Taipei Ricci Institute
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Taipei Ricci Institute (TRI) in
Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...
,
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
, is one of four Ricci Institutes.


History

Heir to the spirit of
Matteo Ricci Matteo Ricci, SJ (; la, Mattheus Riccius; 6 October 1552 – 11 May 1610), was an Italians, Italian Society of Jesus, Jesuit Priesthood in the Catholic Church, priest and one of the founding figures of the Jesuit China missions. He create ...
’s methods of evangelization in China in the 17th century, the Taipei Ricci Institute was established in 1966 by Father Yves Raguin, S.J. (1912-1998) and other
Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...
sinologist Sinology, or Chinese studies, is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of China primarily through Chinese philosophy, language, literature, culture and history and often refers to Western scholarship. Its origin "may be traced to the ex ...
s who were working on a multi-linguistic dictionary project launched around 1950 in
Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...
. Working on Chinese languages and religions, this institution revived the “Bureau d’Etudes Sinologiques” created in 1892 by the French Jesuits of
Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
and its publication ''Variétés Sinologiques''. The TRI keeps the editorial direction of the ''Variétés sinologiques'' today. What is now known as the “Taipei Ricci Institute” was and is officially named “Ricci Institute, Center for Chinese Studies”. The creation of other Ricci Institutes has enlarged the network and the influences of this institution. In 1996,
Benoît Vermander Benoît Vermander (born 1960), also known as Wei Mingde () and Bendu (), is a French Jesuit, sinologist, political scientist, and painter. He is currently professor of religious sciences at Fudan University, Shanghai, as well as academic director ...
, S.J. succeeded to Yves Raguin, taking over the running of the TRI. Accrued interaction with mainland China led to a redefinition of the tasks of the institute, now defined as follows:
to carry on dialogue and reflection towards and within the Chinese world, in order to make China become positive and active partner of globalization, thanks to a reinterpretation of its cultural resources. “Cultural diversity”, “sustainable development” and “spiritual empowerment” are the three poles of development that the TRI constructs in confronting challenges and debates present in today’s China.


Works

At the beginning, the TRI had two goals: *To achieve the preparation and publication of dictionaries, work started in 1950. Since the 1970s, some middle-sized dictionaries have been published: Chinese-French, Chinese-Spanish and Chinese-Hungarian. Le
Grand Ricci ''Le Grand Ricci'' (or ''Grand dictionnaire Ricci de la langue chinoise''; ), published in 2001, is a highly comprehensive Chinese–French dictionary, largely focusing on historical Chinese. It takes its name from the 15th century Italian missio ...
, the most important dictionary, was published in 2002: It includes seven volumes, 9,000 pages, 13,500 words and more than 300,000 definitions. It is recognized as the most complete Chinese-foreign language dictionary in the world. *To conduct studies of comparative spirituality, with a special interest for Chinese Taoism and Buddhism. Yves Raguin has published about 20 books on this topic.禱念甘易逢神父 Father Yves Raguin, In Memoriam
/ref> (See www.riccibase.com.) His works reflect an effort on dialogue with the other religions and trends of philosophical thinking, that were emphasized in Council Vatican II.


TRI publications

Besides the ''Dictionnaire Ricci de la langue chinoise'' (or Le
Grand Ricci ''Le Grand Ricci'' (or ''Grand dictionnaire Ricci de la langue chinoise''; ), published in 2001, is a highly comprehensive Chinese–French dictionary, largely focusing on historical Chinese. It takes its name from the 15th century Italian missio ...
) TRI has authored or published more than 20 books in the field of Chinese studies, in Chinese, French and English, during the last decade, with special emphasis on oracular inscriptions, philosophy of peace and minority languages. Especially noteworthy is the publication of ''Chinese Christian Texts from the Roman Archives of the Society of Jesus''. This collection of 12 volumes contains a selection of hitherto unpublished texts.


Renlai monthly

''Renlai magazine'' (“human flute-or voice”), a Chinese expression created by
Zhuangzi Zhuangzi may refer to: * ''Zhuangzi'' (book) (莊子), an ancient Chinese collection of anecdotes and fables, one of the foundational texts of Daoism **Zhuang Zhou Zhuang Zhou (), commonly known as Zhuangzi (; ; literally "Master Zhuang"; als ...
, Taoist philosopher, is a monthly magazine written in Chinese, published in
Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...
since January 2004. This magazine is mainly concerned with social, spiritual and cultural topics. Edited by Renlai staff and TRI, the magazine is published in association with the French Jesuit review '' Etudes''. Since 2006, TRI has started an internet magazine ''eRenlai'', available in English, Chinese, both traditional and simplified. Renlai and eRenlai are particularly concerned about questions such as sustainable development, cultural diversity and mobilization of spiritual resources in the Chinese world.


References


Bibliography

* Raguin, Yves, S.J., The History of the Grand Dictionnaire Ricci de la Langue Chinoise, ''The Ricci Bulletin 1999-2000'', No. 3, January 2000, p. 53-64. * Raguin, Yves, S.J., Une grande entreprise lexicographique, la collection de dictionnaires chinois des pères jésuites de Taichung (Formose), ''Etudes'', jan 1956, pp. 261–267. * Vermander, Benoît, S.J., ''Le Dictionnaire Ricci et les échanges culturels Chine – Occident'', Paris: Institut Ricci de Taipei, 2000. (魏明德,沈秀貞譯,利氏漢法字典與中西文化交流,台北:利氏學社,2000) *Institut Ricci: ''Le Grand dictionnaire Ricci de la langue chinois'', 7 Vols. Paris: Institut Ricci de Taipei, 2001. * Vermander, Benoît, S.J., The Catholic Church and Chinese Studies in Taiwan: the Contribution of the Taipei Ricci Institute, ''The Ricci Bulletin 2004'', No. 7, February 2004, p. 17-34.


See also

*
List of Jesuit sites This list includes past and present buildings, facilities and institutions associated with the Society of Jesus. In each country, sites are listed in chronological order of start of Jesuit association. Nearly all these sites have bee ...


External links


TRI Database



eRenlai Magazine website

TRI online bookstore

Read more on the history of the Ricci Institute
{{Authority control Research institutes of Sinology Catholic Church in Taiwan Organizations based in Taipei Religion in Taipei Educational institutions established in 1966 1966 establishments in Taiwan Jesuit development centres