“The Wise Man from the West”This is how he is known Mateo Ricci in China, an important historian, scientist, philosopher and thinker, forerunner of Jesuit ideas and moral issues. A great scientist who made important advances such as the most accurate calendar, the making of maps ever seen in China. With his research he was able to predict eclipses and even translate the four books of “ConfuciusTo Latin. Today he is well known for devising the first system to transcribe the Chinese language into Roman letters.
He continued with his indoctrination work and thanks to the support he received from scholars and academics, he was able to open a Nanking residence, there he was capturing a good number of followers and changing ideologies and converting to the Jesuit doctrine how many people he visited, his mission was to reach Beijing, and meet with the emperor, once indoctrinated this would be easier total conversion of China. Thus, after much effort, in 1601 he came to the emperor Wan Li, who showed his interest in this scientist, more for his astrological ideas than for his doctrine.
In 1604 there was the separation of the Jesuit province of Japan, who became independent from the mission in China, this is how Ricci became superior of the Jesuit mission in Japan, but he did not last long in office because he encountered a series of rivalries that opposed his way of indoctrination, always of hand in hand with science and philosophy. In addition, he maintained firm his idea that the practices of the Christian religion should accommodate or go hand in hand with Chinese ideas or beliefs, being removed from his position and even marginalized.
After his death the May 11, 1610, Ricci left a Chinese Jesuit mission that had 8 missionaries and 8 Chinese coadjutor brothers and no less than 2,500 Christians, while in Beijing there were 150.