Matteo Ricci’s Dell’Amicizia as Medium for Successful Christian Proselytization in Ming China

Dell’ Amicizia was not simply the first piece ever written by a European in Chinese, but a prized item in a number of prominent Chinese encyclopedias and literary collections. The article looks at the origins of this essay, the circumstances in which it was written, the structure of the treatise, and the extent of its spread. Based on the most popular maxims of European philosophical thought, from classical antiquity to a collection of Latin aphorisms compiled by André de Resende, the work, included in the official compendia, was later purged from them by the Manchu officials. The article retells a little hoax perpetrated by Ricci to ensure Dell’Amicizia was presented in the best possible light. The author argues that, by choosing a neutral subject rooted in cultural basics, Ricci was able to appeal directly to a common denominator, one both humane and intellectual, and in doing so not only demonstrated his right to interact with the Chinese cultural elite as a literary peer, but also showed that representatives of both civilizations had much more in common than previously thought

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