Michael Alphonsus Shen Fu-Tsung, SJ, also known as Michel Sin, Michel Chin-fo-tsoung, Shen Fo-tsung, or Shen Fuzong (, 1691),''Chinese Books and Documents in the Jesuit Archives in Rome''
By Albert Chan (2002) p.395 was a Chinese

mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

and

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

from

Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...

. He was a convert to

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

who was brought to

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

by the Flemish

priest

Philippe Couplet Philippe Couplet, SJ (1623–1693), known in China as Bai Yingli, was a Flemish people, Flemish Jesuits, Jesuit Jesuit China missions, missionary to the Qing Empire. He worked with his fellow missionaries to compile the influential ''Confucius, P ...

, Procurator of the China Jesuit Missions in Rome. They left

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

in 1681 and visited together Flanders, Italy, France, and England. He later became a Jesuit in Portugal and died near Mozambique while returning home.

Visit to Europe

Flanders and Rome

Michael Shen Fu-Tsung arrived with Philippe Couplet by boat from

Portuguese Macau Macau was under Portuguese Empire, Portuguese rule from the establishment of the first official Portuguese settlement in 1557 until its Handover of Macau, handover to China in 1999. It comprised the Municipality of Macau and the Municipality of ...

in October 1682. They visited the city where Couplet was born,

Mechelen Mechelen (; ; historically known as ''Mechlin'' in EnglishMechelen has been known in English as ''Mechlin'', from where the adjective ''Mechlinian'' is derived. This name may still be used, especially in a traditional or historical context. T ...

. They then left for

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, where Couplet tried to obtain a Papal authorization to celebrate

mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

in Chinese.

France

Shen was presented to King

Louis XIV 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 ...

on September 15, 1684, and he demonstrated how to use chopsticks and how to write

Chinese characters Chinese characters are logographs used Written Chinese, to write the Chinese languages and others from regions historically influenced by Chinese culture. Of the four independently invented writing systems accepted by scholars, they represe ...

. He is described as participating in a royal dinner with Couplet, wearing green silk with deep blue brocade, decorated with Chinese dragons.David E. Mungello ''Curious Land: Jesuit Accommodation and the Origins of Sinology''
(1989) University of Hawaii Press p. 255 They also visited the

Maison royale de Saint-Louis The Maison Royale de Saint-Louis was a boarding school for girls set up on 15 June 1686 at Saint-Cyr (what is now the commune of Saint-Cyr-l'École, Yvelines) in France by King Louis XIV at the request of his second secret wife, Françoise d'Aubign ...

, where they set up a display of Chinese silk portraits.

England and later life

After his visit in France, Shen Fu-Tsung also went to

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

where he met with Thomas Hyde in 1685, and he taught him some Chinese. Shen Fu-Tsung apparently communicated in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

. Shen Fu-Tsung also met with King James II.Keevak, p.38
/ref> It is the first recorded instance of a Chinese man visiting Britain. The king was so delighted by this visit that he had his portrait made, and had it hung in his bedroom. Shen Fu-Tsung was able to catalogue the Chinese books that were present in the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley, it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second-largest library in ...

, and to describe their content, something which nobody had been able to do until then.BBC
Quote: ''Dr David Helliwell of Oxford University describes how Shen was the first person to catalogue the Chinese collection in the Bodleian Library, showing the librarian which way up to hold Chinese books as well as what they contained.'' He also showed the librarian the correct way to hold a Chinese book, starting with which way was up. Shen Fu-Tsung left England in 1688 and went to

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, where 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 ...

. He died in September 1691 of a shipboard fever as he was returning to China, somewhere near

Portuguese Mozambique Portuguese Mozambique () or Portuguese East Africa () were the common terms by which Mozambique was designated during the period in which it was a Portuguese Empire, Portuguese overseas province. Portuguese Mozambique originally constituted a str ...

Notes

References

* ''The Far Eastern Quarterly,'' Vol. 11, No. 2 (Feb., 1952) * Keevak, Michael (2004) ''The Pretended Asian:

George Psalmanazar George Psalmanazar ( 1679 – 3 May 1763) was a Frenchman who claimed to be the first native of Formosa (today Taiwan) to visit Europe. For some years, he convinced many in Britain, but he was eventually revealed to be of European origin. He su ...

's Eighteenth-century Formosan Hoax'' Wayne State University Press * Ballaster, Rosalind (2005) ''Fables of the East: Selected Tales 1662-1785'' Oxford University Press * Mungello, David E. (1989) ''Curious Land: Jesuit Accommodation and the Origins of Sinology'', University of Hawaii Press, {{DEFAULTSORT:Shen, Michael, Fu-Tsung 1650s births 1691 deaths Year of birth uncertain Converts to Roman Catholicism Chinese Roman Catholics Foreign relations of the Qing dynasty Chinese Jesuits Qing dynasty translators Jesuit China missions 17th-century Chinese people 17th-century Jesuits

Visit to Europe

Flanders and Rome

France

England and later life

See also

Notes

References