Chapter 10 Section 4 The Controversy of Chinese Etiquette

In the 16th and 17th centuries, when Portuguese and Spanish missionaries preached along the coast of China, they required Chinese believers to adopt Western names and accept Western living habits when they were baptized. Western missionaries have been unable to gain a foothold in the interior for a long time.After Matteo Ricci entered China, he tried his best to reconcile the contradiction between Christian teachings and traditional Chinese customs in order to reduce the resistance of missionary work.He cited the concepts of Zhongtian and God in the Confucian classics as the basis for the existence of the supreme god of Christianity, and he was tolerant of traditional rituals and social customs such as worshiping heaven, worshiping Confucius, and worshiping ancestors, thus achieving results.These methods of conforming to Chinese customs are expedient measures that benefit missionaries, but some missionaries in China still oppose them.For example, Matteo Ricci's successor, Long Huamin, opposed this policy of Sinicization of Catholicism from the very beginning. After he succeeded the president, he prohibited believers from worshiping Confucius and calling God "Heaven" or "God". From December 1627 to January 1628, the Jesuit priests in China held a meeting in Jiading presided over by Yang Manuo. Although they could not reach a consensus on the issue of the translation of the name of God, they did not agree on the traditional Chinese customs such as worshiping Confucius and worshiping ancestors. , it is considered inappropriate to interfere.Tang Ruowang did not attend the meeting, but he agreed with the opinion of the majority, making Catholicism as suitable as possible for Chinese people's life.Among the Jesuit priests in China, Min Mingwo, Wei Kuanguo, Gao Yizhi, Xu Risheng, Zhang Cheng, etc. supported Matteo Ricci, and Pang Diwo, Li Leisi, Fu Fanji, etc. supported Long Huamin.At that time, the religious influence of Spain, France and other countries had not yet penetrated into China, and the Holy See also had no intention of interfering because the Eastern Diocese was in the founding stage, and the missionary method was free for priests to decide. Therefore, although there were differences of opinion among the Jesuits in China, they had not A heated argument ensued.

After 1630, Spanish Dominican and Franciscan missionaries came to Fujian from the Philippines to preach.In order to fight against the Portuguese forces and seize control of missions to China, they lashed out at the worship of Confucius by the Jesuits.Based on the reports of Spanish missionaries, the Archbishop of Manila appealed to Pope Urban VIII in 1635 to pay attention to the excessive tolerance of the Jesuits in China to Chinese idolatry and superstition, but later he withdrew his original appeal. In 1643, Li Yufan, a Dominican missionary, made a special trip to the Ministry of Propaganda of the Holy See, and filed 17 accusations against the Chinese Jesuit Mission, provoking a controversy in the Holy See.In order to break Portugal's monopoly on Chinese missions, the Holy See's Congregation for Propaganda appointed Li Yufan and Franciscan Li Antang as pastors of Chinese missions outside Portugal in the same year.Two years later, Pope Innocent X approved the accusation of the Dominicans and prohibited Chinese believers from worshiping Confucius.After the Jesuit priests in China heard the news, the special mission was in Wei Kuanguo in Brussels to Rome to report to the Pope on religious affairs and clarify issues of etiquette.In 1654, Wei Kuangguo proposed to the Ministry of the Holy See regarding etiquette, requesting that ancestor worship rituals should be separated from folk superstition activities, explaining that according to the reality in China, worshiping ancestors is just a matter of respecting the dead as living beings, rather than treating the dead as gods , and therefore not idolatry.It is also proposed that the etiquette of offering sacrifices to Confucius as a folk etiquette for respecting teachers has become a social custom of intellectuals.Worshiping Confucius and worshiping ancestors is purely a matter of the Chinese cultural system and has no religious nature.After more than five months of debate, the Jesuits finally won in Rome. In 1656, Pope Alexander VII re-ruled, agreeing with the missionary policy of the Jesuits in China, and approved Wei Kuangguo's proposal, and issued "According to the facts described, believers are free to participate in Chinese rituals without prejudice to their fundamental beliefs." " instruction.

The Dominicans were extremely dissatisfied with this decision, and Cleric Paulango questioned the Congregation for the Holy See to answer whether the 1645 ban was still valid. In November 1669, Pope Clement IX approved the third directive issued by the Ministry of the Holy Order, declaring that the two directives of 1645 and 1656 are valid, the specific circumstances are for the missionaries to judge themselves, and the case is referred to the heretics The Tribunal continues to deliberate.Although both sides of the debate still go their own way, the missionary policy of the Jesuits since Matteo Ricci has actually been approved by the Holy See.After the incident of the Qin Tianjian teaching case, missionaries in China from the Jesuits, Dominicans, and Franciscans gathered in Guangzhou and discussed it for more than a month. On January 26, 1668, they made a resolution of 42 items, which included " In compliance with the terms of the 1656 Act, all participants signed and approved.On the issue of etiquette, the Franciscans, the Augustinians and the Jesuits held the same views, but the Spanish Dominican priest Navarrete fled to Macau and returned to Spain. In 1676, he published the first volume of "On Chinese History, Politics and Religion" in Madrid, publicly criticizing the missionary policy of the Jesuits in China, focusing on issues related to etiquette.A second volume was published three years later, which intensified the debate on Chinese etiquette.

In 1658, the Holy See implemented it in China, appointing the priest established five years ago as the apostolic vicar, and actively supported the French missionary forces to enter China. In 1684, Lu Fangji, Apostolic Vicar of Southern China, entered Fujian and announced that missionaries, church members, and missionaries in China must take an oath of obedience to the Vicar.Portugal and Spain forbade their missionaries to take an oath to him, and France only allowed its missionaries to take an oath to a French bishop. In 1688, the Portuguese government announced that all missionaries from various countries who went to the East to preach must start from Lisbon and swore to obey the Portuguese guardianship. In 1690, in order to ease the conflict with Portugal, the Holy See agreed with Portugal to set up the dioceses of Macao, Nanjing and Beijing under its patronage power, and had the right to determine the scope of the dioceses.Portugal put all the provinces of China under the three dioceses, so that the bishops sent by the Holy See to China had no place to step in. In 1696, the Holy See announced the reduction of the scope of the Portuguese diocese, in Jiangxi (the scope of the missionary mission of the Augustinians in Spain), Huguang, Shaanxi (the missionary scope of the Franciscans in Italy), Fujian, Sichuan, and Yunnan (the missionary scope of the Foreign Missions in Paris, France). Missionary scope), Guizhou (Jesus Society missionary scope in France), Shanxi (Jesuit Chinese Missionary Society missionary scope), and Zhejiang (Dominican Missionary Missionary scope in Spain) set up eight vicariate areas under the direct jurisdiction of the Holy See. will manage.These vicarious pastoral areas exist only in Fujian, Sichuan, and Shaanxi provinces.The contention between the Holy See and Western countries over the leadership and sphere of influence of the Chinese missionary areas further intensified and complicated the debate on Chinese etiquette. In 1693, Lu Fangji's successor Yan Dangdang (that is, Mei Gelao) issued a pastoral letter in Fujian, prohibiting the use of the two titles "Heaven" and "God" and forbidding believers to worship Confucius and ancestors. The dictates of toleration are not conscientiously obeyed.He then fired two more Jesuit priests, prompting opposition from the Jesuit congregation.Yan Dang sent two priests to Rome to ask the Holy See to reconsider the 1656 directive. In 1697, Pope Innocent XII referred the case to the Inquisition.At the same time, after returning to China in 1692, the French Jesuit priest Li Ming wrote "A New Record of China's Status Quo" and "On Chinese Etiquette", introducing Confucianism and criticizing the Western ignorance of Eastern culture, which caused a debate in the French church. Large-scale debate on issues of Chinese etiquette.At this time, opinions against the missionary policy of the Jesuits in China gradually gained a dominant position within the French Church. In 1700, Archbishop Noailles of Paris and the Sorbonne Seminary incited public opinion to condemn the missionary policy of the Jesuit Society to China, and Li Ming's works were also criticized and banned from publication.

After 1700, the debate on Chinese etiquette developed into a direct conflict between the Pope and the Qing emperor. In 1699, Jesuit priests Xu Risheng, Min Mingwo, An Duo, Zhang Cheng and others asked Kangxi to teach the true understanding of Chinese etiquette.Kangxi issued an instruction on November 30, 1700: "Respecting heaven, respecting the ruler and relatives, and respecting teachers and elders is the common meaning of the world. This is irreversible." Relying on the ruling of the emperor outside the church is pure deviant. In 1701, Pope Clement XI appointed Patriarch Duro of Antioch as a special envoy to China to deal with disputes between missionaries on Chinese etiquette issues, and expanded the vicar system in China, further breaking Portugal's stigma in China. Monopoly of missionary power. In 1704, the Pope issued seven prohibitions, the main points of which were (1) not to call God "Heaven" or "God"; (4) It is not allowed to keep tablets with spiritual tablets or gods at home. In the winter of 1705, Duo Luo arrived in Beijing with the order of the Holy See. Although he did not submit the appointment letter of the Holy See, he was summoned three times by Kangxi and treated him with courtesy.Later, when Kangxi learned that the Pope wanted the Chinese government to obey the Holy See's ban, he severely reprimanded Yan Dang and others for "making unreasonable and unreasonable discussions" and "lightly discussing the right and wrong of Chinese principles."He also pointed out that "recently there are many people from the West", and it is necessary to "set a rule" and "order those who come later to abide by the law" and not to interfere in China's internal affairs. In 1706, Kangxi sent officials to escort Duoluo to Nanjing, where he was secretly monitored.After Duoluo arrived in Nanjing, he learned that Kangxi had issued a decree, stipulating that missionaries must hold a stamp of the imperial court's permission to preach and obey Chinese etiquette before they could preach in China. Publish the summary of the Pope's ban in an official letter to missionaries in China, prohibit the use of the titles of "Heaven" and "God", and prohibit offering sacrifices to Confucius and worshiping ancestors. On March 17, Kangxi reiterated to Meng Youyi and other nine priests in Suzhou, "From now on, if you don't follow Matteo Ricci's rules, you will definitely not be allowed to live in China, and you will be expelled back."Anyone who respects Chinese laws and etiquette and customs can receive a stamp from the Ministry of Internal Affairs to allow them to preach and live legally in China "just like Chinese people".And sent the Jesuit missionary Ai Joseph to Rome to negotiate.After Doro’s official letter was issued, the missionaries of Paris Foreign Missions, most of the Dominican priests, and a small number of Franciscan priests in China obeyed the ban and refused to receive missionary stamps, and were all expelled from the country.Jesuit priests, some Franciscan priests, and Augustinian priests are willing to abide by Chinese laws and receive missionary stamps; they appealed to the Holy See for the Doro ban and stated the reasons for its non-execution.Due to his refusal to hand in the appointment certificate of the Holy See in Guangzhou, Duoluo was escorted to Macau and handed over to the governor of Macau.The Portuguese suspected Doro's identity as a messenger and put him under house arrest. In May 1710, Doro died of illness under house arrest.

In 1710, Pope Clement XI reiterated the ban on Dorothy, and Beijing Jesuit priests wrote to the Holy See, requesting that the order be withdrawn temporarily for further review.After reconsideration, Rome promulgated the encyclical "The Day of the Enthronement" in 1715, announcing that missionaries should not raise the issue of Chinese etiquette again, and ordered missionaries in China to take an oath to abide by the previous order.After the ban spread to Guangdong in August of the following year, most priests had no choice but to abide by it.Kangxi believed that this was interference in China's internal affairs, and on April 16, 1717, he decreed that the Ministry of Rites prohibited Catholicism from preaching in China. In 1720, Pope Clement XI sent Patriarch Gallo of Alexandria as a special envoy to China via Lisbon in an attempt to persuade Kangxi to accept the Pope's ban and continue to allow Western missionaries to preach in China.When Kangxi met with him, he severely refuted the contradiction between the pope's ban and "China's Dali", pointing out: "Er Westerners don't understand the meaning of Chinese words, how can they make false comments on the right and wrong of Chinese principles?" The Pope's ban "can only prohibit Westerners from People, the Chinese are not forbidden by the Pope."He also instructed: "In the future, there is no need for Westerners to teach in China. It is possible to prohibit it, so as to avoid trouble." Jiale's mission failed, and he left Beijing in 1721. Non-religious Chinese etiquette can be practiced on the premise of not violating the spirit of the prohibition.But the dioceses and religious orders are still discussing and arguing endlessly. In 1742, Pope Benedict XIV promulgated the Encyclical "From the Will of God", reaffirming the 1715 prohibition, abolishing the "eight permits", and making obedience to this prohibition a condition for joining the Church.So far, the century-long dispute over Chinese etiquette among Catholics has been subsided, but Catholics have also lost the political conditions to legally preach in China.

At the beginning of Yongzheng's accession to the throne, some people accused Dominican priests of building churches in Fujian. The governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, Man Bao, said, "Please reset all the Westerners from all provinces except those who were sent to Beijing to serve in Macao. Anyone who strays into his teaching will be strictly prohibited."Yongzheng issued an order in 1724, restricting missionaries from all provinces to leave the country within six months.More than 50 priests from various provinces, including 37 Jesuit priests, were expelled together with five bishops. In August 1732, the 35 priests gathered in Guangzhou were also exiled to Macao by the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi.There are 20 priests in Qintianjian, headed by supervisor Dai Jinxian and deputy supervisor Xu Maode, who will continue to serve, but they are not allowed to preach.Yongzheng summoned three priests, Feng Bingzheng, Ba Doming, and Fei Yin, and said, "Catholics only know you. Once something happens on the border, the people will obey your orders. Although there is no need to worry about this now, there will be tens of thousands of battles." Ships come to our shores, and disaster will be serious", expressing that it is impossible to make all Chinese people believers and obey the Pope. In 1725, Yongzheng said to the Pope’s envoy who came to congratulate him, “All religions in the world are based on persuasion of goodness, but there is no one who is good at teaching Confucianism”, publicly expressing his rejection of Catholicism.

Soon the Sunu case occurred.The clan Sunu's family believed in religion, and they offended Yongzheng for helping Kangxi's eighth son Yunhu (si 4) in the succession of the throne.His sons, Leshiheng and Urku, were convicted of protecting Kangxi's ninth son, Yunyu (tang Tang), and accompanied Yunyu and Yunyu to Xining, accompanied by Portuguese Jesuit priest Mu Jingyuan.Leshiheng and Urku were preaching in Xining, but were recalled to Beijing by Yongzheng and taken into custody, implicating Sunu and Mu Jingyuan. In 1726, Portugal sent an envoy Medello to China to rescue Mu Jingyuan and presented a generous gift to Yongzheng.At this time, Mu Jingyuan had already died of poisoning.Yongzheng returned generous gifts, and sent the censor Chang to protect and send Mai Dele to Macau.The domestic ban on religion is still vigorous and vigorous, and the churches only retain the South Hall, East Hall, North Hall in Beijing and the West Hall built for the Ministry of Communication during Yongzheng.Missionaries from various countries sneaked into the interior to preach in secret only with the support of their own governments.

The missionary activities of the Catholic Church have always been controlled by Western missionaries, and the ban of the Holy See runs counter to the traditional Chinese etiquette and customs, and the career of intellectuals, so the missionary career soon fell into a desperate situation.During the Qianlong period, the Qing government continued to search and arrest missionaries who secretly entered the interior many times. In 1747, Fuzhou executed a Dominican bishop.The following year, two Jesuit priests were hanged in Suzhou.Nanjing, Hubei, and Sichuan imprisoned priests one after another. In 1785, four Franciscan missionaries sneaked into the mainland and were arrested in Huguang.Then, missionaries from Sichuan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Shandong, Jiangxi, Guangxi and other provinces were either arrested or surrendered, and were escorted to Beijing one after another. Eighteen Western missionaries were finally released with leniency.But in Beijing, there were always priests serving the court.Qin Tianjian has Dai Jinxian, Xu Maode, Liu Songling, Bao Youguan, Gao Shensi, Suo Deqi.Lang Shining painted in the inner court, Lin Ji each repaired clocks and watches, Luo Huaizhong acted as a pharmacist, and An Tai was an imperial physician.There are also 11 Jesuit priests in the South Church and East Church, and 11 French Jesuit priests in the North Church.

On July 21, 1773, Pope Clement XIV officially ordered the banning of the Society of Jesus. Two years later, the order was transmitted to China, and the Society of Jesus in China was declared disbanded. In April 1785, three priests sent by the Holy See's Ministry of Propaganda arrived in Beijing and took over the mission of the Jesuits in Beitang.The Jesuits, which had been preaching in China for 200 years, officially withdrew from the stage of Chinese history, and the missionary activities of Catholicism fell into a trough.According to statistics in 1810, the number of Catholics in the country dropped to 215,000.Before 1840, the church's educational affairs were mainly presided over by 80 Chinese priests, and the grassroots churches were all managed by upper-level church members. There were only 30 foreign missionaries who secretly entered the mainland.Christianity has entered China four times in history, and in the history of the spread of Christianity, there has never been a country that has had to repeat so many times and restart missions.Also, start completely from scratch for at least the first three restarts.Only the fourth mission to China can draw on the foundation laid before.The fourth missionary activity to China mentioned here is the large-scale missionary activity carried out by various sects with the help of colonial power since the 19th century, starting with the entry of Protestantism into China.

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