page_title: Jesuit China missions
section_title: French Jesuits
hierarchical_section_title: Jesuit China missions / Jesuits in China / French Jesuits
caption_attribution_description: Latina: "Paradigma XV Provinciarum et CLV Urbium Capitalium Sinensis Imperij". Confucius Sinarum Philosophus. English: "A Map of the 15 Provinces and 155 Capital Cities of the Chinese Empire", with descriptive text below, from Confucius, the Philosopher of the Chinese, Bk III, between pages 104 &amp; 105. Note the southward course of the Yellow River (Croceus Flu.), which it followed for centuries before the 1850s floods.
context_page_description: The history of the missions of the Jesuits in China is part of the history of relations between China and the Western world. The missionary efforts and other work of the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, between the 16th and 17th century played a significant role in continuing the transmission of knowledge, science, and culture between China and the West, and influenced Christian culture in Chinese society today.
  The first attempt by the Jesuits to reach China was made in 1552 by St. Francis Xavier, Navarrese priest and missionary and founding member of the Society of Jesus. Xavier never reached the mainland, dying after only a year on the Chinese island of Shangchuan. Three decades later, in 1582, Jesuits once again initiated mission work in China, led by several figures including the Italian Matteo Ricci, introducing Western science, mathematics, astronomy, and visual arts to the Chinese imperial court, and carrying on significant inter-cultural and philosophical dialogue with Chinese scholars, particularly with representatives of Confucianism.
context_section_description: In 1685, the French king Louis XIV sent a mission of five Jesuit "mathematicians" to China in an attempt to break the Portuguese predominance: Jean de Fontaney (1643–1710), Joachim Bouvet(1656–1730), Jean-François Gerbillon (1654–1707), Louis Le Comte (1655–1728) and Claude de Visdelou (1656–1737).
  French Jesuits played a crucial role in disseminating accurate information about China in Europe.
caption: A map of the 200-odd Jesuit churches and missions established across China c. 1687.
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