Christmas 1668 and After: How Jesuit Astronomy Was Restored to Power in Beijing
Résumé
This article offers new insights into a series of dramatic events that took place at the
imperial Chinese court in December 1668, in which astronomy, politics, and religion
all played major roles. Jesuit missionaries had served the Manchu rulers of the Qing 清
dynasty as official astronomers since the dynasty seized Beijing in 1644. But in autumn
1664, the Jesuits at court were imprisoned as a result of a prosecution launched by a
Chinese scholar, Yang Guangxian 楊光先. After initial sentences of death or banishment
on those Jesuits principally concerned had been commuted to house arrest in May
1665, they spent the next few years confined to their residence, while their missionary
colleagues elsewhere in China were removed to Canton. As a result of what took place
during the months from December 1668 to summer 1669, the Jesuits were restored
to imperial favour, and the responsibility for astronomy was once more placed in
their hands. In this article, which arises from our research for a book-length study in
preparation, we use a number of previously unexploited contemporary accounts in
languages including Portuguese, French, Latin, Chinese, and Manchu to reveal a new
picture of the close interplay of political and astronomical events that took place during
the period of the Jesuits’ rehabilitation by the Qing court.