In 1584 the great Chinese scholar of the Jesuits Matteo Ricci commenced his studies at Macao From 1580 the Viceroy of the Cantonese province had established biannual trade fairs lasting several weeks at which Chinese and Westerners exchanged ideas and goods The interchange between East and West was intense just at the moment when Chu Tsai Yu went into print with his new theory It is a case of perfect timing which gives one the feeling that it was meant to happen We do not know the exact mode of transmission of the idea to Europe there can be no doubt that Western music was to be totally conquered by the Ming prince for within fifty two years of Chu s publication his ideas were published by Pere Marin Mersenne The Ming Dynasty ended eight years later but Ming music today blares from every transistor radio in the world I got this from The Genius of China 3 000 years of science discovery and invention by Robert Temple