At the time of the change of dynasty, the missionaries scattered around the country reacted differently to the political changes of the time due to different circumstances. For example, the Italians Julius and Yang Mano, who worked hard to write books and preach in Yanping, Fujian; Bi Fangji, who was in Nanjing, served as an envoy to King Ming Fu and went to Macao to bring troops to the Portuguese, and Bi Francis has been active in various regimes in the Southern Ming Dynasty since then; In the CD's Lisi class and An Wensi, he became the "Heavenly Teacher" of Zhang Xianzhong, the emperor of the Great Western Kingdom.

At that time, Tang Ruowang and Long Huamin were staying in the church of Xuanwumen in Beijing, and the Qing army originally ordered all residents of the inner city to move out within three days so that the soldiers and civilians of the Eight Banners could live. John Tang appealed to the Qing court and asked for permission to stay in the city. Unexpectedly, the next day after the fold was handed over, the regent Dorgon approved them to live in the Catholic Church and not to be disturbed by the bannermen. Soon after, John Tong was summoned to the court, and Dolgon inquired about the revision of the calendar and appointed him as the supervisor of the Qintian. In the second year of Shunzhi (1645), the new calendar was launched and the world was promulgated. Because of his meritorious service, the following year, John Tang was given the title of Shaoqing of Taichang Temple, and was given a piece of vacant land on the side of the Catholic Church in Xuanwu Gate, which was funded by the prince and gentry led by the Empress Dowager Wen of Xiaozhuang to rebuild the church.

After Shunzhi became pro-government, he had a close relationship with John Tang, and was given the title of "Teacher of Tongxuan", a plaque for the church "Tongxuan Jiajing", and personally wrote the "Imperial Catholic Church Inscription", praising John Tang's achievements in governing the calendar and praising his faith. In order to show respect, Emperor Shunzhi called John Tang "Marfa", which is the honorific title for elders in Manchu. He was also allowed to enter and leave the court at will every day, and whenever there was a play, he could go straight to the inner court without following the usual rules. However, every time John Tang tried to persuade Shunzhi to become religious, there was no result.

During the Shunzhi period (1644-1661), the Catholic mission in China achieved great results, according to statistics in 1664, the Jesuits had established missions in 11 provinces in China, including Zhili (now Hebei), Shandong, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Henan, Sichuan, Huguang (now Hunan and Hubei), Jiangxi, Fujian, Zhejiang, and Jiangnan (now Jiangsu), with a total of 114,200 believers.

1. The Calendar Controversy

In 1662, Shunzhi died, and Xuan Ye, who was only 8 years old, ascended the throne with the year name Kangxi. The affairs of the state are in the hands of four auxiliary ministers: Sony, Suppilon, Sukh Saha, and Aobai. Among them, worship autocracy, support cronies, crack down on dissidents, and fly high, which is indispensable. As early as the last years of Shunzhi, Yang Guangxian, an official student, had written a book, accusing Tang Ruowang and others of making mistakes in the calendar, but ignored them. Now he saw that Ao Bai was liked by the missionaries, and he attacked again and launched an all-out attack on Tang Ruowang and other Western missionaries even more fiercely, accusing the "Shixian Calendar" of daring to use the words "according to the new law of the West", which is to steal Zhengshuo to respect the West, and "clearly show that the world will serve the West with the Qing Dynasty." In addition, John Tang compiled the Qing Almanac to only 200 years, which meant that the Qing Dynasty would die in a short life. Yang Guangxian attacked the missionaries in an attempt to overthrow the Qing Dynasty, and in the name of revising the calendar, he practiced a cult, spied on the secrets of the imperial court, stationed troops in Macao, and crossed the sea. Therefore, it is required that John Tang and others be rectified. This demagogic and sensational incitement really aroused the suspicions of the Qing court, and Confucianism, Buddhism, and other anti-Catholic people in society also joined in. So, in 1664, the Auxiliary Minister ordered the arrest of John Tong, who was 73 years old at the time, suffered a stroke, was paralyzed by quadriplegia, and had to be tried by his assistant Nan Huairen. For a while, there was a great deal of unjust imprisonment, and Nan Huairen, Lizisi, An Wensi, and missionaries from various provinces were arrested one after another. In the autumn and winter of that year, the Ministry of Officials and the Ministry of Rites conducted investigations and interrogations, and the Qing court also sent people to Guangdong to check, but they were not verified. But the result was that Yang Guangxian won the lawsuit, sentenced Tang Ruowang to Ling Chi, and beheaded the others separately. coincided with a strong earthquake in Beijing, and the people of Beijing panicked, thinking that the prison lawsuit was unfair and the celestial phenomena were a warning. Emperor Kangxi's grandmother, the Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang Wen, intervened, and the auxiliary minister asked the Empress Dowager to decide on the case of John Tang. Reprimanded the Auxiliary Minister and ordered his release. The missionaries survived, but five Chinese officials (all Catholics) who supported the New Calendar were executed, and some religious officials were dismissed.

Although Yang Guangxian, who maliciously rejected Western France, won the victory, he took over as the head of the Qintian prison, which was really an improper use of people, because his knowledge of calculus was very limited, and the work in the prison was chaotic, and he repeatedly miscalculated the time of the solar terms and the time of the solar and lunar eclipses. The "General Calendar" and the "Hijri Calendar" used are outdated calendars and need to be fundamentally revised. Yang Guangxian knew that he was not up to the job, and repeatedly asked for his resignation, but was not allowed.

In 1668, the 14-year-old Kangxi Emperor's contradiction with Aobai became increasingly acute, and it was first manifested on the sensitive issue of the calendar. At that time, Qin Tianjian's mistakes had caused a storm in the city, but Ao Bai still tried his best to protect it. Kangxi summoned Yang Guangxian and Nan Huairen to discuss the astronomical calendar. After 3 days of field tests, Nan Huairen's guess was correct, and Yang Guangxian and others were wrong. Kangxi ordered Nan Huairen to review the almanac ordered by Yang Guangxian, and the results were full of errors. In order to further verify, Kangxi arranged five tests for the two solar terms of the beginning of spring and rain, as well as the moon, Mars, and Jupiter, so that the ministers could observe together. The Western calendar won with the accuracy of actual calculations, Yang Guangxian was dismissed, he also chattered and defended, was scolded by Kangxi, expelled back to his hometown, and died of illness halfway. In 1669, Kangxi was in power, rehabilitated Tang Ruowang, wrote a memorial and attended the funeral.

When the dispute over the calendar finally ended, Nan Huairen took over as the Qintian supervisor, and after that, many missionaries came to Beijing on his recommendation to serve in the Qing court. Some of them are engaged in astronomical calendars, renovating the Beijing Observatory, and making astronomical instruments; Some went in and out of the court and acted as royal teachers, teaching Kangxi mathematics, astronomy, and physics; Some are engaged in music, painting, and sculpture; Some are in the manufacturing office, instructing workers to make self-striking bells and other machinery; Others assisted the Qing government in making a map of the whole country, surveying and mapping in various provinces, and accurately completed the famous "Panorama of the Imperial Opinion".

With the rise of John Tong's unjust imprisonment, a nationwide manhunt of missionaries was launched, and the religious activities of believers were banned. After John Tong was rehabilitated, more than 20 of the arrested missionaries were still being held in Guangdong, and Catholic activities were still banned in the provinces. As a result, the priests in Beijing took a bold step and decided to resign from their official positions. Kangxi knew their intentions, so he sent his uncle Tong Guogang to comfort them, and told them to wait patiently, because there were still many apostatous people in the court, and it might be inappropriate to suddenly relax the ban on religion. The priests thus understood that the Emperor had no intention of being hostile to the Church, and they reached an understanding.

It was not until 1670 that Kangxi issued an edict exonerating missionaries, allowing 25 priests in Guangzhou to return to their own churches, and on the other hand, not allowing churches to be built or Chinese to join the Church. Despite the restrictions, missionary work can be carried out legally. Emperor Kangxi was very trusting, friendly and respectful to Nan Huairen, and was also very friendly and tolerant of other missionaries. In 1693, Kangxi suffered from malaria, and the imperial doctor could not cure it for a long time, and the missionary Zhang Cheng sent quinine brought by Nanyang and was cured with it. In order to express his gratitude, Kangxi gave land to build a church, named "Savior Church", which is the predecessor of today's North Hall. In the first 40 years of the Kangxi Dynasty, great progress was made in missionary work.

2. The Controversy of Etiquette

While the missionary cause in China was progressing smoothly, there was a dispute within the church over liturgical issues, which is known as the "liturgical controversy."

The New Catholic Encyclopedia defines the "Chinese liturgical controversy" in three ways: first, scholars worship Confucius; the second is family worshipping ancestors; The third is the controversy between Chinese and Western languages about the semantics and etymology of the Christian God, which is called the "translation dispute". The "Translation Controversy" first arose between the Jesuits. Simply put, it is how to correctly choose the appropriate words to translate God's name in Chinese. Whether to use "heaven", "God", or "God". Dozens of missionaries in China had different views and began a theological discussion. In the thirties of the 17th century, the "Chinese liturgical controversy" expanded to the Catholic Church. The key question remains: is the ritual of "worshiping Confucius and worshipping heaven" popular among Chinese scholars and folks heretical according to Catholic doctrine? Can the Church tolerate the ancestral worship practices of Chinese Christians who have converted to Catholicism and participated in church life?

The controversy in China and Europe gradually involved people with different attitudes: 1) the Jesuits who defended the Chinese liturgy and the Chinese believers led by them; 2. Strongly opposed to other Jesuit congregations, including the Dominicans, Franciscans, Augustinians, and the Paris Foreign Missions; 3. The Holy See, which has difficulty in judging the disputes of the missionaries of various sects in China, and must make a ruling; 4. The Kangxi Emperor, who was eventually angry with foreign clergy and popes interfering in Chinese affairs.

The consequences of this controversy were extremely unpleasant, and neither party to the controversy gained anything from the events that followed. On the contrary, the congregations were expelled from the country by the Emperor of China, and the Holy See almost lost the Chinese Church that had been established after 150 years of hard work. And all Chinese who are interested in Western civilization, from emperors to doctors and Christians, have also lost access to Western civilization.

The "Chinese etiquette controversy" officially broke out, first in Fujian. Because the Jesuit Julius who presided over the local church fully inherited Matteo Ricci's missionary line, he was praised as "Confucius from the West" by the local gentry. He took a very liberal approach to Chinese culture, including allowing his followers to enter ancestral halls and Confucian temples. Chinese believers everywhere still maintain the old habits of the Matteo Ricci period. This tolerant approach aroused opposition from the Franciscans. In 1633, the Franciscan Li Antang arrived in Fujian to preach, and he was shocked that the Jesuit priests tolerated heresy and united with the Dominicans against the Jesuit practice.

The Dominicans were theological authorities in Europe, and for a long time they presided over the Inquisition of the Holy See and had a special say in judging heresy. However, the Dominicans lack an internal view of Chinese cultural problems, and there are no Confucian doctors as friends, and the mission focus is on the Nanyang Islands, Taiwan and Fujian are their extensions, and there are no missionaries in Chinese mainland. The impact of all of this on them is twofold: on the one hand, there is a lack of understanding of the Chinese written tradition; On the other hand, I am particularly touched by the superstitious activities that are particularly serious in Fujian.

The Dominican theologians in the Inquisition rarely visited China, and their views on Chinese liturgical issues were largely formed in Europe. At that time, Europeans' understanding of Chinese culture basically came from "Matteo Ricci's Chinese Notes" and another book written by the Spaniard Rada, "The Conquest of the Philippine Islands: Remembering the Chinese Affairs of the Ming Dynasty". The former represents the views of the Society of Jesus and endorses Confucian etiquette. Rada, an Augustinian monk who had traveled to Fujian and made a fuss about Chinese etiquette, was shocking to the opinionated Europeans of the time. When the Dominicans began to wage liturgical controversy, the focus was on the issue of idols that the Rada had originally mentioned. They insisted: Why do the Chinese spill the first of the three cups of wine on the ground when they pay tribute to their ancestors? Why do you believe that after death, souls come and go between heaven, earth, and tablets? Why do Chinese bow down when they see the tablet of some god? According to Christian theology, these are indeed indoctrinal. It would be difficult for the Jesuits to answer.

At first, the controversy was confined to the Far East, and in Fuzhou, Guangzhou, and Manila, after the Jesuits expressed their non-cooperation, the Bishop of Manila decided to refer the conflict to Rome. In 1645, the theologians of the Holy See's Inquisition made a decision in favor of the Spanish Order, based on the words of the Dominican Morryohan, who had preached in Fujian. This document, which is considered to be the first document of the Holy See on the "Chinese liturgical controversy", is extremely unfavorable to the Jesuits, and there is no room for compromise. However, according to the existing Chinese and Western literature, it did not immediately have a great impact in Chinese mainland. Obviously, China was at war at that time.

In 1654, the Jesuit Wei Kuangguo made a special trip to Rome to defend the "Chinese ritual controversy", explaining that Chinese sacrifice was only a social ritual, not a religious superstition. Accordingly, Pope Alexander VII decided in 1656 that Chinese believers could perform sacrificial rites if the question of Chinese etiquette was as Wei Kuangguo had said. This is the second document of the "Chinese Liturgy Controversy", which is totally inclined to the Jesuits.

In 1659, the Roman Missionary sent an unusual instruction to three missionaries in Paris in China: "Do not try to persuade the Chinese to change their manners, their customs, their way of thinking, for these are not openly opposed to religion and good morality." What could be more stupid than to export France, Spain, Italy, or any other European country to China? Not to export these European countries, but to export this faith. This belief does not contradict the ceremonial practices of any race. ”

This unmistakable language represents a very enlightened attitude, which could have brought the Chinese etiquette debate to an early end and avoided more clashes between Chinese and Western cultures in the future. Unfortunately, this is not the case. In the same year, when Li Antang, who had become bishop of Jinan, passed through Hangzhou, Wei Kuangguo conveyed the above opinion and the Roman edict to him, which greatly angered him. He learned from the Jesuit Wang Ruwang about the inside story of the controversy within the Jesuit Society on the issue of Chinese liturgy decades ago, and also saw the documents against Chinese liturgy left by Long Huamin. This boosted Fr. Lee's confidence and he sent a Franciscan friar to Europe to complain.

During this period (1664-1670), most of the missionaries were deported to Guangzhou, and these 23 priests (3 Dominicans, 1 Franciscan, and the rest of the Jesuits) held the famous "Guangzhou Conference" in the history of the mission in the Guangzhou Jesuits, and in their 40-day conference (December 18, 1667-January 26, 1668), they made a comprehensive summary of the Chinese missionary activities in the past 100 years, and the question of Chinese etiquette became the focus of fierce debate. In the end, the bill was passed by vote, and everyone continued to compromise on the issue of Chinese etiquette. In 1656, the decision of Pope Alexander VII was implemented.

However, the signatory Dominican monks, upon their return to Europe, published Traditional Chinese History, Politics and Religion, which went on to condemn Chinese liturgy as heretical, causing great repercussions in the West and gaining the support of the devout, leaving Rome in another dilemma.

At this critical moment, a group of priests from the French Foreign Mission Society in Paris and the Missionary Society directly under the Holy See came to China, including Bishop Yan Dang, a doctor of theology from the University of Paris, France, who intensified the liturgical controversy in China. In 1693, Bishop Yan Dang in Fujian issued an order that Chinese liturgy should be strictly forbidden in his diocese, and that the "Respect to Heaven" plaque given to John Tang by Emperor Kangxi should be removed from churches everywhere. In addition, Yan Dang mobilized European theologians to support him. In 1700, after 30 discussions, the Theological Faculty of the University of Paris declared Chinese liturgy heretical. At that time, the University of Paris was engaged in a polemic with the Society of Jesus, and although the Pope did not immediately support the judgment of the Divinity School of the University of Paris, he had to pay attention to it. In 1704, Pope Clement XI presided over a comprehensive discussion of Yan Dang's criticisms, which resulted in a categorical decision to ban Chinese liturgy. When the papal envoy Bishop Dora arrived in Macao the following year, the liturgical controversy in China went beyond theological discussion and was not even a clash of cultures, but into a clash of ecclesiastical power and political interests, represented by the Pope of Rome and the Emperor of China.

3. Prohibition of Religion

Kangxi didn't want to teach at first, but just wanted to use his authority to preserve Chinese etiquette and the decency of the Son of Heaven. His major plan was to nationalize the Catholic Church in China, which had a history of more than 100 years. The solution was to make all missionaries in China loyal to them and disassociate themselves from the Vatican in Rome. He was ready to be a patron of the Catholic Church in China. Priests who wish to remain in China must demonstrate their observance of Chinese etiquette and receive a stamp before they are allowed to preach. The ticket reads: "A certain Westerner, a certain year, in a certain meeting, came to China for a certain number of years, never returned to the West, and has come to Beijing to make a pilgrimage to His Majesty." Give a ticket for this. It was issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, indicating that Kangxi regarded him as a retainer. Never return to the West, similar to the modern sense of Chinese nationality.

Kangxi took very harsh measures against the missionaries who did not want to make a statement, ordering their deportation to Macau. Among the emperors of the Qing Dynasty, Kangxi was the most open and interested in Western studies. Personally, he genuinely liked the scholarship and ideas brought by the Catholic missionaries, and even often put Catholic catechesis on his lips and in his poems, so he tried not to exacerbate the conflict. But the emperor's personal tastes of learning, thought, and belief must also be subordinated to the general interests and image of the dynasty. Worshipping the heavens, worshiping Confucius, and Fazu are related to China's national foundation and the tradition of educating the people, and he cannot make concessions.

In March 1715, Clement XI again issued a draconian ban, which became known as "From That Day" because the first sentence of the ban was "from that day". The ban requires that all disputes over Chinese etiquette around the world should be completely ended in accordance with this regulation. In terms of content, in addition to repeating the severity of the attitude that had been in place since 1704, the ban also added an oath requiring all missionaries in China and those who would visit China to sign an oath. The original or a certified copy of the oath must be delivered to the Inquisition, otherwise it is not possible to hold a confession, sermon, or officiate at Mass in China.

After Kangxi read "Since That Day", he criticized: "Reading this notice, you can only say that Westerners and other villains can speak of China's Dali." In addition, Westerners and so on, none of them have a Chinese book. There are many ridiculous people who talk about it. Today, when I saw the minister's notice, it turned out to be the same as a monk and a Taoist priest and a heretical sect. There is no one who seems to talk nonsense. After that, there was no need for Westerners to preach in China, and it was forbidden to avoid much trouble. ”

After Kangxi, both the Yongzheng and Qianlong dynasties adopted a strict ban on Catholicism, which lasted until before the Opium War. Since then, the missionary work of the Catholic Church has been temporarily underground, but it has never been interrupted.