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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 May 2025
The Chinese Rites Controversy (c.1643–1724) marked the most significant rupture in seventeenth- to eighteenth-century Sino-European relations. Fourteen Chinese Roman Catholics on the fringes of political and cultural circles, neither a part of the state authorities nor influential literati, defended the legitimacy of Chinese rites. Among them, Xia Dachang grounded his analysis on an exhaustive study of the Confucian ‘Book of Rites’ (Liji). This article, focusing on Xia’s treatises, proposes a novel approach to reassessing the Controversy by analysing the role of the human body in Neo-Confucianism. It aims to reveal previously overlooked yet essential aspects of the debates: the Neo-Confucian conception of the human ‘being’ and the interconnectivity between external physical presence and actions, and internal moral values.
1 Xia Dachang: Chinese name, 夏大常; Christian name, Mathias. He contributed three treatises to the defence of ancestral offering rites: ‘禮記祭禮泡製’ [‘Liji jili paozhi’; ‘Sacrificial Rites in the Book of Rites’]; ‘禮記祭制撮言’ [‘Liji jizhi cuoyan’; ‘Summary of the Book of Rites concerning Sacrificial Rites’]; and ‘禮儀問答’ [‘Liyi wenda’; ‘Catechism of Rites’], in Standaert, Nicolas and Dukink, Adrian, eds, 耶穌會羅馬檔案館明清天主教文獻 [Yesuhui luoma danganguan mingqing tianzhujiao wenxian; Chinese Christian Texts from the Roman Archives of the Society of Jesus], 12 vols (Taipei, 2002), 10: 79–104, 105–14, 115–44Google Scholar, respectively.
2 李天綱 [Tiangang, Li], 中國禮儀之爭—歷史. 文獻和意義 [Zhonguo liyi zhi zheng: lishi, wenxian and yiyi; The Chinese Rites Controversy: History, Documents and Meaning] (Shanghai, 1998), 1–389 Google Scholar; 黃一農 [Huang, Yi-nong], 兩頭蛇: 明末清初的第一代天主教徒 [Liangtou she: Mingmo Qingchu de diyidai Tianzhujiaotu; Two-headed Snakes: The First Generation of Chinese Catholics in the Late Ming and Early Qing] (Xinzhu, 2005), 1–545 Google Scholar; 吳莉葦 [Liwei, Wu], 中國禮儀之爭—文明的張力與權力的較量 [Zhongguo Liyi Zhi Zheng: wenming de zhangli yu quanli de jiaoliang; The Chinese Rites Controversy: Tension in Culture and Struggle in Power] (Shanghai, 2007), 1–135 Google Scholar; Standaert, Nicolas, Chinese Voices in the Rites Controversy: Travelling Books, Community Networks, Intercultural Arguments, ed. Oberholzer, Paul (Rome, 2012), 1–473 Google Scholar; R. Po-chia Hsia, ‘Chinese Voices in the Rites Controversy: From China to Rome’, and Standaert, Nicolas, ‘Chinese Voices in the Rites Controversy: The Role of Christian Communities’, in Županov, Ines G., ed., The Rites Controversies in the Early Modern World (Leiden, 2018), 29–49 and 50–67Google Scholar, respectively.
3 ‘朱夫子集大成, 而緒千百年絕傳之學, 開愚蒙而立億萬世一定之規.’ 康熙 [Xi, Kang], 御纂朱子全書 [ Yuzhuan Zhuzi quanshu; The Imperial Edition of the Complete Writings of Master Zhu Xi ], in Xiaolan, Ji, ed., 景印文淵閣四庫全書 [Jingyin wenyuange siku quanshu; The Siku Imperial Library] 720–1 (Taipei, 1986), 720: 2Google Scholar.
4 ‘敦孝悌以重人倫’: ‘聖諭十六條’ [‘Sheng yu shi liu tiao’; ‘Emperor’s Moral Instructions, in Sixteen Articles’], 5; from Paris, BN, Department of Manuscripts, online at: <https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b9006137j/f11.item>, accessed 26 November 2024; ET: ‘Asia for Educators’, Columbia University, online at: <http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/ps/cup/qing_sacred_edict.pdf#page=1&zoom=auto,0,511>, accessed 28 January 2024.
5 ‘利瑪竇規矩’: 王伯多祿 [Wangbo Duolu], ‘京都總會長王伯多祿等十八人致外省各堂會長書’ [‘Jingdu Zonghuizhang Wangbo duo lu deng shiba ren zhi waisheng ge tanghuizhang shu’; ‘A Letter to the Fathers in Other Provinces written by Father Provincial Wangbo Duolu’], in Standaert and Dukink, eds, Chinese Christian Texts, 10: 508; ET: Pittman, Don Alvin, Toward a Modern Chinese Buddhism: Taixu’s Reforms (Honolulu, 2001), 35 Google Scholar.
6 ‘只可說得西洋等小人如何言得中國之大理。況西洋等人無一通漢書者, 說言議論, 令人可笑者多’: Chen, Yuan, ed., 康熙與羅馬使節關係文書影印本 [ Kangxi yu Luoma shijie quanxi wenshu; Facsimile of Documents on the Relationship Between Kangxi and Roman Envoys ] (Beijing, 1932), 41–2Google Scholar. The English translation is cited from Li’s, Dun Jen China in Transition, 1517–1911 (New York, 1969), 22 Google Scholar.
7 Reilly, Thomas H., The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom: Rebellion and the Blasphemy of Empire (Seattle, 2004), 43 Google Scholar.
8 Nicolas Standaert, ‘Chinese Voices in the Rites Controversy,’ 64. Hsia claims that Qiu Sheng earned the highest jinshi degree in the civil service examination, with four others holding lower degrees, but he provides no evidence. This claim is further called into question by Qiu’s unusual practice for an early-modern literatus: in his ‘述聞篇’ [‘Shuwen pian’; ‘On Recounting Heard Knowledge’], Qiu only cites Confucian classics once, specifically Mengzi, while defending Confucian rites. See Hsia, ‘Chinese Voices in the Rites Controversy,’ 31. According to M. Courant, the librarian at the National Library of France, Xia Dachang in fact held only the title of Xiucai, reflecting his achievement of the basic degree in the civil service examination: see Li Tiangang, The Chinese Rites Controversy, 228.
9 These texts are reprinted in Standaert and Dukink, eds, Chinese Christian Texts, 9: 1–50, 63–528; 10: 35–42, 79–144, 163–478; 11: 1–268, 279–96.
10 Yan Mo, ‘草稿’ [‘Caogao’; ‘The Drafts’] and ‘草稿抄白’ [‘Caogao chaobai’; ‘The Copy of the Draft’], in Standaert and Dukink, eds, Chinese Christian Texts, 10: 61–6 and 87–114, respectively, at 63–4 and 97.
11 Harold, George, Generation of Giants: The Story of the Jesuits in China in the Last Decades of the Ming Dynasty (Notre Dame, IN, 1962), 291 Google Scholar.
12 Ricci, Matteo, 耶穌會與天主教進入中國史 [Yesuhui yu Tianzhujiao jinru Zhongguo shi; The History of Jesuits and Catholicism in China], transl. Zheng, Wen (Beijing, 2014), 70 Google Scholar.
13 Harold, Generation of Giants, 295.
14 Gernet, Jacques, China and the Christian Impact: A Conflict of Culture (New York, 1985), 147 Google Scholar. See also Ricci, Matteo, 天主實義今注 [Tianzhu shiyi jinzhu; The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven] (Beijing, 2014), 125 Google Scholar.
15 Ricci, The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven, 115.
16 Gernet, China and the Christian Impact, 147.
17 Ricci, The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven, 123–4.
18 Ricci, The History of Jesuits and Catholicism in China, 71.
19 Hosne, Ana Carolina, The Jesuit Missions to China and Peru, 1570–1610: Expectations and Appraisals of Expansionism (New York, 2013), 86 Google Scholar. Examples include Juan Garcia (1605–65), ‘天主聖教入門問答’ [‘Tianzhu shengjiao rumen wen da’; ‘Catechism of the Holy Catholic Church’]; Francesco Saviero Filippucci (1632–92), ‘臨喪出殯儀式’ [‘Linsang chubin yishi’; ‘Rituals for Funeral and Burial’], and ‘喪葬儀式’ [‘Sangzang yishi’; ‘Funeral and Burial Rites’]; Ferdinand Verbiest (1623–88), ‘天主教喪禮問答’ [‘Tianzhujiao sangli wenda’; ‘Catechism of the Catholic Funeral Rites’]; and Giulio Aleni (1582–1649), ‘口鐸日鈔’ [‘Kouduo richao’; ‘Diary of Oral Admonitions’], and ‘性學觕述’ [‘Xingxue cushu’; ‘A Brief Account of the Study of Human Nature’], in Standaert and Dukink, eds, Chinese Christian Texts, 2: 385–518; 5: 439–66, 467–92, 493–508; 6: 45–378; 7: 1–594, respectively.
20 Filippucci, ‘Funeral and Burial Rites’, in Standaert and Dukink, eds, Chinese Christian Texts, 5: 473–4.
21 Aleni, ‘Diary of Oral Admonitions’, in Standaert and Dukink, eds, Chinese Christian Texts, 7: 469.
22 Noll, Ray Robert, ed., 100 Roman Documents Concerning the Chinese Rites Controversy (1645–1941), transl. St Sure, Donald F. and Malatesta, Edward (San Francisco, CA, 1992), 2Google Scholar.
23 Ibid. 2–3.
24 Ibid. 3–4.
25 李良爵 [Liangjue, Li], ‘辨祭參評’ [‘Bianji canping’; ‘A Commentary of the Debates of Sacrifices’], in Standaert, and Dukink, , eds, Chinese Christian Texts, 10: 363–438, at 369 Google Scholar.
26 Ibid. 376.
27 Ibid. 419–20.
28 Ibid. 397, 404.
29 Noll, ed., 100 Roman Documents, 8.
30 Ibid. 10.
31 Ibid.
32 Li, China in Transition, 22.
33 Xia’s ‘Catechism of Rites’ and another five of the twenty-eight treatises – 李九功 [Li Jiugong]’s ‘禮俗明辨’ [‘Lisu mingbian’; ‘Difference between Rites and Secular Customs’]; 嚴謨 [Yan Mo]’s ‘李師條問’ [‘Lishi tiaowen’; ‘Questions from Father Li’] and ‘草稿抄白’ [‘Caogao chaobai’; ‘Copy of the Draft’]; and those by two unknown authors, ‘禮儀答問’ [‘Liyi dawen’; ‘Catechism of Rites’] and ‘篘言’ [‘Chuyan’; ‘The Humble Opinions’] – were written to respond to questions about ancestral offering rites. Among these six writings, twenty-three common questions have similar wording and contents. Scholars point out that, according to the handwritten Portuguese annotations, ‘The Humble Opinions’ was most probably written at the request of Giandomenico Gabiani (Jesuit missionary, 1623–94). See Li Tiangang, The Chinese Rites Controversy, 146–7. The person ‘Lishi’ indicated in the title of ‘Lishi tiaowen’ [‘Questions from Father Li’] could be Simon Rodrigues (Jesuit missionary, 1645–1704): see ibid. 141; Liwei, The Chinese Rites Controversy, 74. In other words, it is reasonable to infer that Jesuit missionaries raised specific concerns about ancestral offering rites. Hence, Xia and other believers provided their responses in these six writings.
34 The estimated date of Xia’s writings is cited from Li Tiangang, The Chinese Rites Controversy, 228; Liwei, The Chinese Rites Controversy, 85.
35 Xia, ‘Sacrificial Rites in the Book of Rites’, 84.
36 Ibid. 88–9, 93–4, 100–1, 104.
37 If he cannot say for sure whether the deceased ancestors would be present during the ritual, how ‘could he believe that ancestors have the power to give blessings or disasters to their descendants?’: ibid. 83; Xia, ‘Catechism of Rites’, 136.
38 Xia, ‘Sacrificial Rites in the Book of Rites’, 97–9.
39 ‘賢者之祭也, 必受其福’ and ‘非世所謂福也。福者, 備也, 備者百順之名也。無所不順者之謂備, 言內盡于己, 外盡于道也’: ibid. 97. My translation of ‘Liji’ [‘Sacrificial Rites in the Book of Rites’] in this article is based on the translation made by James Legge and taken from Donald Sturgeon, ‘Chinese Text Project: A Dynamic Digital Library of Premodern Chinese’, online at: < https://ctext.org>, accessed 28 January 2024.
40 Xia, ‘Sacrificial Rites in the Book of Rites’, 98–9.
41 Ibid. 102.
42 ‘凡治人之道, 莫急于禮。禮有五經, 莫重于祭’: ibid. 94–5.
43 Ibid.
44 Ibid. 96.
45 Ibid. 94.
46 Ibid. 90.
47 Ibid. 93.
48 Xia, ‘Sacrificial Rites in the Book of Rites’, 85.
49 However, Xia did not offer a definition of the concept of po.
50 Xia, ‘贛州堂夏相公聖名瑪第亞回方老爺書’ [‘Ganzhoutang Xiaxianggong shengming Madiya hui fanglaoye shu’; ‘Letter from Xia of the Ganzhou Church, Saint Name Matthias, to Mr. Fang’] and ‘禮儀問答’ [‘Catechism of Rites’], in Standaert and Dukink, eds, Chinese Christian Texts, 10: 35–42, at 39; and 130. See also 邱晟 [Qiu Sheng], ‘述聞篇’ [‘Shuwen pian’; ‘On Recounting Heard Knowledge’]; and 李九功 [Li Jiugong], ‘證禮蒭議 (早期抄本)’ [‘Zhengli chuyi (zaoqi chaoben)’; ‘Treatise on Ancestral Rites (Early Manuscript)’], in Standaert and Dukink, eds, Chinese Christian Texts, 9: 63–90 and 10: 177–362, at 9: 74 and 10: 289–90.
51 朱熹 [Xi, Zhu], ‘四書或問’ [‘Sishu huowen’; ‘The Queries of the Four Books’], in Yiliang, Wang, ed., 朱子全書 [Zhuzi quan shu; Complete Writings of Master Zhu Xi], 27 vols (Shanghai and Hefei, 2010), 6: 3Google Scholar; 朱熹 [Xi, Zhu], ‘朱子語類’ [‘Zhuzi yulei’; ‘Thematic Discourses of Master Zhu Xi’], in Yiliang, , ed., Complete Writings of Master Zhu Xi, 14: 154 Google Scholar.
52 Xi, Zhu, ‘The Queries of the Four Books’ and ‘Thematic Discourses of Master Zhu Xi’, in Yiliang, ed., Complete Writings of Master Zhu Xi, 6: 3 Google Scholar; Xi, Zhu, ‘Thematic Discourses of Master Zhu Xi’, in Yiliang, , ed., Complete Writings of Master Zhu Xi, 6: 3 and 14: 74, 163–4Google Scholar.
53 Xi, Zhu, ‘Thematic Discourses of Master Zhu Xi’, in Yiliang, , ed., Complete Writings of Master Zhu Xi, 14: 174, 894Google Scholar.
54 Ibid. 155, 899.
55 ‘對話被抽象為從文本到文本的邏輯研討或淪為互相確證的對教義間最大公約數的找尋。在各種善意得到展現的同時, 對話也因失去根柢而收效甚微’: 陳明 [Chen Ming], ‘儒耶對話 以何為本?—兼議利瑪竇、何光滬關於儒教的若干論述’ [‘Ruye Duihua Yihe Weiben: Jianlun Li Madou, He Guanghu Guanyu Rujiao de Ruogan Lunshu’; ‘What is the Foundation of Confucian-Christian Dialogue? Remarks on Li Madou and He Guanghu’s Studies on Confucianism’], in Luo Bingxiang and Xie Wenyu, eds, 耶儒對談: 問題在哪裡 [Ruye duitan: wenti zai nali?; A Confucian-Christian Dialogue in Contemporary Context] (Guilin, 2010), 1–700, at 435–6.