This site describes cross-cultural exchange. Such exchange occurred because of the connections and friendships that were forged between people.
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It can seem as though these connections are things of the past, the stuff of history, found now only in tombstones and fond memory.
This site, however, shows that these people and the connections they made live on, not least in the work of cross-cultural exchange that they accomplished.
Some of the work accomplished during this exchange consisted of informing Europe about legendary Chinese scholars and about ancient Chinese teachings.
Some of the work of exchange consisted of taking European knowledge to China, and the physical reminders of this exchange can still be seen throughout cities like Beijing, Hangzhou and Shanghai, for instance.
We know now of such exchange because of the fact that letters and reports written by the Jesuit missionaries overseas were collected into books and journals back in Europe, including the famous China Illustrata. The letters back and forth brought together academics from other sides of the globe.
For too long, scholars have focused more on the European side of the ledger, forgetting the help of the Chinese companions and interlocutors. Hopefully this conversation now moves us all beyond Ricci.
One aim of this site is to show that the cross-cultural exchange was truly a conversation between cultures; it was not an ever-repeating monologue. Friendship between both Chinese scholars and European sojourners was essential.
People in Europe now learnt about daily life in China, as a result of the books produced through the cross-cultural exchange.
Now that the gaze moves beyond Ricci, it is possible to notice the other people described and remembered in the rich cross-cultural exchange: emperors and kings, fisherfolk and farmers, brides and scholars.