Arcadio Huang - Installation in Paris

Installation in Paris

According to his memoirs, Arcadio moved to Paris in 1704 or 1705 at the home of the Foreign Missions. There, his protectors continued his religious and cultural training, with plans to ordain him for work in China. But Arcadio preferred to turn to civilian life. He settled permanently in Paris as a "Chinese interpreter to the Sun King" and began working under the guidance and protection of abbot Jean-Paul Bignon. He is also said to have become the king's librarian in charge of cataloging Chinese books in the Royal library.

Huang encountered Montesquieu, with whom he had many discussions about Chinese customs. Huang is said to have been Montesquieu's inspiration for the narrative device in his Persian Letters, in which the narrative is made from the point of view of an Asian who discusses the customs of the West.

Huang became very famous in Parisian salons. In 1713, Huang married a Parisian woman named Marie-Claude Regnier. In 1715, she gave birth to a healthy daughter, also named Marie-Claude, but the mother died a few days later. Discouraged, Huang himself died a year and a half later, and their daughter a few months later.