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ABSTRACT
This paper provides a preliminary examination of François Noël’s (1651–1729) translation of Zhu Xi 朱熹’s (1130–1200) Elementary learning (Xiaoxue 小學, 1187), which was included in Sinensis Imperii Libri Classici Sex (Six Classics of the Chinese Empire, 1711). In particular, by taking the chapter about the Five Human Relationships (wulun 五倫), “Quintuplex humanae conditionis ordo,” as case study, the paper will demonstrate how Noël’s writing agenda differed from that of his predecessors, with his translation acting as a systematically construed tribute to the sapientia sinica in the background of the Rites Controversy.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 The earliest translation of the Confucian canon into a foreign language appears to be a Spanish version of three of the Four Books, produced by Ruggieri in 1590 for King Philip II. This work, which predates Ruggieri’s Latin translation preserved at the Biblioteca Nazionale in Rome, was only published in 1921, and can be appreciated for the quality of its sinological approach. It also paved the way to the interpretation of a number of key Confucian concepts which would feature in later Jesuit translations. An exhaustive examination of Ruggieri’s pioneering work would divert too much from the topic of this paper, and has already been covered in a number of recent studies, such as Meynard and Villasante, La filosofía moral de Confucio por Michele Ruggieri SJ, 58–78. I am grateful to one of the reviewers for the advice and to Dr Daniel Canaris for his help in retrieving the materials.
2 See the following note. Trigault’s translation was published in Augsburg in 1615.
3 Particularly exemplificative is Matteo Ricci’s journal Della Entrata della Compagnia di Giesù e Christianità nella China (On the Introduction of the Society of Jesus and of Christianity in China), on which Trigault’s translation is based. Chapter 9, titled “Superstitions”, addresses culturally controversial practices and various beliefs of the late Ming society. In the opening paragraph, the Jesuit exhorts readers “to pity the naivety (infermità) of this people, and to keep them in their prayers, rather than feeling rage”. Ricci, Della entrata, 75.
4 Liščák refers to Ruggieri’s translations of the Four Books, which he was “prohibited to publish”, and Ricci’s Tetrabiblion Sinense de Moribus (Chinese Four Books on morals) in 1593, whose only mentions are found in secondary sources. See Liščák “François Noël”, 45. A more detailed genesis and significance of Ruggieri and Ricci’s translation is provided by Meynard, The Jesuit Reading of Confucius, 2–9. In his examination, Meynard points out how the purpose behind the two translations differed, with Ruggieri’s being primarily connected with his linguistic and cultural training, while Ricci’s was meant to be propaedeutic to the Jesuits’ evangelization enterprise, “reinforcing the Christian message”. Meynard, The Jesuit Reading of Confucius, 7.
5 Notably, the lack of translations of Book of Mencius (Mengzi 孟子), also a part of the Confucian canon, is due to some problematic passages, such as the statement about men without offspring being unfilial, which could not be endorsed by unmarried men like the Jesuits, and was openly criticized since the time of Ricci. Liščák, “François Noël”, 47.
6 On this topic, see Dijkstra, Printing and Publishing, 131–82.
7 There is an extensive bibliography on the subject. For the purpose of this paper, I shall refer to Standaert, Handbook of Christianity, 680–9, and von Collani, “François Noël and His Treatise on God in China”, 23–32.
8 Crucial to sparking the academic interest towards the Confucian canonical literature were also the translations of the Five Classics authored by French Jesuits since the 1740s, but only published in 1779 by Joseph de Guignes (1721–1800), after members of the order were expelled from France. Standaert, Handbook of Christianity, 896.
9 Noël, Sinensis Imperii, 2–3. Noël’s decision not to translate any of the Five Classics is also worth mentioning. While acknowledging their “ancient wisdom”, he eventually decided not to embark in this enormous enterprise, since “some of them [the classics] are very long-winded, a little juicy, and nothing less than tedious (tum quia eorum nonnulli sunt valde prolixi, parùm succosi, nec minus taediosi)”. Noël, Sinensis imperii, 3.
10 “Vides itaque penè innumerabiles esse discipulos, qui istis sex suprà memoratis libris assiduam operam navant, & numero quidem longè plures, quam qui in tota Europa prima linguae Latinae rudimenta ponunt. Omitto Tumkinenses, Cochinchinenses, Coreanos, & alios multos Chinae finitimos populos, qui istis etiam addiscendis animum passim intendunt. Numquid igitur, quod tam multi populi callent, hoc nosse Europaeos addecet? Maximè cum tam saepè de scientia Sinica sermonem faciant; imò & subinde inter se litigent; sed quid verè sentiant Sinae, defectu exactae librorum Sinensium versionis, plerumque non possunt satis dijudicare”. Noël, Sinensis Imperii, 3.
11 Liščák, “François Noël”, 47; Pan, “Wei Fangji de jingdian fanyi”, 191–5. See also his complete biography by Pfister, Notices biographiques, 414–17.
12 Some studies on the subject include Pan, “Wei Fangji de jingdian fanyi”, 201–6; von Collani, “François Noël and His Treatise on God in China”, 23–60; Meynard, “François Noël’s contribution”, 221–30.
13 The opening statement of the “Foreword to the Reader” clarifies that the translation of the classics transcended intellectual curiosity for the exotic, but embraced a broader ethical purpose: “I am showing this version of the Six Classical Chinese books, dear reader, not merely in order for you to learn what the Chinese wrote, but also to act in the way they believed to be correct. For they contain in themselves many things praised in the long antiquity, and worthy of true virtue … . Hanc latinam sex Librorum Classicorum Sinensium versionem Tibi exhibeo, Amice Lector, non tantum ut discas quae Sinae scripserunt, sed & ut agas, quae recte senserunt; multa enim & longa antiquitate commendata, & vera virtute digna in se continent”. Noël, Sinensis Imperii, 2. Unless otherwise stated, all translations (from Chinese and Latin) are mine.
14 For an introduction to the Jesuits’ formation and their approach to Chinese sources, see Meynard, The Jesuit Reading of Confucius, 19–28; Falato, Alfonso Vagnone’s Tongyou jiaoyu, 9–22.
15 See Lu, “The Literary Culture of the Late Ming”, 62–3.
16 Hereinafter indicated as “the Five Relationships”.
17 Quoted from Legge, The Book of Mencius, 630–1.
18 Pang-White, The Confucian Four Books for Women, 31–2; see also Li and Meynard, Jesuit Chreia, 120.
19 See, for instance, Dong Zhongshu 董仲舒’s (179–104 B.C.E.) cosmological theory codified during the Han dynasty, which emphasized the predominance of the yang element over the yin, thus conferring a more autocratic component to three of the five relationships, namely the ones between ruler and subject, father and son, husband and wife. For a more detailed overview on Dong’s contribution to the formation of Han Confucianism, see Pang-White, The Confucian Four Books for Women, 31–7.
20 For a translation of the influential text, see Legge, The Four Books, 7
21 See following paragraph for an introduction to the text.
22 As reported in the Official history of the Ming dynasty (Mingshi 明史), in the “Artistic and literary records (Yiwen zhi 藝文志)” section, out of the 44 publications dedicated to the primary education of children, at least a dozen appear as revisitations of Zhu Xi’s Elementary learning, while his commentaries to the Confucian canon were officially sanctioned as the orthodox interpretation in the Ming and Qing periods. See Mingshi, “Yiwen zhi”, chap. 72 on https://ctext.org, accessed 10 November 2022.
23 The Six Admonitions were the following: 1. Respect and obey your parents; 2. Respect and revere the elders (and superiors); 3. Preserve harmony in your village; 4. Instruct your children and grandchildren; 5. Be content with your profession; 6. Don’t do anything that should not be done.
24 As reported in the preface of the consulted edition, included in the “anthological works” of the Siku quanshu cunmu congshu 四庫全書存目叢書 (Preserved Catalogue of the Complete Collection in Four Treasuries), 1–45.
25 Shen, Youxue risong, 3–4.
26 Ibid., 3.
27 Ibid., 2.
28 Ibid., 3.
29 Among the studies in English language on Xuanzong’s work, see Li and Meynard, Jesuit Chreia, 145–7, for an examination of the structure and an overview of the content; see Xu, Friendship and Hospitality, 85 for a more focused analysis on the relationship between friends. The quote is taken from the “Imperial preface to the Five Relationships (御製五倫書序)”, see Xuanzong, Wulun shu, 500.
30 “將以施之於身，行之於家，而達之於邦國，俾咸囿仁義忠孝慈良之域”. Xuanzong, Wulun shu, 500.
31 See “General introduction to the Five Relationships (五倫總論)”, Ibid., 500–1.
32 The topic has been convincingly examined by Hosne, “Friendship among literati”, 200.
33 “平治庸理惟竟於一，故賢聖勸臣以忠。忠也者無二之謂也。五倫甲乎君，君臣為三綱之首 … 邦國有主，天地獨無主乎？國統於一，天地有二主乎？”. Ricci, Tianzhu shiyi, 18. A similar rhetorical usage can be found in an even earlier document, the preface of Michele Ruggieri’s Doctrina Christiana, or True Records of the Lord of Heaven (Tianzhu shilu, 天主實錄1584); see Ruggieri, Tianzhu shilu, 2.
34 Hosne, “Friendship among literati”, 200.
35 D’Elia, Storia dell’introduzione, vol. I, 120. English translation quoted from Hosne, “Friendship among literati”, 200.
36 Some recent studies on Alfonso Vagnone include: Jin, Gao Yizhi yu Mingmo; Falato, Alfonso Vagnone’s Tongyou jiaoyu; Meynard, Tongyou jiaoyu jinzhu. For specific biographic information, see Pfister, Notices biographiques, 85–7.
37 The usage of Chinese canonical literature in Vagnone’s literary productions, with a focus on the pedagogical treatise On the Education of Children (Tongyou jiaoyu, c.1623), is discussed in Falato, Alfonso Vagnone’s Tongyou jiaoyu, 87–94, for direct references to the wulun in Vagnone’s work, see 184 and 241. Additional studies on Vagnone’s publications include, but are not limited to, Meynard, Xiushen xixue jinzhu; Lee, “Alphonsus Vagnoni and his Xiushen xixue”; Li, “Zhu shu duo ge yan”; Zürcher, “Renaissance Rhetoric in Late Ming China”.
38 Vagnone, Tongyou jiaoyu, 299; Falato, Alfonso Vagnone’s Tongyou jiaoyu, 183.
39 The background, stylistic format and rhetorical purpose of the collection is the subject of Li Sher-shiueh and Thierry Meynard’s comprehensive study, on which the present work is based. See Li and Meynard, Jesuit Chreia, which also includes an annotated translation of Vagnone and Han’s text.
40 For a translation of these two sections, see Li and Meynard, Jesuit Chreia, 186–252, 289–341.
41 Ibid., 146–7.
42 See Chan, Chu Hsi, 386. For an overview on the primer and its content, see also De Bary and Chaffee, Neo-Confucian Education, 327–9.
43 Zhu Xi, Yuding Xiaoxue jizhu, 521, 523.
44 Pan Feng-Chuang uncovered some draft translations which date back to 1700, when Noël was in Nanchang, namely the Book of Mencius, the Analects, the Doctrine of the Mean and the Classic of Filial Piety. See Pan, “Wei Fangji de jingdian fanyi”, 198.
45 von Collani, “François Noël and His Treatise on God in China”, 38–9. According to von Collani’s analysis of the Chinese sources listed in Philosophia Sinica, Noël was not only well versed in the canonical Confucian literature, but had also engaged with other prescribed texts used for introducing children to ritual propriety, starting with the Thirteen classics (Shisan jing 十三經) and culminating with earlier collections such as the Rites of Zhou (Zhouli 周) and the Book of Rites (Liji 禮記), to name but a few. A detailed overview on these texts appears also in the “Foreword to the Reader” of Historica Notitia Rituum ac Cerimoniarum Sinicarum; see Noël, Historica Notitia, 1–6.
46 Which refers to the first chapter of the Elementary Learning, “Establishing the education (Li jiao 立教)”.
47 All clearly related to the Five Relationships, discussed in the second chapter, “Clarifying the human relationships (Ming lun 明倫)”.
48 Noël, Sinensis Imperii, 485–6. The “rules” Noël referred to were prescribed norms of conduct which regulated people’s behaviour in various daily aspects, including how to eat and dress properly on the basis of one’s social role and occasion. These precepts were all discussed in the chapter “Revering oneself (Jing shen 敬身)” of the Elementary Learning.
49 This was already discussed on p.5. See also Pan, “Wei Fangji de jingdian fanyi”, 198. Noël’s less biased approach to Zhu Xi and the Neo-Confucian interpretation of canonical texts has been picked up by a number of studies. See the aforementioned Pan, “Wei Fangji de jingdian fanyi”, 199–200; Meynard, “François Noël’s contribution”, 221.
50 More specifically, in the first day of the third month of the year dingwei of Emperor Xiaozong of Song 宋孝宗 (r.1162–1189).
51 Noël, Sinensis Imperii, 486–7. For the original in Chinese, see Zhu, Yuding Xiaoxue jizhu, 534.
52 It is interesting to note the choice of the term “ordo (order, rank, hierarchy)” to translate “lun 倫 (human relationships)”, which also bears the connotation of “order”, and immediately suggests a hierarchical exchange to the European reader.
53 In his historical treatise on Chinese rites, Noël devoted the entire chapter two to providing an etymological and cultural explanation of the “different kind of Cy ceremonies”, while funerary rituals were described in chapters four, six, seven and eight. Noël, Historica Notitia, 10–19, 26–42, 46–90.
54 A similar translation device, quite common among Jesuit translators in Latin and Chinese, appears instead evident in other metaphysical works like Philosophia Sinica. See von Collani, “François Noël and His Treatise on God in China”, 23–60; Meynard, “François Noël’s contribution”, 221–30;Daniel Canaris’s study included in the present volume.
55 “ideòque interdum Authoris menti magis, quàm verbis, nè nimis obscurus forem, me adstrinxi”. Noël, Sinensis Imperii, 3.
56 Ibid., 503.
57 See Zhu, Yuding xiaoxue jizhu, 69. As indicated by Meynard, Noël differed from his predecessors in the way he approached and understood Zhu Xi and Neo-Confucianism. Although he didn’t quote directly from the Song pedagogue’s works, he made frequent use of orthodox commentaries by Song–Qing scholars. Meynard, “François Noël’s contribution”, 221.
58 “Praesertim cum verum ipsorum Interpretum Sinensium, & originalem sensum accuratè sequi studuerim”. Noël, Sinensis imperii, 3.
59 See, for instance, the note pertaining to the usage of titles in Chinese texts, conventionally placed at the beginning of a section, and Noël’s decision to follow European stylistic conventions: “Nota: Multi libri Sinici non in principio, sed tantum in fine paragraphi ponunt ejus titulum, uti hic vides. Eum tamen deinceps, more Europaeo, in principio apponam, uti hic supra apposui, & in fine omittam”. Noël, Sinensis imperii, 503.
60 This is the case in the “Father–Son” section, where Cy is used in association to mourning parents in three instances, while there are, in general, four passages quoted from the chapter “Sacrificial ceremonies” (Ji yi 察義) of the Book of Rites. Noël, Sinensis Imperii, 493–502.
61 A.k.a. Zeng Shen 曾參 (or Zeng Can, 505–436), courtesy name Ziyu 子輿.
62 Courtesy name of Bu Shang 卜商 (b.507 B.C.E.).
63 C. 310–220 B.C.E. His name appears in sentence N.7 of the “Further general explanation”. see Noël, Sinensis Imperii, 516.
64 Pfister, Notices biographiques, 416.
65 Ibid., 498. For the Chinese original, see Zhu, Yuding xiaoxue jizhu, 530.
66 According to the traditional Confucian etiquette, a virtuous woman was required to comply with the so-called three followings (sancong 三從), which required her to obey her father (or older brother) in her natal family, the husband and son after her marriage. See Pang-White, The Confucian Four Books for Women, 43.
67 Noël, Sinensis Imperii, 508. For the original in Chinese, see Zhu, Yuding Xiaoxue jizhu, 540.
68 Noël, Sinensis Imperii, 508. For the original in Chinese, see Zhu, Yuding Xiaoxue jizhu, 540.
69 An overview of the reception of Noël’s publication can be found in Pan, “Wei Fangji de jingdian fanyi”, 198–200; see also Pfister, Notices biographiques, 416.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Giulia Falato
Dr Giulia Falato works as a Lecturer in Chinese Studies at the University of Oxford. Her main research interest lies in the history of Sino-Western cultural relations, with a particular focus on exchanges in the fields of pedagogy, moral philosophy and lexical innovations. Her publications include a monograph on Alfonso Vagnone S.J.’s Tongyou jiaoyu 童幼教育 (On the Education of Children, c. 1632) with annotated translation, a book chapter about the Jesuit translations strategies in late Ming and early Qing catechisms, and a co-edited volume about education and representation of children in the Chinese literary traditions.