During the reign of the Emperor Wanli in the Ming dynasty, Matteo Ricci (1552-1610), an Italian Jesuit missionary, came to China. In 1601, Ricci arrived in Beijing, and nine years later he died there. Because of his outstanding achievements, the emperor honored him with a burial plot, called Tenggong Zhalan, on the outskirts of the imperial capital. Altogether several hundreds of foreign missionaries came to China in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and made many outstanding contributions to Sino-Western cultural exchange. Some of these missionaries were also buried at Tenggong Zhalan.
“The Cemetery of Matteo Ricci and Other Foreign Missionaries” was designated a cultural relic under the protection of the Beijing municipal government in 1984 and subsequently, in 2006, a key cultural site under the protection of the Chinese state. The expansion of international exchange has brought ever larger numbers of foreign and Chinese visitors to this historic site. It serves as a window onto present-day China’s contacts with the world. In 2010, on the 400th anniversary of the death of Matteo Ricci, Italian president Giorgio Napolitano paid a special visit to the cemetery.
Located on the site of Tenggong Zhalan, the Beijing Administrative College (eng.bac.gov.cn) has produced a richly illustrated book, History Recorded on Stone: The Cemetery of Matteo Ricci and Other Foreign Missionaries during Four Turbulent Centuries, to showcase the lives and contributions of Matteo Ricci and several other renowned missionaries in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. The book also introduces to readers a time in the past when Sino-Western cultural exchange flourished. Of particular interest to specialists is a section of full-page rare rubbings and photographs of more than eighty extant or lost tombstones of these missionaries. For the convenience of foreign readers, the tables of contents, preface, postscript, and captions of over four hundred photographs and illustrations have been translated into English.
If you wish to obtain a copy of the book, please contact Ms. Chen Lu
Email: chenlu@bac.gov.cn
Fax: 86 10 68006727
Telephone: 86 10 68007147
Mailing address: Department of International Cooperation and Exchange
Beijing Administrative College
6 Chegongzhuang Avenue
Xicheng District, Beijing, China
100044
Tables of Content
1. 1601, a Turning Point: the Arrival of a Foreigner, the Collaboration of two Great Men
2. Foreign Experts in Xu Guangqi’s Calendrical Bureau: Johann Terrenz Schreck, Giacomo Rho, and Niccolò Longobardo
3. The Shunzhi Emperor’s “Honorary Western Grandfather”: Johann Adam Schall von Bell
4. Qing Dynasty Vice-Miniser of Works: Ferdinand Verbiest
5. A Polymath from Portugal: Tomé Pereira
6. Directorate of Astronomy: Showcase for Missionary Scientific Talents
7. Atlas of the Chinese Empire and its Cartographers
8. Western Painters, Musicians, Doctors and Engineers in the Qing Court
9. Four Centuries of Change in Tenggong Zhalan Cemetery
Appendices
1. List of Individual Names on Extant Tombstones
2. Lists, of Individual Names on Lost Tombstones
3. Rubbings, Photographs and Annotations of Extant Tombstones
4. Rubbings, Photographs and Annotations of Lost Tombstones
5. Locations of Extant Tombstones in the Cemetery