the Encounter of Chinese and Western Knowledge System in the 17th Century: the Case of Kangxi Emperor(1661-1722)
Date Issued
2010
Date
2010
Author(s)
Chen, Shih-Wen
Abstract
Europe in the seventeenth century saw an era of a change. It was Early Modern, a time when the politics, religious, and the socioeconomic domains were being moved by the flow of silver in societies. China in the seventeenth century also saw a turbulent era. It was a time of political changes between dynasties. From Ming to Qing, the social climate went from vivacious to serious. Christian missionaries came to China and bridged the Eastern and Western cultures in this era of change. The systems of knowledge were the main catalyst in this encounter.
Among the many encounters of Chinese and Western knowledge systems in the 17th century, Kangxi Emperor was a special case. As an emperor of an empire, Kangxi Emperor had the power to achieve many things, yet he was also restricted in many ways. He was able to engage personally with the Westerners who were technologically and scientifically superior to the Chinese at the time. He was also in the best position to learn from the new Western system, and he could even import Western academics into the imperial academic system. Because of his unique identity, however, Kangxi Emperor could not convert to Catholicism. In addition, due to political considerations, although he had been close with a lot of Westerners in his youth, he broke off ties with the Pope during his old age, which resulted in gradual decline of Chinese and Western cultural exchanges. And the change of Westerners’ status in the Qing court also witnesses to Qing’s ambition to become a successful ruler in a multiethnic empire of Asia.
In Kangxi Emperor’s example, we can observe that when Chinese are undergoing the process of knowledge system interactions, they often choose to directly fit Western knowledge into the Chinese framework. Although Kangxi Emperor was a special emperor by personally taking part and studying Western academics, but from his example we can also learn that the meaning of studying Western knowledge for Chinese was mostly functional and applicability was more important than actually understanding the essence.
Subjects
Chinese and Western cultural exchange
Kangxi Emperor
Western learning
knowledge system
new aspects of the Qing history
SDGs
Type
thesis
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