Contents
The principle “Know the Enemy and Yourself” sounds like war. But it applies wherever you want to win over another side that will not follow you of its own accord. For the Christian mission in Ming-dynasty China, that other side was a highly developed civilization that barely let foreigners into the country and was not waiting for Europe. Matteo Ricci turned this into a lesson in knowing the other side that is still debated today.
A closed door
Situation
Matteo Ricci is born in 1552 in Macerata in the Papal States. In the same year, the Jesuit Francis Xavier dies on an island off the Chinese coast without ever having set foot on the mainland. Ricci arrives in Macau in August 1582. The Visitor Alessandro Valignano has called him there because he believes that mission in China can succeed only if the missionaries master the language and culture of the country. In 1583 Ricci settles with Michele Ruggieri in Zhaoqing at the invitation of the governor, Wang Pan.
Link to the principle
If you confront a superior culture with foreign methods, you lose. Valignano and Ricci recognize that they first have to learn the other side’s rules before they can even play.
First the language, then the message
Situation
Ricci learns Chinese and reads the Confucian classics. He seeks conversation with scholars rather than with the masses. In 1584 a first world map on the European model with Chinese labels is produced in Zhaoqing. In 1595 he publishes a short treatise on friendship in Chinese, a collection of thoughts from the classical and Christian traditions.
Link to the principle
Ricci studies not only what the Chinese believe but also what they value: education, scholarship, good manners. He recognizes where his own strengths lie, namely in mathematics, geography and the art of memory, and uses them where they meet with interest.
The wrong robe
Situation
In the early years, the Jesuits appear in the dress of Buddhist monks. They consider this a respected form of religious life. Over time Ricci notices that Buddhist monks enjoy little prestige among the educated elite. He therefore switches to the dress of Confucian scholars and from then on presents himself as a scholar from the West.
Link to the principle
Here Ricci corrects a misjudgment about the other side. He had initially misread the society. Knowing the other side is not a one-time act but a learning process in which you review your own assumptions as soon as the expected effect fails to materialize.
What he brought with him
Situation
Ricci works closely with the scholar Xu Guangqi. In 1607 the first parts of Euclid’s “Elements” appear in Chinese. In 1602 Ricci completes a large world map in Beijing, the Kunyu Wanguo Quantu. He presents the Wanli Emperor with gifts that include clocks and a world map and is then entrusted with the upkeep of the clocks, with lodging and a small stipend.
Link to the principle
Ricci knows that he will achieve nothing with sermons alone. He brings something the other side genuinely needs and values. If you know yourself, you know which of your means carry weight with the other side.
Beijing and the limits of adaptation
Situation
In 1598 Ricci reaches Beijing for the first time but does not get access to the court and leaves again after about two months. In 1601 he is invited to the court and becomes the first European to enter the Forbidden City. He never meets the emperor in person. He dies in Beijing on May 11, 1610. The emperor grants him a burial site in the capital. Ricci’s accommodation of Confucian rites, such as ancestor veneration, stands at the beginning of the later Chinese Rites controversy, in which other orders raise objections in Rome. The dispute weighs on the mission in China for generations.
Link to the principle
Knowing yourself also means knowing your own limits. Ricci adapts his dress, language and manner, but not the core of his faith. Where exactly that line runs remains disputed. This shows how difficult it is to decide what you may change about yourself without losing yourself.
Key takeaways
Key lessons
- Learn the language and values of the other side before you try to persuade.
- Check which of your strengths really count for the other side.
- Correct your picture of the other side as soon as you stop having an effect.
- Bring something the other side values, not just what you want to say.
- Clarify in advance what you can adapt and what you cannot.
Summary
Matteo Ricci came as a foreigner to an empire that kept foreigners out, and after almost 20 years he reached the imperial court in Beijing. He studied the language, writings and hierarchy of the other side, corrected his misstep with the monk’s robe and made targeted use of his own strengths: mathematics, maps, clocks. At the same time, the later Rites controversy shows that knowing the other side sharpens the question of your own identity.
Sources
- Jonathan D. Spence: The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci. New York: Viking 1984.
- Sun Tzu: The Art of War, Chapter 3. China, c. 5th century BC.
