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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