Joachim Bouvet (, courtesy name: 明远) (July 18, 1656, in Le Mans – June 28, 1730, in Peking) was a French Jesuit who worked in China, and the leading member of the Figurist movement.

China

Bouvet was born in

Le Mans Le Mans (; ) is a Communes of France, city in Northwestern France on the Sarthe (river), Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the Provinces of France, province of Maine (province), Maine, it is now the capital of ...

, France; he entered the

Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

in 1673. He went to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

in 1687, as one of six Jesuits, the first group of French

missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Miss ...

to China, sent by

Louis XIV of France LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

, under Superior Jean de Fontaney.Witek, John W. "Joachim Bouvet", ''Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity'', 1998
/ref> Before setting out for their destination, he and his associates were admitted to the French

Académie des Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (, ) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific method, scientific research. It was at the forefron ...

and were commissioned by that learned body to carry on astronomical observations, to determine the geographical positions of the various places they were to visit, and to collect various scientific data.Brock, Henry. "Joachim Bouvet." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 8 March 2023 The group, after being provided with all necessary scientific instruments, by order of the king, sailed from Brest, 3 March 1685, with Father Fontaney as Superior. After spending some time in

Siam Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

, they finally arrived in Peking, 7 February 1688. The Jesuits were well received by the

Kangxi Emperor The Kangxi Emperor (4 May 165420 December 1722), also known by his temple name Emperor Shengzu of Qing, personal name Xuanye, was the third emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper. His reign of 61 ...

. Bouvet and Jean-François Gerbillon stayed at

Peking Beijing, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's most populous national capital city as well as China's second largest city by urban area after Shanghai. It is l ...

, teaching the emperor mathematics and astronomy. While engaged in this work, the two Jesuits wrote several mathematical treatises in the

Tatar language Tatar ( ; or ) is a Turkic languages, Turkic language spoken by the Volga Tatars mainly located in modern Tatarstan (European Russia), as well as Siberia. It should not be confused with Crimean Tatar language, Crimean Tatar or Siberian Tatar ...

which the emperor caused to be translated into Chinese, adding the prefaces himself. The emperor also granted them a site within the Imperial City enclosure for a church and residence which were finally completed in 1702. Bouvet later served as the Chinese emperor's envoy to France, and returned to his home country in 1697 with instructions from the emperor to obtain new missionaries. Kangxi made him the bearer of a gift of forty-nine volumes in Chinese for the French king. These were deposited in the Royal Library, and Louis XIV, in turn, commissioned Father Bouvet to present to the emperor a magnificently bound collection of engravings. During his sojourn in France, he corresponded with

Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (or Leibnitz; – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat who is credited, alongside Sir Isaac Newton, with the creation of calculus in addition to many ...

and published two works about China. In 1698, Bouvet chartered the ship ''Amphitrite'', registering it as a warship to avoid customs duties. In 1699 Bouvet arrived in China for the second time, accompanied by ten missionaries, among them Joseph Henri Marie de Prémare, Jean-Baptiste Régis, and Dominique Parrenin. Kangxi honored Bouvet further with the title of interpreter to his son, the heir-apparent. In 1700, with four of his fellow missionaries, Bouvet presented a

memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects such as home ...

to the emperor, asking for a decision as to the meaning attached to the various ceremonies of the Chinese in honor of Confucius and their ancestors. The emperor, who had taken a keen interest in the controversy regarding the ceremonies, replied that they were simply civil usages, having no religious significance whatsoever. The memorial, together with the emperors reply, was published in the ''Peking Gazette'' but failed to allay the excitement then raging in Europe over the question. In 1706, Kangxi decided to send Bouvet to the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...

to settle the Chinese Rites controversy but later changed his mind. From 1708 to 1715, Bouvet and Jean-Baptiste Régis were engaged in a survey of the country and the preparation of

map A map is a symbolic depiction of interrelationships, commonly spatial, between things within a space. A map may be annotated with text and graphics. Like any graphic, a map may be fixed to paper or other durable media, or may be displayed on ...

s of its various provinces. As a sinologist, Bouvet focused his research on ''

I Ching The ''I Ching'' or ''Yijing'' ( ), usually translated ''Book of Changes'' or ''Classic of Changes'', is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. The ''I Ching'' was originally a divination manual in ...

''. Trying to find a connection between the Chinese classics and the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

, Bouvet came to the conclusion that the Chinese had known the whole truth of the

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

tradition in ancient times and that this truth could be found in the Chinese classics. Even though he had some of his texts published, none of Bouvet's more extreme Figurist texts was published until the mid-19th century. Bouvet died in Peking on June 28, 1730. His gravestone stele is on display at the Stone Carving Museum of Beijing (at the Five Pagoda Temple) together with the gravestone steles of Father Gerbillon, and Father Regis.

Major works

* ''Etat présent de la Chine, en figures gravées par P. Giffart sur les dessins apportés au roi par le P. J. Bouvet'' (Paris, 1697) * ''Portrait historique de l'empereur de la Chine'' (Paris, 1697)

Notes

References

* Li, Shenwen, 2001, ''Stratégies missionnaires des Jésuites Français en Nouvelle-France et en Chine au XVIIieme siècle'', Les Presses de l'Université Laval, L'Harmattan, * Short biography in th
Hong Kong Catholic diocesan Archive

China

Major works

Notes

References

See also