The present collection was written to commemorate the third centenary of the death of the Portuguese Jesuit, Tomas Pereira (1645-1708). Dealing with some of the most decisive and controversial moments in the history of the Jesuit mission in China during the Kangxi era (1662-1722), these essays were produced by an international team of scholars and cover a wide range of topics that reflect a permanent academic interest, in Europe and America as well as in China, in the history of the Catholic mission in China, Sino-Russian diplomacy, the history of Western science and music in China, intercultural history, and history of art. While the names of such missionaries as Matteo Ricci, Adam Schall and Ferdinand Verbiest are well known, Pereira has been relatively neglected, and this volume seeks to redress that imbalance. Pereira was important as a musician and diplomat and was closer to the Kangxi emperor than any other Westerner, something that enabled him to exert considerable influence for the protection of the Chinese Christians and also to further the interests of Portugal in China. However, towards the end of his life he saw his efforts undermined by the damaging consequences of the papal legation to China led by Charles-Thomas Maillard de Tournon.
About the Author: Artur K. Wardega, SJ, is Director of the Macau Ricci Institute and a specialist in 20th-century Chinese and French literature. He has written several articles published in the Macau Ricci Institute's quarterly Chinese Cross Currents and in scholarly journals in China and abroad. His recent publications include a French translation of the novel Lishan nongchang by the renowned Hakka writer Zhong Lihe (1915-60) under the title La Ferme de la Montagne Li (Arras, 2010). He edited the 2007 MRI Symposium proceedings under the title Belief, History and Individual in Modern Chinese Literary Culture (Cambridge, 2009) and (with Anders Hansson) Portrait of a Jesuit: Matteo Ricci (MRI Jesuitas Publication Series; Macau, 2010). Recently he edited a trilingual book jointly published by the MRI and Centre Sevres of Paris, Playing Bach in France and in China: An Encounter of Musicians in Macau (Macau, 2011). Antonio Vasconcelos de Saldanha is Full Professor at Lisbon Technical University and Visiting Professor at the University of Macau. He is the Editor of the journal Daxiyangguo: Revista Portuguesa de Estudos Asiaticos and Vice President of the Instituto do Oriente of Lisbon Technical University. His publications include articles and books on the history of political ideas and international law, diplomacy, Portuguese imperial institutions, Jesuit missions in Asia, and Sino-Portuguese relations, e.g. De Kangxi para o Papa pela via de Portugal: Documentos relativos a intervencao de Portugal e da Companhia de Jesus na questao dos Ritos Chineses e nas relacoes entre o Imperador Kangxi e a Santa Se (Lisbon and Macao, 2003). Saldanha is a member of several learned societies and was President of the Instituto Portugues do Oriente in 2002-05 and Consul General of Portugal in Macao and Hong Kong for cultural affairs. He is part of the team translating the 'Acta Pekinensia' for the Macau Ricci Institute and is finishing a project of comparative research on the origins of the Jesuit court mission in China.