Author(s)

Gao Bo ¹

Affiliation(s)

¹ School of Foreign Languages, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

Corresponding Author

Gao Bo

ABSTRACT

This paper focuses on Mendoza's book History of the Great and Mighty Kingdom of China, a seminal work of the sixteenth century. Through a detailed analysis of Mendoza's writing, the study reveals his reconstruction of several key social systems of the Ming dynasty, including the supervisory system, the judicial system, the social welfare system, and the imperial examination system. The paper also examines how Mendoza used Gaspar da Cruz's reports to reconstruct China's social systems. The underlying intentions of Mendoza's rewriting are also explored, as well as the factors that contributed to the construction of these systems from the perspective of the Other. The ultimate aim is to reveal the process and characteristics of European perceptions of Chinese social system within the intercultural context of the period. This approach provides a more comprehensive understanding of the cultural exchanges and cognitive formations between East and West during the sixteenth century.

KEYWORDS

China; Ming dynasty; social system; 16th century; missionary

CITE THIS PAPER

Gao Bo, The Ming Dynasty's Social System through the Lens of 16th-Century European Missionaries: A Historical and Ethnographic Approach. Lecture Notes on History (2025) Vol. 7: 21-29. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23977/history.2025.070104.

REFERENCES

[1] Mendoza Juan González de. Historia de las cosas mas notables, ritos y costumbres, del gran Reyno de la China, sabidas assi por los libros de los mesmos Chinas, como por relacion de Religiosos y otras personas que an estado en el dicho Reyno [M]. Roma: Vicencio Accolti, 1585. 
[2] Gao Bo. The Evangelical Aim in the History of the Great and Mighty Kingdom of China by Juan González de Mendoza, a 16th Century European Work on China [J]. Religions. 2024(5): 517.
[3] Mendoza Juan González de. The history of the great and mighty kingdom of China and the situation thereof, Translated by Parke, R. Edited by Staunton, G. T.[M]. London: The Hakluyt Society. 1853:125, 118, 164, 147, 66-67, 68.
[4] Mendoza Juan González de. The history of the great and mighty kingdom of China and the situation thereof, Translated by Parke, R. Edited by Staunton, G. T.[M]. London: The Hakluyt Society. 1854: 293.
[5] Boxer Charles Ralph. South China in the Sixteenth Century (1550–1575) [M]. London: the Hakluyt Society.1953:158, 175-176, 151, 150, 219. 
[6] Wang Xingya. A Study of the Yang Ji Yuan in the Ming dynasty [J].Journal of Zhengzhou University (Philosophy and Social Science Edition), 1989(3): 55. 
[7] Sande Francisco de. Carta a Felipe II del Gobernador de Filipinas, doctor Sande. Da cuenta de su llegada y accidentes de su viaje; de la falta que hay allí de todo, y habla de Religiosos, minas, de la China, Mindanao, Borneo, etc, 1576 [OL]. https://arxiu-web.upf.edu/asia/projectes/che/s16/sande1576.htm. (last access: 2025-02-04)
[8] Gao Bo, Luo Huiling. Before Orientalism: deconstructing the "Sacred Orientalism" in a 16th-century's writing on China History of the great and mighty kingdom of China by Juan González de Mendoza [J]. Journal of Humanities across the Straits, 2024 (04): 94.

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