Du Halde
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Jean-Baptiste Du Halde (; 1 February 1674 – 18 August 1743) was a French Jesuit
historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...
specializing in
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. He did not travel to China, but collected seventeen Jesuit missionaries' reports and provided an encyclopedic survey of the history, culture and society of China and " Chinese Tartary," that is, Manchuria. Voltaire said of Du Halde's work: "Although it is developed out of Paris, and he hath not known the Chinese, egave on the basis of the memoirs of his colleagues, the widest and the best description the empire of China has had worldwide."''Le Siècle de Louis XIV, Catalogue de la plupart des écrivains français qui ont paru dans le Siècle de Louis XIV, pour servir à l’histoire littéraire de ce temps'', 1751.


Career

Du Halde entered the
Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...
in 1692 and became professor at the College of Paris succeeding Charles Le Gobien. From 1711 to 1743 he oversaw the publication of , written from Foreign Missions, by
Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...
missionaries in China, published in 34 volumes ranges between 1703 and 1776. He wrote prefaces for volumes IX to XXVI. He was also Secretary of
Michel Le Tellier Michel Le Tellier, marquis de Barbezieux, seigneur de Chaville et de Viroflay (19 April 1603 – 30 October 1685) was a French statesman. Biography Le Tellier was born in Paris to a Parisian magistrate, Michel III Le Tellier, and his wife, Clau ...
and confessor to the son of the regent in 1729. Du Halde is also the author of writings in Latin as well as a treatise entitled ''Le Sage chrétien, ou les Principes de la vraie sagesse, pour se conduire chrétiennement dans le monde'' (The Christian Sage, or the principles of true wisdom, to lead a Christian in the world), published in 1724.


''Description of China''

Drawn from the Jesuit and unpublished reports containing translations of Chinese texts of various origins, Du Halde's ''Geographical, Historical, Chronological, Political, and Physical Description of the Empire of China and Chinese Tartary'' appeared in Paris in four volumes in 1735; it was reprinted in the Netherlands the next year and translated into English as ''The General History of China'' two years after that. Besides a very detailed geographical description based on work by the
Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
, the book gave encyclopedic coverage of all aspects of Chinese civilization: the emperors and the government; the military and police institutions; the nobility; agriculture and handicrafts; the "genius," "glory", and appearance of Chinese religion, ethics and ceremonies; science and medicine; money and commerce; the language and writing system; the production of porcelain and silkworm breeding. Its understandings of Chinese religion and philosophy were informed by the translations published in 1711 at Prague by the Jesuit François Noël, whose lack of the earlier Christian interpolations in the Chinese text had caused them to be banned in the
Papal States The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...
and the
Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...
. There is also an abstract of the explorations of
Vitus Bering Vitus Jonassen Bering (baptised 5 August 1681 – 19 December 1741),All dates are here given in the Julian calendar, which was in use throughout Russia at the time. also known as Ivan Ivanovich Bering, was a Danish cartographer and explorer in ...
, which was the first European description of
Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
. The book was very quickly added to all academic libraries and has translated into most European languages. It had a significant impact on European society in the 18th century, including a decades-long English interest in China and Chinese thought. The philosophers of the Enlightenment drew on it for their thoughts and controversies about religions, cultures and customs, while European manufacturers discovered the secrets of Chinese geography and the first map of the
Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
by
Jean-Baptiste Régis Jean-Baptiste Régis (11 June 1663 or 29 January 1664 – 24 November 1738) was a French Jesuit missionary in imperial China. Biography and works He was born at Istres, in Provence, on 11 June 1663, or 29 January 1664; died in Beijing on 24 Novem ...
and 42 maps of Chinese provinces by
Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville (; born in Paris 11 July 169728 January 1782) was a French geographer and cartographer who greatly improved the standards of map-making. D'Anville became cartographer to the king, who purchased his cartographic ...
.


See also

*
Jesuit China missions The history of the missions of the Jesuits in China is part of the history of relations between China and the Western world. The missionary efforts and other work of the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, between the 16th and 17th century played a si ...


References


Citations


Sources

* . * . * . * Isabelle Landry-Deron, ''La Preuve par la Chine : la Description de J.-B. Du Halde, jésuite, 1735'', Éditions de l'École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris, 2002.


External links


Travel Exhibit Du Halde
{{DEFAULTSORT:Du Halde, Jean-Baptiste Writers from Paris 1674 births 1743 deaths 18th-century French Jesuits 18th-century French historians French sinologists Lycée Louis-le-Grand teachers