Rites Controversy Research Articles

Dictionaries as authorities? The problematic use of Chinese dictionaries by missionaries in the Rites Controversy

ABSTRACT In the seventeenth century, missionaries in China translated a vast array of Chinese works, including classics, official histories, and legal documents. Their translations have been analysed through several perspectives, yet their use of Chinese dictionaries has been largely overlooked. In the context of the Rites Controversy, between the Jesuits on one side and the Dominican and Franciscan friars on the other, precise references to authoritative Chinese dictionaries were made to corroborate their interpretation of Chinese rituals as either religious or secular. This article first describes why and how missionaries started from the early beginning of the mission in the 1580s to write their own bilingual dictionaries based on existing Western and Chinese dictionaries. Then, it considers how the same dictionaries became an important reference when the Rites Controversy erupted in the 1630s. Based on manuscript and printed documents written until 1670, three Chinese characters which became the focus of competing interpretations are discussed: miao as temple versus hall, ji as sacrifice versus offering, and sheng as prophet versus wise man. Besides the problem of biased translations on both sides, we shall show that there was a more fundamental reason which prevented the missionaries from settling their controversy using dictionaries.

The Five Human Relationships (wulun 五倫) as presented to European readers in François Noël’s translation of the Elementary learning (Xiaoxue 小學)

ABSTRACT This paper provides a preliminary examination of François Noël’s (1651–1729) translation of Zhu Xi 朱熹’s (1130–1200) Elementary learning (Xiaoxue 小學, 1187), which was included in Sinensis Imperii Libri Classici Sex (Six Classics of the Chinese Empire, 1711). In particular, by taking the chapter about the Five Human Relationships (wulun 五倫), “Quintuplex humanae conditionis ordo,” as case study, the paper will demonstrate how Noël’s writing agenda differed from that of his predecessors, with his translation acting as a systematically construed tribute to the sapientia sinica in the background of the Rites Controversy.

Modern Enlightenment in China from the Chinese-Western Rites Controversy

The Sino-Western Rites Controversy was a controversy sparked by the missionaries during their missionary work in China. The focus of the controversy is whether Chinese customs such as ancestor worship, Confucius worship and heavenly worship are contrary to the principles of the Catholic belief, and whether a policy of tolerance should be adopted in view of the special circumstances of Chinese customs. They argued fiercely and defended for their own positions, but in the end they failed to find a way to reconcile, as a result, both sides refused to compromise. The rite controversy between China and western countries was a prelude to the fusion of Chinese and western culture. At that time, China was still able to debate with them as an equal party and made corresponding moves to prohibit missionary work. After the Opium War, China lost the conditions for exercising its free will, and was simply carried along by the world trends. On the surface, the ritual controversy was a clash of religions and customs between two different civilizations, and impacts was limited to missionaries and Chinese believers, but it actually reflected deeper cultural issues. Chinese culture is a complete system independent of other cultures, with its own logic of operation, and when it meets with western culture, Chinese culture still maintains its traditional patterns, with a very distinctive cultural characteristic. Hidden behind the rites controversy is a broader conflict of cultural modes of thinking, and it is these irreconcilable factors that led to the obstruction of Chinese enlightenment. Therefore, this article will study the deeper structure of Chinese and Western way of thinking from the face of this rites controversy, and the inspiration brought by the collision of the two cultures, by which China's future path of enlightenment may be get inspired.

Propagating the Rosary in the Early Qing—A Case Study of del Rosario’s Comprehensive Manuscript

Studies on the Rosary in the late Ming and early Qing usually focus on works written by Jesuits and mostly stem from an artistic aspect. This article, however, shifts the focus to The True Peace of Humankind, a manuscript written by the Dominican missionary Arcadio del Rosario in the seventeenth century, the first comprehensive book on the Rosary in Chinese. It first summarizes the early-stage propagation of the Rosary in China by the Jesuits and then examines the structure and content of The True Peace of Humankind. It is noteworthy that the manuscript repeatedly uses an analogy with flowers to highlight Mary’s intercession. Dating back to the Catholic tradition in Europe, the propagation of the Rosary through analogy with flowers resembles the propagation of reciting Buddhist prayers in Chinese society. This article applies contextual studies to explore two main questions: how is del Rosario’s manuscript different from the previous texts on the Rosary written by the Jesuits? What is the significance of the manuscript in the context of the Chinese Rites Controversy?

Naples, China and the Cosmos: The Theology of an Eighteenth-Century Chinese Priest

This paper examines the correspondence of Li Zibiao (1760–1826), a Chinese Catholic priest trained in Naples who worked as a missionary in North China. Whereas existing studies of Chinese theology mainly focus on contextualisation, Li responded to persecution by thinking in global terms and de-emphasising differences between Europe and China. Using developments in casuistry and the moral theology associated with Alphonso de Liguori he was able to avoid the strictures of the Chinese Rites Controversy. His story enriches the history of indigenous clergy in China and suggests some of the roots of China's resilient rural Catholicism.

Not about religion: A reinterpretation of the Chinese rites controversy

As one of the most significant events in the history of Sino-Western interaction and that of Chinese Christianity, the “Chinese Rites Controversy” has been the subject of numerous studies from both Western and Chinese scholars since the 1980s. When interpreting the rites issue of the Controversy, most studies see the crux of it as the “religious” nature of the Confucian rites. In contrast to this dominant understanding, this article argues that both the uncritical repetition of “religious” in the modern interpretations of the Controversy and its tacitly approved validity presuppose a universal and timeless conception of “religion.” Through a method of historicisation, i.e., examining carefully in what sense “religious” and related terms such as “civil,” “political,” “superstitious,” and “yinsi,” etc. were used in the original texts of the Controversy, this article intends to show that the use of “religious” by modern authors constitutes, though to a great extent unconsciously, a hermeneutical anachronism. The root of this anachronism lies in that the use “religious” as a generic adjective defining a distinct sphere of human enterprise that can be differentiated from those “non-religious” ones is a modern invention, and could find its place in neither encompassing Christian truth nor the tianxia order, nor even the fusion of these two horizons manifested in the awareness of literati Catholics, all of which defined the context in which the rites issue was debated during the Controversy.

Rethinking Ricci’s Missionary Strategy: The Disputes between Buglio and Schall

During the late Ming Dynasty period, the Jesuits carried out a cultural accommodation strategy in China, commonly known as Ricci’s Strategy, due to the significant role played by Matteo Ricci (1552–1610) during this process. This strategy encompassed three elements: evangelizing through science and technology, establishing connections with the upper class, and compiling books to spread evangelism, all of which helped Catholicism to be promoted in China and be accepted by the Chinese people collectively. But the strategy also drew a lot of opposition within and outside of the Society of Jesus, some of which even led to the Rites Controversy. The extant literature primarily focuses on the conflicts that arose between the Society of Jesus and other religious orders, as well as the divergent viewpoints within the Society itself, like Niccolò Longobardo (1559–1654)’s well-documented anti-Riccian position. However, this approach largely ignored the disputes that arose within the Jesuit community in Beijing during the 17th century, mainly involving Ludovico Buglio (1606–1682) and Adam Schall (1592–1666) as two key figures on opposing sides. These disputes primarily centered around three points: the inclusion of superstitious elements in the calendar, the identities of the Jesuits in Early Qing, and the approach to inculturating theology. Although these historical events offered new perspectives and materials for the study of Ricci’s Strategy, they have received limited scholarly attention. This paper focuses on the disputes between Buglio and Schall, analyzing how Matteo Ricci’s Strategy was investigated during that time.

Jesuit Mission and Submission: Qing Rulership and the Fate of Christianity in China, 1644–1735 by Litian Swen

Spanning the years from the Manchu invasion of China to the 1724 prohibition of Christianity by the Yongzhen emperor, this book explains the rise and decline of the missionary enterprise by focusing on the relationship between the Qing ruling class and European Jesuits. Rejecting Gernet’s cultural incompatibility model, Swen focuses on the Manchu institution of booi (household).1 Consisting of masters, servants, and slaves, the Manchu household functioned as a state within a state after the conquest of China. The informal power structure and intimacy between master and bondservant/slave (booi aha) operated alongside and within the Chinese bureaucracy; even powerful ministers from booi status identified themselves first and foremost as nu cai (servant) to their masters, rather than as officials to their emperors. Elaborated during the early years of conquest to integrate war captives and surrendered Ming troops, the booi system was central to the creation of the Han military banners. The banner elites, conversant in both the languages and culture of the Manchu and Han Chinese worlds, became preeminent during the reigns of Shunzi, who took a consort from the Han banners, and Kangxi, his son, whose mother came from the eminent Tong, the most powerful clan of the Han banners.The Jesuits became booi aha when Gabriel Magalhães and Ludovico Buglio, reluctant members of Zhang Xianzong’s rebel army, became war captives of the Manchu, eventually passing into the household of the Tong and released in Beijing. The Jesuits were introduced to the imperial court through Kangxi’s maternal uncles, who were benefactors and sympathizers with Christianity. When they were placed under the Imperial Household Department, they entered the intimate power circle of the booi aha. They helped the fifteen-year-old emperor stage a successful palace coup against the powerful regent Oboi, earning his trust. Three generations of Jesuits would loyally serve Kangxi as military engineers, scientists, and diplomats; the emperor rewarded them with protection and patronage, making his reign a golden age for the Christian mission in China.This situation changed in 1722 when the fourth son of Kangxi ascended the throne in the midst of a succession struggle. A devout Buddhist and meditation master in his youth, Yongzhen refused to acknowledge the Jesuits as his booi aha, removing them from the Imperial Household Department and effectively denying them access to the center of power. Religious differences aside, the Jesuits had failed to cultivate ties to Yongzhen when he was still a prince, instead focusing their attention on two other rival princely pretenders who were purged and persecuted in the new regime. The Jesuit João Mourão, a confidant of the Ninth Prince and a bitter rival of Yongzhen, was sentenced to exile and death; other Jesuits incurred imperial wrath because of their close association with the Sounu family, prominent Manchu elites who had supported Yongzhen’s rivals.This story of historical contingency is constructed on the basis of an impressive knowledge of Chinese and Western sources, and a thorough command of scholarship in two fields—Qing history and the history of Christianity—that often fail to cross-fertilize. Most importantly, Swen has provided logical and satisfactory explanations of the key events affecting the Christian mission in the transition from the Ming to the Qing—the prominence and fall of Adam Schall (a German Jesuit astronomer) and the political background of the Calendar Case; Kangxi’s connections to the Jesuits; the politics of the Chinese Rites Controversy and the papal envoys; the issuance of the imperial certificate for missionaries; and, finally, the fall from grace under Yongzhen. Indeed, the story of the Jesuits at court is reminiscent of the rise and fall of the eminent Han banner Cao family, and the masterpiece written by Cao Xueqin, one of its descendants, The Dream of the Red Chamber, a novel with hundreds of characters—masters, servants, officials, and clerics—narrating the transience of earthly success.

From ‘Sacrificing to Ancestors’ (jizu) to ‘Reverencing Ancestors’ (jingzu): Bread of Life Christianity's Cultural Negotiation between Christianity and Confucianism for a Hybrid Identity

Among many issues associated with religious negotiation and intercultural ministry and mission in the history of Christianity in China, the most important issue involves the Chinese rite of offering sacrifice to ancestors. This issue has been closely connected to the process of the Sinicisation of Christianity in all Pan-Chinese societies, including the Greater China and Chinese diasporic communities worldwide. This paper first reviews key historical elements of the Chinese Rites Controversy (1645–1941) on ‘Sacrificing to Ancestors’ ( jizu), and then considers some details of the ‘Three Rites’ of ‘Reverencing Ancestors’ ( jingzu) as a historical development within the Bread of Life Christian Church (BOLCC, Ling Liang Tang) in Taipei and the Bread of Life Global Apostolic Network (BGAN) of nearly 600 local churches on all continents as of 2020. Through this case study, the paper argues that the BOLCC, an independent Christian church established in 1942 and a contemporary Sinophone-based Christian movement, could expand quickly by applying its intercultural ‘Ling Liang Rule’ to continue the successful culture-accommodating ‘Matteo Ricci Rule’ among the Pan-Chinese (Chinese descendants in China and beyond) by providing an ‘in-between space’ negotiating for Christianity and Confucianism to satisfy their believers’ ‘hybrid identity’. Through the Christianised Reverencing Ancestors Rites to hybridise the Confucian Sacrificing to Ancestors Rites, Bread of Life Sinophone Christians in many places of the world can simultaneously affirm their cultural ‘hybrid identity’ as both Christian and Sinophone through core cultural interactions between Christianity and Confucianism in filial piety ( xiao).

Horace H. Underwood and the Shinto Shrine Rites Controversy in Colonial Korea

For the western missionaries the Shinto shrine rites controversy in colonial Korea was a theological crucible. As the Japanese government began forcing mission schools to attend the Shinto shrine ceremonies, American missionaries from the Presbyterian Church in the USA were divided between “fundamentalists” and “liberals” fighting a fierce theological battle over the nature of and participation in the Shinto shrine rites. Horace H. Underwood, President of Chosen Christian College in Seoul, was a leader of the “liberal minority” party. The “fundamentalist majority” held that the Shinto shrine ceremonies were religious acts and hence bowing during a Shinto ceremony violated the First Commandment. Underwood was uncomfortable with many religious elements in the Shinto rituals, but nevertheless believed that mere attendance and a bow did not constitute either participation in the ritual or worship of the enshrined beings. He thought that the conservative leaders were dictating other people's conscience.

Public Discourse and Private Sentiment: Ritual Controversies, Ritual Authority, and Political Succession in Ming and Chosŏn

In this article I explore the issue of ritual authority in the Ming and Chosŏn through a comparison of the Great Rites Controversy and the Injo Rites Dispute which occurred a century later. I argue that Ming Taizu created an alternative source of ritual authority predicated on natural emotions through his changing of the national mourning code. By utilizing this source of ritual authority, Shizong and his allies undermined the ritual authority of the classical texts and Neo-Confucian commentaries cited by their opponents and in doing so not only won the conflict but also increased the ritual authority of the emperor vis-à-vis the bureaucracy. In Chosŏn, on the other hand, both sides argued along Song Neo-Confucian lines and rejected Ming ritual authority. Nonetheless, the lack of an alternate source of ritual authority that King Injo could rely upon led him to turn to the Ming for support in a calculated political move to end the dispute in his favor.

“The Ancient Rites of China”: Yan Mo on Ancestral Rites during the Chinese Rites Controversy

Abstract One of the key issues during the Chinese Rites Controversy was Chinese ancestral rites. Deeming ancestral rites idolatrous, mendicant missionaries advocated banning them; the Jesuits accommodated ancestral rites under certain conditions. The defense provided by the Jesuits focused on the ancestral rites being civil and political, and therefore not idolatrous. This article examines the views of Yan Mo 嚴謨 a lower-level Confucian Catholic literatus. Yan’s defense of the ancestral rites differs from the Jesuits in that Yan focused on the intrinsic value of ancestral rites as cultural practices, which he called “ancient rites of China.” Yan consulted Confucian canons and pointed out that performing the ancestral rites is an act of filial piety that, in the context of Chinese culture, is so embedded in the Chinese culture that the rites cannot be substituted by Christian practices such as praying the rosary or giving alms.

Franciscan Minorite Monks in China from the “Great Religious Incident” to the Cultural Revolution

The article is an attempt to systematize the preaching of the Franciscan order in China, starting with the Papal embassies to the Great Khans who conquered the Middle Empire and founded the Yuan dynasty until the end of the 20th century. The author groups the information into several major periods, suggesting a five-stage periodization of the Franciscan presence in the Far East. A change in the preaching paradigm is noted during the 700 centuries of the fickle Minorites’ presence in China. While the first reconnaissance missions, achieving modest success in preaching to non-Chinese subjects of the Mongol emperors, were mainly diplomatic in nature, in modern times the mission, enjoying the support of the Spanish Padroado system, is purposefully concentrated on preaching work, especially among the poor segments of the population. The culmination of all European Catholic missionary enterprise in China, the famous ‘Rites Controversy’, which split the Christian orders in the Celestial Empire, is examined in connection with the role played by the representatives of the Franciscan Order in this dramatic conflict. The author concludes that the Controversy hit, as a result, all Chinese Catholic missions – the Franciscans no less than their main opponents, the Jesuits, eventually leading to persecution, repression and expulsion of missionaries. Attempts of new penetration of Catholic Christianity into the PRC are resumed only after the end of the Cultural Revolution in the second half of the 20th century. The article is a continuation of the piece by the same author, focusing on theoretical foundations of the Franciscan proselytization, published earlier.

The Concept of the Soul During the Chinese Rites Controversy: The Example of Xia Dachang

The Concept of the Soul During the Chinese Rites Controversy: The Example of Xia Dachang

The Conflicts Among Religious Orders of Christianity in China During the 17th and 18th Centuries

Introduction. The article studies the conflicts between the Spanish Mendicant Orders (Dominican Order, Franciscan Order, etc.) as well as the Society of Foreign Missions of Paris with Portuguese Society of Jesus, which took place during the 17th and 18th centuries in China. Methods and materials. To study this issue, the author used the original historical materials recorded by Western missionaries working in China during the 17th and 18th centuries and research works by Chinese and international scholars related to the Chinese Rites Controversy as well as the process of introduction and development of Christianity in this country during the 17th and 18th centuries. The author combines two main research methods of History Science (historical and logical methods) with other research methods (systemic approach, analysis, synthesis, comparison, etc.) to complete the study of this issue. Analysis. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the struggle for faith of the peoples in the Far East, especially China, became the desirable goal of religious orders of Christianity. Therefore, during this period, Western missionaries belonging to various religious orders of Christianity, such as the Society of Jesus, Mendicant Orders, Society of Foreign Missions of Paris, etc., gradually entered this country. In the course of evangelization, the struggle for influence as well as the right to manage missionary affairs in China at that time created conflicts among Christian religious orders. It is manifested in the form of a debate about Chinese rituals. In fact, these conflicts not only caused great losses to the missionary career of contemporary Christian religious orders taking place in China but also made the relationship between China’s ruling authorities and The Holy See became very tense. Results. Based on the study of the conflicts among religious orders of Christianity in China during the 17th and 18th centuries, the article clarifies characteristics, the root and direct causes leading to this phenomenon, making a certain contribution to the study of the relationship among religious orders in the process of introduction and development of Christianity in China in particular and the history of East-West cultural exchange in this country in general in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Matteo Ricci’s Legacy for Comparative Theology

AbstractMatteo Ricci is widely recognized as the pioneering figure in East‐West dialogue, but his theology is rarely discussed in its own right. This article offers a first reading of Ricci as a serious theologian who brings Thomas Aquinas into conversation with classical Confucian texts. I demonstrate how the Riccian legacy presents a potential alternative to the two dominant methods in comparative theology: the Lockean language of toleration (which tends to devalue distinctiveness) and the multiculturalist emphasis on difference (which tends to downplay commonality). By attending to how Ricci rewrites Stoic ethics on contingency and fortune, and invents “intellect” and “will” as moral categories in China, this article locates his achievement at the theological juncture of a Thomist‐Ignatian synthesis. What results is a generous account of “pagan” virtue, an overcoming of the dichotomy between infused and acquired virtue predominant in post‐Reformation Europe, and a new conception of chief theological and cardinal virtues. Cut short by the Chinese Rites Controversy, Ricci’s legacy is yet to be recognized as a vital contribution to perennial debates in Christian theology.

Prussia against Rome, 1724–1742: Mathurin Veyssière La Crozeʼs and Giuseppe Simone Assemaniʼs Mediterraneist views on the Nestorians in India*

In 1740 the Roman Church – through its major expert on Oriental languages and regions, Giuseppe Simone Assemani – was censoring Mathurin Veyssière La Croze’s Histoire du Christianisme des Indes, his second work on Christians between the Mediterranean and Ethiopia. This article puts censorship of this book into a global political context: first, of the competition of European powers between Catholics and Protestants (Prussia, France, and Rome) and, second, of the entanglements of the Dutch, Portuguese, Danish, and German merchants, colonizers, and missionaries with Eastern Christianity and non-Christian cultures between the Mediterranean and India. Third, the censorship proves to have happened at a time when Rome wanted to resolve definitively the Malabar rites controversy. Conservative Christian-Mediterraneanist hermeneutics to perceive the global religious situation can be revealed, opposed to a Pietist scheme of four world religions coexisting.

滿洲皇帝, 西洋人 그리고 漢人 ― 敎皇 特使 중국 방문(1705)에 대한 康熙帝의 대처를 중심으로 ―

This article examines the Kangxi emperor’s response to the Rites Controversy during his late reign.<BR> From the late 1690s to 1710s, while the emperor was struggling to consolidate the Qing rule over the Han world, he encountered a severe challenge, i.e., some Xiyang people’s denial of seminal Chinese rites. Moreover, in 1707, the Xiyang legate Charles-Thomas Maillard de Tournon proclaimed a full-scale ban on those Chinese rites in Nanjing, the symbolic place for the Han tradition. What did a series of challenges mean to the Manchu ruler?<BR> Noticing some subtle changes among the Xiyang people, in fact, Xuanye had already kept his eye on Xiyang affairs through his diverse intelligence channels since the end of 1700. And in July of 1705, reported about the papal legate’s sudden visit to the Qing Empire, the emperor immediately decided to wage a ‘battle’ with the legate. During that ‘battle’, however, Xuanye’s primary concern lay more on the Han constituents of its empire than the Xiyang people. Much conscious of the Han elite, the emperor, for example, controlled the legate’s attire on the way through China Proper, the Han world, and let his imperial orders be delivered only in Manchu and be carried out by only a small circle of his close people.<BR> Despite diverse efforts, the Rites Controversy continued unsolved. Moreover, from August 1706, the Kangxi emperor began to recognise that the Rites Controversy issue had already been disturbing the Han elite across the provinces. Therefore, the emperor launched secret investigations throughout the empire. Simultaneously, he suspended his imperial mission to Rome, which had already left for Rome, and arrested Luigi Antonio Appiani on his way to the southern provinces. In the end, the emperor announced the imperial judgement on the Rites Controversy and decided his sixth Southern Tour to Jiangnan, the Han centre.<BR> In early April 1707, however, the emperor became more shocked after knowing that Tournon had recently proclaimed the full-scale ban on the Chinese Rites at Nanjing. From then on, his response became more active and swift. Privately, he wrote a series of imperial letters to Xiyang missionaries. Publicly, in Nanjing, where de Tournon’s ban had been proclaimed lately, the Manchu emperor as well proclaimed an imperial edict, in which he notably portrayed himself as the guardian of Chinese culture. At the same time, he removed the ‘uncontrollable, heterodox’ elements from the Han elite’s sight by expelling Tournon and those who refused to accept the permit.

The Influence of Tianxue (Heavenly Learning) on Chinese Thought in the Seventeenth Century

In the history of ideas in 17th-century China, the “heavenly learning” (tianxue) introduced by Western missionaries, in particularly the Jesuits, was a factor to be reckoned with. Without doubt it provided a fresh input to the development of post-Wang Yangming philosophy and the incubation of new insights in late Ming Neo-Confucianism, and this influence continued until the early Qing dynasty. However, while natural sciences and practical technologies (such as artillery and water conservancy) were well-received as part of the “heavenly learning,” other parts such as the “learning on the principle,” i.e., tenets of the Christian faith, conflicted with Confucianism. Due to the repercussions of the Chinese Rites Controversy in the late years of the Kangxi reign (r. 1661–1722), the public activities of missionaries in China were restricted. And when the Qing imperial court was in the process of compiling the Siku quanshu (Complete Library in Four Branches of Literature), those parts of “heavenly learning” dealing with the Christian faith were screened. To a certain degree this prevented later generations from gaining a proper overview of “heavenly learning.” Another factor that negatively impacted the study of the relationship between “heavenly learning” and Chinese traditional thought in the 17th century was that Christianity in modern China was closely associated with the invasion of imperialism in modern times. But how did the Confucianism from the late Ming to the early Qing period treat “heavenly learning”? This article summarizes the various attitudes of some Confucian scholars towards “heavenly learning” in hope of inciting further academic discussions.

ПОТЕРЯННЫЙ В ПЕРЕВОДЕ: МАТТЕО РИПА И ЕГО РОЛЬ В СПОРЕ О КИТАЙСКИХ РИТУАЛАХ

The activity of the Catholic missionary Matteo Ripa is placed here in the context of the Chinese rites controversy (CRC), a religious dispute regarding Christian tolerance of Chinese ancestral worship rituals. I trace the distortions in the literature by analyzing three versions of Ripa’s memoirs entitled Giornale. Contrary to a widespread view, Ripa was neither a Jesuit nor a professional artist. Ripa took an active part in the CRC and opposed the members of the Jesuit Order. Ripa’s memoirs, written upon his return from China, have become a truly real weapon in the struggle between Catholic organizations. The Jesuits prepared the first publication of Ripa’s Giornale (1832) that started shaping the image of Ripa. The editors removed all criticisms of the Jesuit activity in China. Additional distortions arise from the simplified and accessible English-language edition of Giornale (1844) that introduces Ripa as a traveling artist. I study the discrepancies between the versions of Giornale to conclude that misrepresentations of Ripa activity and position are related to his role in the CRC. Suggestion is drawn that the main reason for the distorted image of Matteo Ripa in academic literature was not Jesuit’s desire to change the text and the Ripa’s role in the CRC, as the interest of readers in a shortened and more exciting version of the Giornale of 1844. And the well-publicized activities of the Jesuits in the East contributed to the association of Ripa with this order.