An Account of the Entry of the Catholic Religion into Sichuan

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An Account of the Entry of the Catholic Religion into Sichuan
EditorFrançois-Marie-Joseph Gourdon
Original title聖教入川記
CountryRepublican China
LanguageTraditional Chinese (first ed.);
simplified Chinese (reprint)
SubjectHistory of Roman Catholicism in Sichuan; conquest and massacre of Sichuan by Zhang Xianzhong
GenreHistory
Publisher
  • Typis Missionis Catholicae (first ed.);
  • Sichuan People's Publishing House (reprint)
Publication date
1918 (first edition)
April 1981 (reprint)
Media typePrint (paperback)
Pages
  • 76 (first ed.)
  • 139 (reprint)
OCLC14946442

An Account of the Entry of the Catholic Religion into Sichuan (traditional Chinese: 聖教入川記; simplified Chinese: 圣教入川记; pinyin: Shèngjiào Rù Chuān Jì; Wade–Giles: Shêng Chiao Ju Chuan Chi; lit. 'An Account of the Entry of the Holy Religion into Sichuan'), also referred to as Mission to Sichuan, is a 1918 history book edited by Paris Foreign Missions Society missionary François-Marie-Joseph Gourdon in Chinese, and published by Typis Missionis Catholicae in the city of Chongqing (then known as Chungking).[1][2]

Synopsis[]

Allegedly based on Relação das tyranias obradas por Canghien Chungo famoso ladrão da China em o anno de 1651[3] ('Account of Tyrannies Wrought by Zhang Xianzhong, China's Famous Looter in the Year 1651') by Gabriel de Magalhães, the book recounts the early history of Roman Catholic mission in Sichuan throughout the 1640s, providing first-hand witness testimony by Gabriel de Magalhães and Lodovico Buglio on Zhang Xianzhong's reign and massacre in Sichuan.[4]

Editions[]

The first edition contains 76 pages, published in Chongqing by Typis Missionis Catholicae, aimed at Catholics in east Sichuan, hence is limited to only 2000 copies.[5] A Chronicle by Mister Wuma was added to the end of the reprint edition, making a total of 139 pages.[6]:96–139 This version is limited to 3200 copies, published for historical research only.[5]

The editor[]

François-Marie-Joseph Gourdon was born around 1840. He was sent to Chongqing by the Paris Foreign Missions Society in 1866, he died there around 1930.[4] During his station in Chongqing, Gourdon became abbot of the largest among several abbeys that he established. In 1904, he co-founded the Catholic periodical La Vérité (崇實報) with a certain Frenchman Lonis.[6]:1 An Account was edited and noted by Gourdon based on a hand-copy manuscript given to him by a Jesuit in Shanghai,[1] which containing detailed accounts of the first Catholic mission in Sichuan carried out by Gabriel de Magalhães and Lodovico Buglio, and allegedly being Magalhães's Relação das tyranias obradas por Canghien Chungo famoso ladrão da China em o anno de 1651.[6]:4 In 1918, the book was published by the authority of the Bishop of Eastern Szechwan,  [fr].[6]:1

Reception[]

On NetEase, a review says: 'The book provides valuable first-hand historical materials for the study of Zhang Xianzhong's  [de]'.[7] Zheng Guanglu, a Sichuanese writer from Chengdu, remarked that the book is one of the hard evidences of the Sichuan massacre carried out by Zhang Xianzhong, in contrast to the false claim made by some historians that the massacre was fabricated by feudal landlord class out of instinctive hatred against peasant class.[8]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b Swen, Litian (8 March 2021). Jesuit Mission and Submission: Qing Rulership and the Fate of Christianity in China, 1644-1735. Leiden: Brill Publishers. p. 28. ISBN 9789004447011.
  2. ^ Zheng, Yangwen, ed. (18 April 2017). Sinicizing Christianity. Leiden: Brill Publishers. p. 36. ISBN 9789004330382.
  3. ^ Cordier, Henri (1878). Dictionnaire bibliographique des ouvrages relatifs à l'Empire chinois (in French). Paris. p. 289.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b Chan, Hok-lam (2011). "傳教士對張獻忠據蜀稱王的記載：《聖教入川記》的宗教與文化觀點" [Jesuits' Impressions on Zhang Xianzhong in Sichuan (1644–1647) from Buglio, Magalhães, and Gourdon: Contrasting Religious and Cultural Perspectives of Shengjiao Ru Chuan Ji] (PDF). 中國文化研究所學報 [Journal of Chinese Studies] (in Chinese). Hong Kong: Institute of Chinese Studies (52): 68. ISSN 1016-4464. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b Wang, Yan. "圣教入川蒙难记——见证与反思" [The 'Passion' of the Holy Religion in Sichuan: Witness and Reflection]. ccsana.org (in Chinese). Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Gourdon, François-Marie-Joseph, ed. (1981). 圣教入川记 (PDF) (in Chinese). Chengdu: Sichuan People's Publishing House.
  7. ^ "法国有本古书，揭示张献忠的惊人计划：收四个干儿子，征服全世界" [A Book Edited by a Frenchman Reveals Zhang Xianzhong's Unbelievable Ambition]. 163.com (in Chinese). 28 January 2020. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  8. ^ "'张献忠屠四川'非造假 成都曾挖出万人枯骨坑" [The Massacre of Sichuan by Zhang Xianzhong is Not a Fabrication, A Mass Grave Had Been Dug Up in Chengdu]. news.qq.com (in Chinese). 8 April 2010. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
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