A Chinese Jesuit Catechism

This book is the first scholarly study of the famous Jesuit Chinese children’s primer, the  Four Character Classic , written by Giulio Aleni (1582–1649) while living in Fujian, China. This book also includes masterful translations of both Wang Yinglin’s (1551–1602) hallowed Confucian  Three Character Classic  and Aleni’s Chinese catechism that was published during the Qing (1644–1911). Clark’s careful reading of the  Four Character Classic  provides new insights into an area of the Jesuit mission in early modern China that has so far been given little attention, the education of children. This book underscores how Aleni’s published work functions as a good example of the Jesuit use of normative Chinese print culture to serve the catechetical exigencies of the Catholic mission in East Asia, particularly his meticulous imitation of Confucian children’s primers to promote decidedly Christian content.