Documental Anthology

5 INFORMATION ON CHINA SENT BY A MAN TO MASTER FRANCIS1

Upon Your Grace's enquire if in the land of China there were places of higher learning besides those teaching how to read and write, and if there are places where law, medicine and other subjects are taught -- as in our motherland2 -- [my Chinese informer] tells me that in China there are schools in many cities where the administrators who rule the country learn all the laws of the kingdom3 as well as schools to teach the priests4 how to understand the scriptures. I have seen quite a few [of these books], many of which are taken to Japan, 5 where it is also taught how to be proficient in healing all sorts of diseases. And [my informer also says] that of all matters there are numerous and lengthy treatises, all in Chinese language, 6 which can be read from Champa7 to Miako, 8 in Japan, which is distant from the coast [of China] five hundred leagues or more, if one is to trust the Japanese maps, 9 thus confirming the presence of Chinese influence in these remote areas more than five hundred leagues from the [mainland] coast. 10And he says more; something which I have already heard from many other Chinese, that in China they print books and that there are many printers workshops. 11 And I have already been asked if our books were manuscript or set in blocks, which proves that block printing is common {in China}. *

And when Your Grace says that learned men and men of letters are highly considered and should be greatly honoured, and are worthy, and because of their writings they become fidalgos and powerful lords; {I say that} in China there are no fidalgos other than the literati, and the most well read of all is awarded the highest honours in the kingdom and is cherished by the king, and because this is so, everybody is eager to learn -- modest and wealthy people alike. 12

They say it happens like this: as all are proficient in how to read and write, a young man who is starting to learn goes [to see] a literati of his own place -- one of those who rule the country -- and tells him that he also wants to be taught the laws {of the kingdom} in order to equally become a literati. So, this mandarin orders that he is to be given proper education, the young man only paying for his food and clothing, all else being provided for by the king. And if after coming of age he proves to have learned well the laws of the kingdom, he is sent to pass an examination, and if found apt, is placed in charge of small tasks, and [later] if he proves good, is placed in charge of higher tasks, and so forth, until he becomes an important person. And he can rise to such a rank that commands all those below him. Those {of high rank} have the power to sentence to death13 become captains in the event of war, and rule in all the country, but foremost, the laws do not allow them to exert tyranny.

When I went to Guangzhou in the year of [fifteen] thirty three, 14 I attempted to offer a ring with a ruby worth forty cruzados and some earings -- which I no longer possess -- to the mandarin in charge of estimating the taxes I was due to pay, but he would not take them, replying that he knew well who advised me to encourage such gesture, and that honourable mandarins from China were not seduced by bribes, much less by those of foreigners. 15 These mandarins are not native [from the region where they held their posts]; if they are from Chymcheo · province they become administrators in Guangdong, · if from Guangdong [they become administrators] in Liampó ·16 and if from Liampó [they become administrators] in Chymcheo. 17 Because they are exchanged they are inflexible, prompt in applying the law and extremely just. Those [mandarins] do not have a private income, being totally dependent from an yearly pay provided to them by the king. I was told that there was no one in the whole of China with a guaranteed revenue18 except the king of this country. 19 [...]

Upon [Your Grace's] enquire if the innermost regions of the land of China are inhabited by other people, besides the Chinese, who live according to their own predicaments, 20 [my informer says] that he frequently encountered in Beijing·21 many people of other races who have similar customs as the Chinese [but] do not eat neither pork nor any other meat and whatever {the meat} they eat is from animals beheaded by themselves. These people are not much talkative and he thinks they are all circumcised, and that at least those in charge of the temple where he makes his devotions are all circumcised. 22 He also says that, like the Moors, these people rest a day {in each week}, both men and women {being allowed to} do no work whatsoever, and on that day all men gather in a temple of their veneration, with different idols from [the] Chinese, wearing ample garments with headgears and long pants, and upon entering in the temple they fall on their knees and profusely bow repeatedly lowering their heads. And he [says] that on normal days they go about dressed like all other Chinese, wearing the same hairstyle, but speaking a particular language not understood by the Chinese. 23 And when I asked him if these people had a king of their own, he said yes, that their land was beyond Beijing, where their king resides, but that they moved to China because of the reduced size of their country. And the king of China elects one of their kin, the noblest of them all, his captain, thus preserving peace and maintaining justice. According [to my informer] these [men] are excellent archers and accomplished horse riders, being the best warriors of the king {of China}. 24 [He also says that] these people write in Moorish, 25 and when he went to Siam he carried a letter from one of these men which was easily read by Moors26 [living] in Siam. [He says] that they are white skinned folk and wear their beard trimmed in the fashion of Gujarat, 27 [and] that these men rarely [have] more than one wife but plenty of woman slaves and young maids. And he said that he never heard nor saw, nor even read of any other foreign people living in China, or established alongside its borders.

Translated from the Portuguese by: Fiona Clark

For the Portuguese text, see:

(Anonymous), LOUREIRO, Rui Manuel, intro., Informação da China, in "Antologia Documental: Visões da China na Literatura Ibérica d o s Séculos XVI e XVII", in "Revista de Cultura", Macau, 31 (2) Abril-Junho [April-June] 1997, pp. 38-39 -- For the Portuguese modernised version by the author of the original text, with words or expressions between square brackets added to clarify the meaning.

For the original source of the Portuguese text, see:

ALMEIDA CALADO, Adelino de, Livro que trata das cousas da India e do Japão, in "Boletim da Biblioteca da Universidad de Coimbra", Coimbra, vol.24, 1960, pp.1-138; Partial transcription pp.113-117.

Portolano chart ANONYMOUS. In: Livro de marinharia de João Lisboa, ca1560; apud,MARQUES, Alfredo A cartografia portuguesa do Japão(séculos XⅥ-XⅦ), Lisboa, Fundação Oriente-Comissão Nacional para as Comemrações dos Descobrimentos portugueses-Imprensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda,1996, p.115.

NOTES

Numeration without punctuation marks follow that in the author's anonymous original text selected in Rui Loureiro's edited text in "Revista de Cultura" (Portuguese edition), Macau, 31 (2) Abril-Junho [April-June] 1997, p.39.

The spelling of Rui Loureiro's edited text [Port.] is indicated between quotation marks and in italics《" "》-- unless the spelling of the original Portuguese text is indicated.

1 "[...] mestre Francisco. " ([...] master Francis."): St. Francis Xavier, S. J.

2 The Jesuits were eager to ascertain if there was any relationship between the higher learning teaching system of the Chinese and the one established in the contemporary universities of Europe. The higher learning Chinese academies taught, in sucession: Politics, the discerning knowledge of classical texts, Moral and Philosophy.

3 Scattered throughout China, there were numerous private and official schools who taught the prescribed syllabus of the rigorous state examinations which the candidates had to pass in order to become civil servants and ingress in a government career.

4 Certainly either Daoist of Buddhist monastic 'seminaries'.

5 This is a hindsight that the author of this text most probably had been in Japan.

6 Chinese writting not only was a common denominator for communicating throughout the vast Empire of China but was also, at the time, currently used and read in the peripheral border regions of the Middle Kingdom, in Japan and in the northern areas of CochinChina.

7 "Champa" ("Champa"): an ancient coastal kingdom situated in eastern Indochina, and partially occupied by present Vietnam.

8 "Meaquo" [original Port.] or 'Miaco' [Port.] ("Miako", 'Meako', 'Myako', etc.): the name of old 'capital' of Japan, presently designated as 'Kyoto'.

9 A curious reference to Japanese cartography, obviously known by the Portuguese maritime explorers since an early date.

10 The vast expanse of the Empire of China was to become one of the favourite topics of sixteenth century Oriental chronicles and reports.

11 Typography with movable type as well as xylographic printing techniques had already been in used in China for many centuries.

12 The reference to the role of the literati [scholars] in China during the Ming dynasty is basically correct. In effect, mandarins [Chinese government officials] were recruited from a plethora of literati candidates through an elaborate system of periodical tests. The Jesuits were obviously eager to find terms and 'authorities' in China equivalent to the role and status they performed and enjoyed in Europe.

13 Contrary to the statement of the author, capital punishment in China was an exclusive prerrogative of the central government in Beijing.

14 This statement means that the author of this text might have been one of the first Portuguese to vist Guangzhou after the tempestuous Sino-Portuguese clashes in 1521-1522. The letters of the Guangzhou prisioners Cristóvão Vieira and Vasco Calvo, dated 1534-1536 confirm the Portuguese expeditions along the coast of Guangdong· province in 1533 and 1534. (See: Text 4- Cristóvão Vieira)

15 The 'righteousness' of the mandarins [Chinese government officials] is another of the preferred themes in contemporary Portuguese literature, chronicles and reports on China. The discrepancy between opinions of writers might be due to the fact that several of them described facts either experienced by themselves or based on first hand informations of the realities of the Chinese modus vivendi.

16 "Liampó" [Port.] ("Liampó") = Zhejiang· [Chin.]: meaning in this context, the coast of this province. This is one of the very first references to"Liampó". The same appelation was commonly used to identify the homonymic famous Portuguese settlement in the vicinity of the city of 'Nimpó'· [Ningbo], · extremely prosperous from 1542 to 1549, year when it was raised to the ground by the Chinese authorities.

17 "Chymcheo" [original Port.] or 'Chincheu' [Port.] ("Chincheo"): a toponym frequently used by the Portuguese to designate, in this context, the coast of Fujian· province.

18 "[...] que tivesse juro, [...]" (lit.: 'receiving interest'): meaning, 'direito hereditário' ("hereditary rights").

19 Hereditary aristocracy according to European class structure had been eradicated in China long before the sixteenth century. In those days all important mandarin ranks entitled to legal prerrogatives and entailing considerable material advantages had to be sanctioned by the central government, in Beijing; the only hereditary title being that of the Imperial successor which was not necessarily attributed to the eldest son of the reigning sovereign.

20 The Jesuits were eager to ascertain if they would be able to keep their 'freedom' as long as foreign citizens living in Chinese soil. The missionary interests lying behind the confirmation of this premise are obvious.

21 "Poquym" · [original Port.] or 'Pequim' · [Port.] ("Beijing") = Beijing [Chin.].

22 "fanado[s]" [singular: 'fanado'] (lit.: 'faded' or 'withered'): meaning, ' circuncisado [ s] ' ("circumcised"). This curious detail enabled to determine in Muslim communities [and their practises] were allowed within China. By tradition, the Muslims had forever been enemies of the Portuguese.

23 "[...] e [que] têm fala sobre si [...]" ('[...] in their own language [...]'): meaning, "têm a sua própria língua" ("[...] speaking a particular language [...]").

24 "[...] gente que el-rei tem de peleja." ("[...] the best warriors of the king [of China]."): probably meaning, the 'Tartars' -- who, in those days, frequently made predatory incursions across the northern borders of the Middle Kingdom.

25 "[...] gente que escreve mouro, [...]" ("[...] people write in Moorish, [...]": probably meaning, Mongol [sic] writting -- which is perfectly distinct from the Chinese.

26The informer of the author might have been a Chinese merchant with extensive travelling experience in Southeast Asia. Because it is extremely unlikely that people in Siam [presently Thailand] were able to read Mongol writting this possible blunder might be due to a misunderstanding of the author or a transcription mistake of the scribe.

27 "guzerate[s]" [original Port.]("Gujarati"): inhabitants of the region of Cambay [presently Gujarat]. This statement might be a hint that the author wrote this text while in India.

*Translator's note: Words or expressions between curly brackets occur only in the English Translation.

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