Reflections on the Introduction of Western Education into Late Ming China

Title

Reflections on the Introduction of Western Education into Late Ming China

Author

Kuang-Tai Hsu

Page

77-104

DOI

Abstract

The transmission of western learning in late Ming by Jesuits included Christian doctrines, natural philosophy, astronomy, and mathematics, as well as western education, which captured the attention of some historians of Chinese education. They think it stimulated an enlightenment in 17th century Chinese educational thought. In this paper, the author provides a different interpretation and reflection on this topic. Jesuits received a very different education from that of Chinese literati. By and large, they followed the medieval tradition of university education with the training in scholastic method. One had to finish the liberal arts education curriculum, which in- cluded Aristotelian moral philosophy, metaphysics, natural philosophy, etc., before ad- vancing to the higher faculty of theology. In his General Account of Western Learning, Aleni not only gave a general account of western learning and education, at the end of this work, he also proposed a plan for the informal education of Chinese theologians by means of selecting and translating books from Europe. As a matter of fact, the transmis- sion of western education seemed not to make any direct impact on Chinese education in Late Ming, with the exception that it raised Xu Guangqi’s praise and admiration of west- ern mathematical education, because it offered the whys and wherefores.

Keyword

Late Ming, western education, Matteo Ricci, Julio Aleni, General Account of Western Learning, Xu Guangqi

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