Chinese Rites Controversy - The Problem

The Problem

The Society of Jesus (Jesuits) was successful in penetrating China and serving at the Imperial court (see Jesuit China missions). They impressed the Chinese with their knowledge of European astronomy and mechanics, and in fact ran the Imperial Observatory. Their accurate methods allowed the Emperor to successfully predict eclipses, one of his ritual duties. Other Jesuits functioned as court painters. The Jesuits in turn were impressed by the Chinese Confucian elite, and adapted to that lifestyle.

The primary goal of the Jesuits was to spread Catholicism, but here they had a problem. The Chinese elite were attached to Confucianism, while Buddhism and Taoism were mostly practiced by the common people and lower aristocracy of this period. Despite this, all three provided the framework of both state and home life. Part of Confucian and Taoist practices involved veneration of one's ancestors.

Besides the Jesuits, other religious orders such as the Dominicans, Franciscans, and Augustinians started missionary work in China during the 17th century, often coming from the Spanish colony of the Philippines. Contrary to the Jesuits, they refused any adaptation to local customs and wished to apply in China the same tabula rasa principle they had applied in other places, and were horrified by the practices of the Jesuits.

They ignited a heated controversy and brought it to Rome. They raised three main points of contention:

• Determination of the Chinese word for "God", which was generally accepted as 天主 Tianzhu (Lord of Heaven), while Jesuits were available to allow Chinese Christians to use 天 Tian (Heaven) or 上帝 Shangdi (Lord of Above / Supreme Emperor)
• Prohibition for Christians to participate in the season rites for Confucius.
• Prohibition for Christians of the use of tablets with the forbidden inscription "site of the soul", and to follow the Chinese rites for the ancestor worship.

In Rome, the Jesuits tried to argue that these "Chinese Rites" were social (rather than religious) ceremonies, and that converts should be allowed to continue to participate. (The debate was not, as is sometimes thought, about whether the liturgy could be in Chinese rather than in Latin). The Jesuits argued that Chinese folk religion and offerings to the Emperor and departed ancestors were civil in nature and therefore not incompatible with Catholicism, while their opponents argued that these kinds of worship were a normal expression of local religion and therefore they should be incompatible for Chinese Christians.