Louis Fan (13 June 1682. – 28 February 1753.), born Fan Shouyi and also known as Luigi Fan, was the first known Chinese person to travel to Europe, return to China, and write an account of his travels. However, in traveling to Europe, he was preceded by

Michael Shen Fu-Tsung Michael Alphonsus Shen Fu-Tsung, SJ, also known as Michel Sin, Michel Chin-fo-tsoung, Shen Fo-tsung, or Shen Fuzong (, 1691),

Arcadio Huang Arcadio Huang (, born in Xinghua, modern Putian, in Fujian, 15 November 1679, died on 1 October 1716 in Paris)Mungello, p.125 was a Chinese Christian convert, brought to Paris by the Missions étrangères. He took a pioneering role in the teac ...

, and

Rabban Bar Sauma Rabban Bar Ṣawma (Syriac language: , ; 1220January 1294), also known as Rabban Ṣawma or Rabban ÇaumaMantran, p. 298 ( zh, s=拉班·扫马, t=拉賓掃務瑪, p=lābīn sǎowùmǎ), was a Uygurs, Uyghur monk turned diplomat of the "Nestor ...

, all of whom died abroad before returning to China.

Life

Fan was born in

Pingyao Pingyao, officially Pingyao Ancient City, is a walled city in central Shanxi, China, famed for its importance in Chinese economic history and for its well-preserved Ming and Qing urban planning and architecture. Administratively, it comprise ...

Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi a ...

, in 1682. Little is known of his early life and family, but at some point, he appears to have met the Piedmontese

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 ...

missionary,

Antonio Francesco Giuseppe Provana Joseph-Antoine Provana (, 17 October 1662 - 7 February 1720) was a Piedmontese Jesuit missionary to China during the era of the Kangxi Emperor and the Chinese Rites controversy. Provana converted and baptized Louis Fan (convert), Louis Fan, the fi ...

, who converted him to Roman Catholicism and baptised him as "Luigi" or "Louis". At the time, the different Catholic orders in China were engaged in a

controversy Controversy (, ) is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of conflicting opinion or point of view. The word was coined from the Latin '' controversia'', as a composite of ''controversus'' – "turned in an op ...

over the legitimacy of

Confucian Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China, and is variously described as a tradition, philosophy, religion, theory of government, or way of life. Founded by Confucius ...

ancestral veneration The veneration of the dead, including one's ancestors, is based on love and respect for the deceased. In some cultures, it is related to beliefs that the dead have a continued existence, and may possess the ability to influence the fortune of t ...

. In January 1707, the

papal legate 300px, A woodcut showing Henry II of England greeting the Pope's legate. A papal legate or apostolic legate (from the ancient Roman title '' legatus'') is a personal representative of the Pope to foreign nations, to some other part of the Catho ...

Charles-Thomas Maillard De Tournon presented

decree A decree is a law, legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state, judge, monarch, royal figure, or other relevant Authority, authorities, according to certain procedures. These procedures are usually defined by the constitution, Legislativ ...

' to 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 ...

, forbidding

Catholic converts Conversion to Christianity is the religious conversion of a previously non-Christian person that brings about changes in what sociologists refer to as the convert's "root reality" including their social behaviors, thinking and ethics. The sociol ...

from participating in such rituals. The emperor ordered the

Jesuits 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 ...

to assemble a second mission to attempt to change the pope's mind on the subject. Fan accompanied three Jesuits: Provana, José Ramón Arxó, and François Noël, the last of whom had participated in the first unsuccessful embassy. They left

Macao Macau or Macao is a 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 densely populated region in the world. Formerly a Portuguese colony, the ter ...

aboard the Portuguese ship ' on 14 January 1708.. The journey allowed Fan to observe Batavia in the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...

(now

Jakarta Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

) and

Bahia Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, probably making him the first Chinese person to return and write about the Americas. They arrived in Lisbon in September 1708, and Fan met King

João V '' Dom'' John V (; 22 October 1689 – 31 July 1750), known as the Magnanimous (''o Magnânimo'') and the Portuguese Sun King (''o Rei-Sol Português''), was King of Portugal from 9 December 1706 until his death in 1750. His reign saw the ri ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

soon afterwards. Noël may have travelled ahead, but Provana and Fan remained in Portugal for months, only reaching Rome in February of the next year. Unable to change Clement's mind on the issue of the Chinese rituals, Fan toured

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, studied

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 ...

and

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

, and was able to make many first-hand observations of aspects of 18th-century Europe, which very few Asians had had the opportunity to do before him.. In 1717, he was ordained as a priest. In 1718, Pope Clement XI decided to send Provana back to China, so on 19 May 1719, Provana and Fan boarded the ''Francisco Xavier'' in Lisbon and set sail once again.. Provana died during the voyage, and Fan returned to Macao alone. From Macao, he travelled north to Beijing for an audience with the Kangxi Emperor that was held on 11 October 1720. No account of his meeting with the emperor has survived, but Fan wrote a short report of his experiences in Europe, the ''Shen Jian Lu'' (身見錄), which may have been created to complement the information he gave the emperor in person. For the rest of his life, Fan worked as a priest and missionary in China, and apparently as an interpreter for the emperor; the Italian missionary

Matteo Ripa Matteo Ripa (29 March 1682, Eboli – 29 March 1746, Naples) was an Italian priest who was sent as a missionary to China by Propaganda Fide, and between 1711 and 1723 worked as a painter and copper-engraver at the Manchu court of the Kangxi Emp ...

mentions a ‘Louis Fan’ in the book he published on his experiences in China.. Fan died in Beijing on 28 February 1753. He was buried in the Jesuits'

Zhalan Cemetery Zhalan Cemetery ( zh, 滕公栅栏; zh, p=ténggōng zhàlan) is a former Jesuit burial ground in Beijing. It was initially established in the late Ming dynasty for the burial of Matteo Ricci. The current setup is a restoration using origin ...

in Beijing.

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* . * . * . * . * . {{DEFAULTSORT:Fan, Louis 1682 births 1753 deaths Chinese Christians

Life

See also

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