| Chinese name | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Confucius, Philosopher of the Chinese, or, Chinese Knowledge Explained in Latin (1687), produced by a team of Jesuits led by Philippe Couplet. | |||||||||
| Bai Yingli | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 柏應理 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 柏应理 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
PhilippeCouplet, SJ (1623–1693), known in China asBai Yingli, was aFlemishJesuitmissionary to theQing Empire. He worked with his fellow missionaries to compile the influentialConfucius, Philosopher of the Chinese, published inParis in 1687. As his works were inLatin, he is also sometimes known asPhilippus Couplet.
Philippe Couplet was born inMechelen in theSpanish Netherlands (nowBelgium)[1] in 1623. He entered the Jesuit Order in 1640.
Couplet's interest in China was aroused by a lecture byMartino Martini, a former Jesuit missionary there.[1] Couplet initially left for China in 1656, in a group of new Jesuit recruits led byMichał Boym, who was returning to China with the Pope's response to theSouthern Ming'sYongli Emperor plea for help.[2]Couplet took various responsibilities throughout China, but had to take refuge inCanton during the 1665–1670 persecutions.[1]
Couplet worked closely withCandida Xu (Chinese:徐甘第大, Xu Gandida; 1607–1680), a granddaughter ofXu Guangqi and a devout Christian herself. Under her patronage, he was able to establish a number of new churches throughoutJiangnan.[2]
Couplet was sent back to Europe in 1681 asProcurator of theChina Jesuits inRome. His mission was to obtain papal agreement for theliturgy to be sung in Chinese.[1] On his visit to thePapal States, he gave thePope a library of Chinese translations of Christian books.[1] While in Europe, his visit toLouis XIV triggered plans for the dispatch of five Jesuit mathematicians to the Chinese Court.[1]
Upon his return to Europe in 1685 Couplet brought with him two Chinese converts, includingMichael Shen (Shen Fuzong), one of the first Chinese men known to visit Europe; they sawItaly,France, andEngland.[3][4] Soon after, Couplet and Shen answered questions about the nature of theChinese language posed bylinguists inOxford,[5]Berlin, andVienna.[3]
In 1686 Couplet published in ParisTabula chronologica monarchiae sinicae, a "chronological table of the Chinese monarchy", in an attempt to show that there was agreement between theSeptuagint and the Chinese chronological records.[3] To prove his point he had to add 1400 years to the time period that existed between Creation and the birth of Abraham.[3] This however did not satisfy the European intelligentsia or the missionaries in China.[3] His work nevertheless had a major impact in other areas of European science.[6]Leibniz, for example, was able to establish, after communicating with the Jesuits, that thebinary system he had invented also existed in theYijing.[6]
In 1687, leadingProspero Intorcetta,Christian Wolfgang Herdtrich, andFrançois de Rougemont, Couplet publishedConfucius Sinarum Philosophus ("Confucius, Philosopher of the Chinese"), an annotated translation of three out of theFour Books of theConfucian canon.[7] The work—parts of which had appeared earlier in separate, little known, editions—built upon the efforts of several generations of Jesuit missionaries[8] and was dedicated toLouis XIV.[3][9] The preface to the translation[10] highly praised the works of Confucius:
"One might say that the moral system of this philosopher is infinitely sublime, but that it is at the same time simple, sensible, and drawn from the purest sources of natural reason... Never has Reason, deprived of Divine Revelation, appeared so well developed nor with so much power."
— Preface toConfucius Sinarum Philosophus.[11]
Although wanting to return to China, he had to wait until a dispute between thevicars apostolic of the Asian missions (to which he had taken an oath of obedience) and the Portuguesepadroado system (his initial tutelary organization) was resolved.[1] After an agreement was reached eight years later, Couplet finally left for China.[1] As he was en route, however, a heavy chest fell on his head during a storm in theArabian Sea, severely injuring the septuagenarian Jesuit. He died the next day, 16 May 1693, as his ship was about to reachGoa.[12]
