The Evangelical Aim in the History of the Great and Mighty Kingdom of China by Juan González de Mendoza, a 16th Century European Work on China

Abstract

For over five centuries, the History of the Great and Mighty Kingdom of China, written by Spanish missionary Juan González de Mendoza and published in 1585 in Rome, has captured the interest of the international academic community. However, scholarship has primarily focused on Mendoza’s depiction of China as rich and powerful, potentially overlooking the evangelical purpose of his narrative and failing to explain the correlation between the positive Chinese image and the author’s evangelical intention. This study aims to clarify the image of China presented by the Spanish author through a detailed textual analysis, concluding that Mendoza portrayed China as a rich and great nation that also had misguided beliefs and was open to evangelization. The Spanish author’s identity as an Augustinian preacher and ambassador of King Philip II of Spain to the Ming dynasty of China, as well as the global and evangelistic social context in which he lived, significantly influenced his perceptions of China. Furthermore, his hybrid profile of China was accepted in Europe at the time and became a collective memory because it embodied the spiritual context shared by the European community in the 16th century. This spiritual purpose was achieved through the idealized imagination, which serves as an affective medium in the formation of collective memory.