Documental Anthology

6 REPORT ON CHINA

A mandarin and his entourage. In: CORTES, Adriano de las, S. J., REBOLLO, Beatriz Moncó, intro. and annot., Viaje de la China, Madrid, Alianza Editorial, p. 142.

I have something to relate to you that may be not unpleasant to hear. As you already know the Chinese live in an immense territory in the Far East [expanding] south to north, and so close to Scythia1 that in many places they freeze from the snow and frost. But our people [i. e., the Portuguese] headed north after crossing every sea and sailing all along the coasts with invincible armies, going beyond the Aurea Quersoneso2 and the remotest places in India, and steered the naos to the maritime lands of China. There they settled finally, concluding their navigation. 3

Apparently, according to those of our people who had contact with the Chinese, 4 it would be difficult to conceive a comparable people, in the grandeur of their cities and the beauty of their buildings, or in their standard of life and civilization, or even the keen interest they take in the arts. And as regards the printing of books, the metallic characters which we have been using only recently have been employed by them for more centuries than one can begin to imagine. 5

Furthermore it is told that instruction among them is held in such high esteem that it is not allowed to bestow supreme power on any but those who has proved to have mastered all culture. 6 And in conferring these positions [in administration and government], neither family nor riches are taken into consideration. So all those who are eager to be among the first in the [administration and government] apply to study. And when they judge themselves to have made sufficient progress not to be ashamed, they address certain judges who are appointed for this function and, according to suffrage, either are rejected as still being uncultured, or being considered learned, receive certain honourable commissions. Those who administer the lesser jurisdictions are selected thus.

Regarding those who want to study longer and become better acquainted with high culture, after concluding a particular syllabus they sit another much more difficult examination. They are examined by men of truly great erudition and if they prove well will rise to the highest ranks of honour. In this way persons who aspire to the highest positions might spend many years studying and moving up the hierarchy by standing before successive juries of learned men. 7

There are several classes of men who qualify in culture and talent to enter, but there are few who survive all their degrees of instruction to reach the highest ranks, either due to a wanting in nature, which is true of most--or fortune--which is also frequent.

At that moment Metelo said:

-- "If it is true what Plato says, that is, that fortunate is the Republic which entrusts its governance to philosophers, then the Chinese must be considered to be fortunate."

-- "They would be -- I said -- if they complied with a structured philosophy but they famously subscribe to a kind of philosophy made complex by numerous errors and magic superstitions. Not-withstanding this they are still deserving of praise for giving supreme power to those who they consider to distinguish themselves by merit and sapience."

Translated from the Portuguese by: Fiona Clark

For the Portuguese text, see:

OSÓRIO, Jerónimo, LOUREIRO, Rui Manuel, intro., Tratado da Glória, in "Antologia Documental: Visões da China na Literatura Ibérica dos Séculos XVI e XVII", in "Revista de Cultura", Macau, 31 (2) Abril-Junho [April-June] 1997, p.42 -- For the Portuguese modernised version by the author of the original text, with words or expressions in square brackets added to clarify the meaning.

For the original source of the Portuguese text, see:

RAMALHO, Américo da Costa, ed., Latim Renascentista em Portugal, edition by Ramalho, Coimbra, Instituto Nacional de Investigação Científica, 1985, pp. 175-177 -- Partial transcription.

For a Latin edition printed in England, see:

Hieronymi Osorii Lusitani, Silvensis episcopi. De Gloria libri V [...] Eiusdem de nobilitate civili & christiane, libri V [...] omnia nunc quam antea castigatiora edita, Excudebat H. Middletonus, impensis W. N.: Londini, 1580-- With a prefatory letter by B. Bodegenius.

NOTES

Numeration without punctuation marks follow that in Jerónimo Osório's original text selected in Rui Loureiro's edited text in "Revista de Cultura" (Portuguese edition), Macau, 31 (2) Abril-Junho [April-June] 1997, p.42.

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 "Cítia" ("Scythia"): a region located by the ancient Greek geographers in the southern expanses of central Asia [in fact, from the Danube to the borders of China]. As a good humanist, the author makes reference to classical sources in order to define the geographical location of China on the imaginary map he describes to his readers.

2 "Aurea Quersoneso " ("Aurea Quersoneso" or 'Golden Peninsula'): the classical European designation of the Malay Peninsula. The extraction of gold being in fact related to the Island of Sumatra [presently Sumatera].

3 Portuguese navigation ventured to other oriental destinations beyond China. In 1543 the first Portuguese vessels reached Japan, which became a regular destination from then on. But it is possible that news of this eastern navigation was not commonly known in Portugal during 1547-1548, the years immediately preceding the publication of the author's Tratado da Gloria [...] (Treatise on Glory [...]).

4 Portuguese vessels first reached the coast of China on 1513. The author might have met a travelogue with knowledge on these matters.

5 Typography with movable type definitely is a Chinese invention which anteceded its European 'discovery' by multiple centuries. It has not yet been determined conclusively if this Chinese printing process influenced Johann Gutenberg's (° ca 1397-†1468) 'invention' of printing in Europe.

6 The administration and governing of China were controlled by the hierarchy of mandarins' [Chinese government officials'] ranks to which access was only awarded by passing extremely rigorous written examinations at the culmination of prolonged literary studies. Supreme power was obviously in the hands of the Emperor of China. Mandarins were, in principle, civil servants who have successfully passed at least one of the three increasingly difficult official Imperial examinations, comparable, in a basic way, to the present Western degrees of Baccalaureate or Bachelor's, Litentiateship or Master's and Doctorate or Doctor of Philosophy.

7 Successive periodical examinations corresponding to rising ranks among the mandarins were respectively increasingly thorough.

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