"Images of China" intends to analyse the influence of China in Europe between the sixteenth and the eighteenth century as a major European window on Chinese culture and an agent of change in the intellectual and cultural history of Europe. This project entails four converging lines of research: a philological analysis of the Italian Jesuit Michele Ruggieri (1543-1607) and his writings on China; an historical analysis of the information provided by Jesuit missionaries such as, among others, M. Ricci, N. Trigault, M. Martini, D. Bartoli, and J. Bouvet and the ways in which European intellectuals used such information; an investigation of the image of China resulting from the "Lettres edifiantes et curieuses," the most influential work produced between 1702 and 1778 by the Jesuits in order to inform the European public of their missionary adventures; and a study of the European cartographic images of East Asia and China from the thirteenth until the seventeenth century. The project will also provide a digital platform hosting specific databases for the texts and images analysed in each of the lines of research.
The new literary, historiographical and cartographical knowledge generated by this project will significantly advance our understanding of the role played by Chinese culture in the emergence of Enlightenment culture in Europe. This project will fill a lacuna in current scholarship and foster connections with other research groups in Europe, China and Australia working on the influence of China on European culture. While, in terms of societal benefits, it will provide tools for navigating cross-cultural relations today, on a scholarly level, it will give valuable insights into new trends in historical and literary research. Overall, this project will advance Italy’s standing in research on Sino-European encounters and, by providing a state-of-the-art digital platform to elaborate and present its results, in the area of digital methods for the humanities.