Emperor of China - Qing Dynasty - Page 2

The Kangxi period is noted for advancement in learning to which Xuanye made significant contributions. Desirous of lessening the opposition of recalcitrant Chinese scholars to the new régime, he solicited their help in the compilation of the Ming-shih. In order to obtain capable scholars for this project he summoned many to complete in a special examination. He selected learned men and good calligraphers to be his personal secretaries, their office being known as the Nan shu-fang or Imperial Study. Many famous works on literature and art were compiled by his order.

The Emperor took notice of scientific matters and he became interested in mathematics during the controversy (1668-69) concerning Chinese and Western calendrical methods. Finding that his high officials were ignorant of the subject, he determined to learn something of it for himself. The Jesuit missionaries, having proved their calculations to be correct, were placed in charge of the Imperial Board of Astronomy and were asked to teach the Emperor Western sciences. In the last decade of his reign Xuanye arranged for a group of young Chinese and Manchus to be tutored by the Jesuits.

Early in the Kangxi reign-period Catholic missionaries in the provinces were often persecuted, but in 1692 they obtained a decree from Xuanye legalizing and protecting missionary work in the empire. In 1693, for the service at court - especially for having cured the Emperor of malaria, with quinine - the French missionaries were given a piece of land inside the Forbidden City, with permission (1703) to erect a church there which was completed ten years. Xuanye tried to foster the military traditions of the Manchus by going on hunting trips regularly. At first he often visited the old hunting grounds at Nan-yϋan, south of the capital. In 1677 he made a journey to Jehol, and after 1683 went there once each year, chiefly during the summer months. Beginning in 1703 he built the summer palaces at Jehol.

Near Peking Xuanye restored a garden (ca. 1687) that had once belonged to a nobleman of the Ming period and there he often spent several months in each year. It was in this garden that for several years he studied mathematics with the Jesuit missionaries to whom he granted a residence nearby.

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