their pagan priests": Ricci's expression is: "i ministri de' loro idoli''.
16)Ricci's Chinese interpreter in Shiuhing appears to have been a young Chinese known by the name Filippo Mendes.
17)A native of Fukien Province, this man was married and had gained the degree of bachelor (秀才) in the imperial examinations. He asked to be instructed in the Catholic faith in 1584 and was baptized by Father Cabral on the 21st November of that year, taking the name of Paul. He later helped to convert the members of his family and some of his fellow mandarins in Peking.
18)"king": Ricci strangely uses here the term "re" rather than the word for "emperor".
19)Both of these expressions have a Taoist and Buddhist flavour about them. The term Ricci interprets as "Saints" probably refers to the Taoist "Immortals", while the word here translated as "chapel" is the ordinary term, even today, for a Buddhist monastery. "The Holy Land" is more literally "the Pure Land", which is also the name of one of the main Chinese Buddhist sects. Clearly Governor Wang thought of Ricci and his companions as some type of Buddhists or Taoists, and therefore chose expressions that he considered would appeal to them.
20)Finally, for further reading about Ricci, George Dunne gives a useful bibliography, Generation of Giants, pp. 371-379. Vincent Cronin is preparing a new edition of his very readable biography: The Wise Man from the West, London, 1955. A splendid Chinese translation has been made of this: 思果译，「西泰子来华记」，香港，公教真理学会，一九六四年。