The Role of Chinese Family in the Spread of Christianity in the Seventeenth-Century China. The Xu Family of Shanghai as an Example

Piotr Adamek

Department of Religious Studies, Fu Jen Catholic University (Taiwan), No. 510號, Zhongzheng Rd, Xinzhuang District, New Taipei City, Taiwan 242
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2759-7858


Abstract

Chinese family played a fundamental role in the spreading of Christianity in China during the Late Ming and Early Qing dynasty (17 century). The contact of the first Jesuit missionaries with Chinese people was usually limited to men, as e.g. Confucian scholars. Some of them, however, converted their families after they became Catholic. These families were a very important basis for the missionary work: they supported missionaries, organized the religious life of the Chinese Church, and evangelized their neighbors. Without Chinese families the Chinese mission would be virtually impossible. A historical review of the role of Chinese family in the spread of Christianity in China in 17th Century will be presented on the example of the Xu Family from Shanghai. The eminent Confucian scholar Xu Guangqi could – after his conversion to Christianity – convert also his whole family. This conversion helped not only to establish Catholic Church in Shanghai but was also crucial in the process of maintaining Christianity as a “family religion.” Based on published sources, the impact of Xu family on the Catholic Church in China will be analyzed and discussed.




Cronin Vincent, 1955, The Wise Man from the West: Matteo Ricci and his Mission to China, Rupert Hart-Davis, London.   Google Scholar

Couplet Philippe, 1688, Histoire d'une dame chrétienne de la Chine, Michallet, Paris.   Google Scholar

Dunne George H., 2010, Generation of giants: The story of the Jesuits in China in the last decades of the Ming Dynasty, Kessinger Publishing, Whitefish.   Google Scholar

Hummel Arthur W. (ed.), 1964, Eminent Chinese of the Qing Period, United States Government Printing Office, Washington.   Google Scholar

Jami Catherine et al. (ed.), 2001, Statecraft and Intellectual Renewal in Late Ming China. The Cross-Cultural Synthesis of Xu Guangqi (1562-1633), Brill, Leiden.
Crossref   Google Scholar

Kajdański Edward, 1999, Michał Boym – Ambasador Państwa Środka, Książka i Wiedza, Warszawa.   Google Scholar

Kang Zhijie, 2019, They Are Brilliant Lilies: Special Characteristics of the Work of Chinese Catholic Virgins, in: Piotr Adamek, Sonja Huang Mei Ting, The contribution of Chinese women to the Church: Proceedings of the conference “I have called you by name”, September 25–26, 2014, Sankt Augustin (Germany), p. 119-143.   Google Scholar

King Gail, 1998, Candida Xu and the Growth of Christianity in China in the Seventeenth Century, Monumenta Serica Vol. 46: 49–66.
Crossref   Google Scholar

King Gail, 2019, Candida Xu (1607–1680), Chinese Christian woman of faith, in: Piotr Adamek, Sonja Huang Mei Ting, The contribution of Chinese women to the Church: Proceedings of the conference “I have called you by name,” September 25–26, 2014, Sankt Augustin (Germany), p. 31-45.   Google Scholar

King Gail, 2021, “A Model for All Christian Women”. Candida Xu, a Chinese Christian Woman of the Seventeenth Century, Routledge, Abingdon.
Crossref   Google Scholar

Latourette Kenneth Scott,1929, A history of Christian missions in China, The Macmillan Company, New York.
Crossref   Google Scholar

Malek Roman (ed.), 1998, Western Learning and Christianity in China. The Contribution and Impact of Johann Adam Schall von Bell, S.J. (1592–1666), Monumenta Serica, Sankt Augustin.   Google Scholar

Malek,Roman, and Peter L. Hofrichter (ed.), 2006, The Church of the East in China and Central Asia, Monumenta Serica, Sankt Augustin.   Google Scholar

Pan Mary, 2010, Das Guangqi-Sozialzentrum der Diözese Shanghai, China heute, No. 1 (165), p. 45-47.   Google Scholar

Rougemont François de, 1999, Missionary in Ch’ang-Shu (Chiang-Nan): A Study of the Account Book (1674–1676) and the Elogium, Leuven University Press, Leuven.   Google Scholar

Shi Xijuan, 2015, Christian Scholar Xu Guangqi and the Spread of Catholicism in Shanghai, Asian Culture and History, Vol. 7, No. 1, p. 199-209.
Crossref   Google Scholar

Sievernich Michael, 2012, Der Gelehrte und Staatsmann Xu Guangqi (1562–1633) und die Chinamission der Jesuiten, China heute, No. 2 (174), 111-118.   Google Scholar

Standaert Nicolas (ed.), 2001, Handbook of Christianity in China, Vol. I: 635–1800, Brill, Leiden-Boston-Köln.
Crossref   Google Scholar

Wu Hsin-fang, 2018, Commemorating Xu Guangqi in 19th- and 20th Century Shanghai, Monumenta Serica, Vol. 66, No. 2, p. 437-464.
Crossref   Google Scholar

Zhang Qiong, 2019, Nadine Amsler. Jesuits and Matriarchs: Domestic Worship in Early Modern China (Book Review), Journal of Jesuit Studies, No. 6, 719-724.
Crossref   Google Scholar

Download


Published
2022-12-31

Cited by

Adamek, P. (2022). The Role of Chinese Family in the Spread of Christianity in the Seventeenth-Century China. The Xu Family of Shanghai as an Example. Studia Warmińskie, 59, 261–270. https://doi.org/10.31648/sw.8332

Piotr Adamek 
Department of Religious Studies, Fu Jen Catholic University (Taiwan), No. 510號, Zhongzheng Rd, Xinzhuang District, New Taipei City, Taiwan 242
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2759-7858