Claiming Converts: Journey to the East The Jesuit Mission to China, 1579-1724

Abstract

Most people find few aspects of Jesuit history more fascinating than the mission of the Jesuits to China. Matteo Ricci, invariably depicted wearing Mandarin dress, has assumed legendary status as a precocious herald of cultural accommodation. He was succeeded by such other Jesuits of heroic stature as Johann Adam Schall von Bell and Ferdinand Verbiest, both of whom became directors of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau in Peking.