Prospero Intorcetta (1626–1696), known to the Chinese as Yin Duoze, was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

Jesuit

missionary A missionary is a member of a religious group which 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 Mi ...

to the Qing Empire. The first to translate the works of Confucius in Europe.

Life

Prospero Intorcetta was born in

Piazza Armerina Piazza Armerina ( Gallo-Italic of Sicily: ''Ciazza''; Sicilian: ''Chiazza'') is a ''comune'' in the province of Enna of the autonomous island region of Sicily, southern Italy. History The city of Piazza (as it was called before 1862) developed ...

in 1626. Traveling with the

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

Jesuit Philippe Couplet, he reached China in 1659. There, he mostly worked in the

Jiangnan Jiangnan or Jiang Nan (; formerly romanized Kiang-nan, literally "South of the River" meaning "South of the Yangtze") is a geographic area in China referring to lands immediately to the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, incl ...

region around the lower

Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest list of rivers of Asia, river in Asia, the list of rivers by length, third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in th ...

. He died in 1696.

Works

Paradigma XV Provinciarum et CLV Urbium Capitalium Sinensis Imperij

Intorcetta studied

Chinese philosophy Chinese philosophy originates in the Spring and Autumn period () and Warring States period (), during a period known as the " Hundred Schools of Thought", which was characterized by significant intellectual and cultural develop ...

. In 1662, he published the study of the

Four Books The Four Books and Five Classics () are the authoritative books of Confucianism, written in China before 300 BCE. The Four Books and the Five Classics are the most important classics of Chinese Confucianism. Four Books The Four Books () are C ...

Confucianism Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or a ...

in a Latin work entitled ''The Meaning of Chinese Wisdom''.Brockey, p.279 In 1667, he published the ''Politico-Moral Knowledge of the Chinese'' ('). In 1687, under Philippe Couplet's guidance, he worked with Christian Wolfgang Herdtrich and François de Rougemont to compile an influential Latin overview of Chinese history and translation of some of the Confucian classics under the title ''Confucius, Philosopher of the Chinese'' (').

References

Citations

Bibliography

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External links