Displacing Jesuit Science in Qing China

UM > Faculty of Science and Technology > DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING

Residential College	false
Status	已發表Published
	Displacing Jesuit Science in Qing China
	Wu, H.; Statman, A.; Mario, C.
	2018-04-01
Source Publication	East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine
ISSN	1562-918X
Pages	15-23
Abstract	‘East meets West’ or ‘China meets Europe’: such formulations have long been used in titles of books, lectures and exhibitions concerning the Jesuit mission in Ming-Qing China.1 These are convenient catchphrases, and the historical sentiment they often express—that the Jesuits went beyond the ‘Self’ and engaged in dialogue with the ‘Other’—retains all its relevance today.2 But it is also important to be aware of the assumptions that underpin this framework and to reflect on the limitations it represents. Much has been written with the assumption that ‘China’ and ‘Europe’ can be construed as civilizations, mentalities, or cultural traditions that have clear-cut boundaries and definable core features; that they developed in mutual ignorance until the Jesuits brought them into ‘encounter’ or ‘confrontation’; and that the history of that event illustrates the features that China and Europe are assumed to possess. This historiographical approach can be productive, but it can also lead to the essentialization of China and Europe, writing out the inner complexity of both entities and obliterating historical factors that cannot be easily categorized as pertaining to the one or the other. It can also lead to the misconception that ‘China’ and ‘Europe’ are coterminous with ‘East’ and ‘West’, thus eliding the existence of other civilizations between them. The three articles gathered in this Focus of East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine constitute a coordinated attempt to address these issues through a deliberate displacement of our narrative foci.
Keyword	Jesuit science early modern times Qing China
Language	英語English
The Source to Article	PB_Publication
PUB ID	29603
Document Type	Journal article
Collection	DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
Recommended Citation GB/T 7714	Wu, H.,Statman, A.,Mario, C.. Displacing Jesuit Science in Qing China[J]. East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine, 2018, 15-23.
APA	Wu, H.., Statman, A.., & Mario, C. (2018). Displacing Jesuit Science in Qing China. East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine, 15-23.
MLA	Wu, H.,et al."Displacing Jesuit Science in Qing China".East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine (2018):15-23.

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