Person1552 – 1610

Matteo Ricci

Also called: Li Madou

Italian Jesuit missionary who entered Beijing in 1601 and introduced Western geography and Catholic teaching in Chinese through his world map and The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven

Born at Macerata in the Papal States, he studied law in Rome before joining the Jesuits in 1571, and learned mathematics and astronomy from Clavius at the Roman College. He sailed for Goa in 1578, reached Macau in 1582 and the next year settled at Zhaoqing with Michele Ruggieri. Moving on through Shaozhou, Nanchang and Nanjing and befriending scholar-officials, he entered Beijing in 1601. When he died in 1610 the Wanli Emperor granted a burial plot outside the city, making him the first foreigner buried in Beijing.

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1601 – 1610Matteo Ricci and Western Learningleader
The Jesuit Matteo Ricci entered Beijing in 1601 and, through his world map and The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven, introduced Western geography, science and Catholicism in Chinese. Carried home by envoys, these works reached Korea as “Western Learning” (Seohak).

People who appear alongside

Xu Guangqi1562 – 1633
Late Ming scholar-official and Catholic convert who translated Euclid with Matteo Ricci, compiled the Complete Treatise on Agriculture and led the Western-style Chongzhen calendar project
Wanli Emperor (Shenzong of Ming)1563 – 1620
Ming emperor (r. 1572–1620) who, after Zhang Juzheng’s death, long refused to hold court; the “three great campaigns” including the Korean war and the defeat at Sarhu drained the dynasty

Themes this person appears in

Ming, Qing and Edo Japan1500 – 1800
The age when the Ming, shaken by northern raiders, southern pirates and the silver economy, fell to Li Zicheng’s rebels, and the Manchu Qing reached its greatest extent and prosperity under Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong — as Japan was unified out of the Warring States into the Edo shogunate’s bakuhan order and closed country, and Joseon, after two great wars, met its neighbours through embassies to Edo and the Northern Learning