The Manchu Ruler, the Xiyangs, and the Han Elite — Focusing on the Kangxi Emperor’s Response to the Papal Legate’s Visit in 1705

 "The Manchu Ruler, the Xiyangs, and the Han Elite — Focusing on the Kangxi Emperor’s Response to the Papal Legate’s Visit in 1705." Dongyang sahak yŏn’gu (Journal of Asian Historical Studies) 155 (2021): 275–359.

滿洲皇帝, 西洋人 그리고 漢人 ― 敎皇 特使 중국 방문(1705)에 대한 康熙帝의 대처를 중심으로 ―, 『東洋史學研究』 155, 2021, pp.275-359

https://drive.google.com/file/d/18jY05w807OTRLqYbNP3r18nIhk1MgU-M/view?usp=sharing

This article examines the Kangxi emperor’s response to the Rites Controversy in his late reign. When Xuanye was enthroned, one of the central issues he faced was consolidating the Qing rule over his diverse constituents. Towards the late 1690s to 1710s, the emperor’s focus was mainly on Han subjects, and the then relatively stable northern front enabled him to focus more on the ‘southern front’. At this juncture, Xuanye encountered an unexpected challenge, i.e., the Xiyangs’ denial of seminal Chinese rites. In 1707, at Nanjing, the symbolic place for the Han tradition, the Xiyang legate Charles-Thomas Maillard de Tournon proclaimed a ban on the Chinese rites. What did such provocation mean to the Han elite, who, as far as their Chinese traditions were concerned, had risked their life ‘merely’ for their hair half a century ago, and to the Manchu ruler, who shared the memory with them? Towards the end of 1700, The Kangxi emperor began to recognise the Rites Controversy because the Beijing Jesuits requested the emperor’s declaration of the Chinese rites. Since then, the acute emperor began to keep his eye on Xiyang affairs inside and outside the empire through his diverse intelligence channels. For example, the fourth and fifth imperial Southern Tours (nanxun) in 1703 and 1705, respectively, provided a seminal opportunity for his inspection of the Xiyangs throughout the provinces. Meanwhile, in July of 1705, reported about the papal legate’s sudden visit to the Qing Empire, the emperor sensed that his declaration of Chinese rites had not worked in Rome and decided to wage a ‘battle’ with the coming legate. During the ‘battle’, Xuanye’s primary concern lay on his Han constituents. He ordered the legate to be clothed in the Chinese style while coming through China Proper, the Han Chinese world. The emperor added that the tasks related to the legate to be addressed in the Manchu language. Most communications between the emperor and the legate took place in a private and secret space through ‘relay interpreting’ from Manchu to Chinese and then Chinese to Italian or Latin. Simultaneously, those tasks were entrusted to a small circle of the emperor’s close people, such as imperial family members, booi officials from the Imperial Household Department, and Chinese bannermen. The Manchu emperor’s fury exploded while, in August 1706, hearing Maigrot’s lie that there were no degree-holders among his followers. After then, the emperor responded swiftly and alertly. He launched secret investigations across the empire; stopped his imperial mission to Rome being led by Bouvet; arrested Appiani, who was on the way to southern provinces; announced his final judgement on the Rites Controversy; and decided his sixth Southern Tour. In early April, becoming aware of Tournon’s Nanjing ban, the emperor’s response became more active and swift. Privately, he wrote a series of imperial decrees to Xiyang missionaries in Jiangnan. Publicly, he proclaimed an imperial decree at Nanjing, the same place the legate had done his own a few months earlier. In this decree, he particularly portrayed himself as the guardian of Chinese culture before Jiangnan Han officials and elites. At the same time, he removed the ‘uncontrollable, heterodox’ elements out of the Han people’s sight by expelling Tournon and those who did not accept the permit.