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{{good article}}
{{Short description|French Jesuit missionary in China, 1718–1793}}
{{use mdy dates|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox person
{{Infobox person
|name = Jean Joseph Marie Amiot
| name = Jean Joseph Marie Amiot
|image = JosephMarieAmiot.JPG
| image = JosephMarieAmiot.JPG
| alt = Refer to caption
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1718|2|1|df=y}}
| caption = Painting of Amiot, anon.
|death_date = {{Death date and age|1793|10|9|1718|2|1|df=y}}
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1718|2|8|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Toulon]], [[Kingdom of France]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1793|10|8|1718|2|8|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Beijing]], [[Qing Empire]]
| occupation = Jesuit missionary
}}
}}


'''Jean Joseph Marie Amiot''' (sometimes '''Amyot'''; {{zh |t = [[wiktionary:錢|錢]][[wiktionary:德|德]][[wiktionary:明|明]] |p = Qián Démíng }}; February 1718{{snd}}October 9, 1793) was a [[French people|French]] [[Jesuits|Jesuit]] [[missionary]] in [[Qing dynasty|Qing China]], during the reign of the [[Qianlong Emperor]].
'''Jean Joseph Marie Amiot''' ({{zh |t =錢德明 |p = Qián Démíng }}; February 8, 1718{{snd}}October 8, 1793) was a French [[Jesuit]] priest who worked in [[Qing dynasty|Qing China]], during the reign of the [[Qianlong Emperor]].


Born in [[Toulon]], Amiot entered the [[novitiate]] of the Society of Jesus at the age of 19. After he was ordained in 1746, he aspired to serve in an overseas mission. Eventually, he was assigned a mission in China and left France in 1749. He arrived at Beijing in 1751 and remained there for the rest of his life.
== Life ==

Joseph Marie Amiot was born at [[Toulon]]. He entered the [[Society of Jesus]] in 1737 and was sent in 1750 as a missionary to [[China]]. He soon won the confidence of the [[Qianlong Emperor]] and spent the remainder of his life at [[Beijing]]. He was a correspondent of the [[Académie des Sciences]], official translator of Western languages for the Qianlong Emperor, and the spiritual leader of the French mission in Peking.<ref>Alain Peyrefitte, "Images de l'Empire Immobile", p.&nbsp;113.</ref> He died in Peking in 1793, two days after the departure of the British [[Macartney Embassy]]. He could not meet Lord Macartney, but exhorted him to patience in two letters, explaining that "this world is the reverse of our own".<ref>Alain Peyrefitte, p.&nbsp;113.</ref> He used a [[Chinese name]] (''Qian De-Ming'' {{lang|zh|錢德明}}) while he was in China.
Amiot served as an intermediary between the academics of Europe and China. His correspondence provided insight on the culture of China to the Europeans. He translated Chinese works into French. Most notably, his translation of [[Sun Tzu]]'s ''[[The Art of War]]'' is the first rendition of the work into a Western language.

== Early life ==
Amiot was born in [[Toulon]] on February 8, 1718 to Louis Amiot, the royal notary of Toulon, and Marie-Anne Serre.{{sfn|Rochemonteix|1915|p=6}} He was the eldest of ten children: five boys and five girls.{{sfn|Hermans|2019|p=225–226}} His brother Pierre-Jules-Roch Amiot would go on to become the lieutenant-general of the admiralty of Toulon{{sfn|Hermans|2019|p=226}} and his sister, Marguerite-Claire was an [[Ursulines|Ursuline]] nun.{{sfn|Hermans|2019|p=228}} Amiot maintained contact with both.{{sfn|Rochemonteix|1915|p=7}}

After finishing his studies in philosophy and theology at the Jesuit seminary in Toulon, Amiot entered the [[novitiate]] of the [[Society of Jesus]] in [[Avignon]] on September 27, 1737;{{sfn|Rochemonteix|1915|p=7}} he remained a novice for two years.{{sfn|Rochemonteix|1915|p=7}} Afterwards, he taught at the Jesuit colleges of [[Besançon]], [[Arles]], [[Aix-en-Provence]] and finally at [[Nîmes]], where he was professor of [[rhetoric]] in the academic year of 1744–1745. He completed his theological studies at [[Dôle]] from 1745 to 1748{{sfn|Hermans|2019|p=232}} and was ordained as a priest on December 22, 1746.{{sfn|Hermans|2019|p=232}}

== Arrival at China ==
Amiot requested [[Franz Retz]], the [[Superior General of the Society of Jesus]] at that time, to serve in an overseas mission, and was eventually given a mission to China.{{sfn|Hermans|2019|p=233}} Earlier, in a letter to his brother, he had expressed his desire to serve in a delegation to this particular country.{{sfn|Rochemonteix|1915|p=10}} He left France in 1749, accompanied by Chinese Jesuits Paul Liu and Stanislas Kang,{{sfn|Hermans|2019|p=233}} who had been sent to study in France and were returning to their home country. Kang died at sea, before the party could reach China.{{sfn|Pfister|1932b|p=861}}

They arrived at [[Macau]] on July 27, 1750.{{sfn|Hermans|2019|p=233}} The Jesuits of Beijing announced Amiot's arrival, along with that of the Portuguese Jesuits José d'Espinha and Emmanuel de Mattos,{{sfn|Hermans|2019|p=233}}{{sfn|Rochemonteix|1915|p=38}} to Emperor [[Qianlong]], who ordered that they be taken to the capital.{{sfn|Pfister|1932a|p=838}} On March 28, 1751, they left Macau for [[Guangzhou]] and arrived there five days later.{{sfn|Rochemonteix|1915|p=40}} They left Canton on June 2, and reached Beijing on August 22.{{sfn|Rochemonteix|1915|p=41}}

After his arrival in Beijing, he was put in charge of the children's congregation of the Holy Guardian Angels. Alongside this, he studied the Chinese language.{{sfn|Pfister|1932a|p=838}} He adopted the Chinese name Qian Deming ({{lang|zh|錢德明}}){{sfn|Pfister|1932a|p=837}} and wore [[Chinese clothing]] in order to adapt himself to the [[Chinese culture|culture of China]].{{sfn|Hermans|2019|p=236}} In 1754, Amiot made a young Chinese man by the name of Yang Ya-Ko-Pe his assistant{{sfn|Hermans|2019|p=236}} and instructed him in the European manner. Yang died in 1784, after working with Amiot for over thirty years.{{sfn|Pfister|1932a|p=838}}

== Suppression of the Jesuits ==
In 1762 the [[Parlement of Paris]] ordered the [[suppression of the Society of Jesus]] and the confiscation of its property.{{sfn|Rochemonteix|1915|p=99}} The society was abolished in France two years later, by the order of King [[Louis XV]].{{sfn|Hermans|2019|p=251}} The Jesuit mission in China survived for a while after their suppression, being protected by the Qianlong Emperor himself.{{sfn|Marin|2008|p=17}} The final blow, however, would be [[Pope Clement XIV]]'s brief, ''[[Dominus ac Redemptor]]'', issued on July 21, 1773, with which the Bishop of Rome officially ordered the suppression of the Society of Jesus. The brief reached the French Jesuits in China on September 22, 1775{{sfn|Rochemonteix|1915|p=180}} via a German [[Carmelite]] named Joseph de Sainte-Thérèse.{{sfn|Rochemonteix|1915|pp=151,193}} The Jesuits of Beijing surrendered to it, resigned from the Society of Jesus and became secular priests.{{sfn|Marin|2008|p=17}}{{sfn|Rochemonteix|1915|p=194}} Wishing to keep the French mission alive, King [[Louis XVI]] sent them financial aid and appointed François Bourgeois as their administrator.{{sfn|Marin|2008|p=20}}{{sfn|Rochemonteix|1915|p=219}} Amiot was named as Bourgeois' replacement in the event of his absence.{{sfn|Hermans|2019|p=253}}

Subsequently, Amiot turned his attention to writing. He maintained contact with [[Henri Bertin]], the foreign minister of France. His correspondences were published from 1776 to 1791 in the {{lang|fr|Mémoires concernant l’histoire, les sciences, les arts, les mœurs et les usages des Chinois}}.{{sfn|Hermans|2019|p=254}} He also corresponded with other European Academies, including brief contacts with the [[Imperial Academy of Sciences]] and the [[Royal Society]].{{sfn|Hermans|2019|pp=245–246}}

== Later life and death ==
After the death of Bourgeois in 1792, Amiot started visiting the tombs of his Jesuit companions, where he prayed and meditated; he also carved the Jesuits' epitaphs on their tombs.{{sfn|Rochemonteix|1915|p=424}} News about the upheaval of the [[French Revolution]] distressed him to the point that his physical and mental health declined, and thus he had to stop visiting the tombs by September 1792.{{sfn|Rochemonteix|1915|p=426}}

In 1792, Britain sent [[Macartney Embassy|a diplomatic mission]] to China, led by [[George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney|George Macartney]]. The goals of the delegation were to open new trading ports with the country and establish a permanent mission there.{{sfn|Peyrefitte|1992|p=158}} Macartney had wished to meet Amiot in Beijing.{{sfn|Hermans|2019|p=54}} However, he was too ill to meet the diplomat and instead sent him a portrait of himself and a letter,{{sfn|Peyrefitte|1992|p=158}} which was delivered on October 3, 1793. He gave his advice to Macartney and suggested that he leave China.{{sfn|Peyrefitte|1992|p=295}}

On October 8, 1793, the news of [[Execution of Louis XVI|King Louis XVI's execution]] reached Amiot, who celebrated [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]] for the deceased monarch. He died on the same night of October 8, or on the following day, October 9, 1793.{{sfn|Pfister|1932a|pp=842}}


== Works ==
== Works ==
[[File:ChineseartAmiot.jpg|thumb|A page from ''Mémoires concernant l'histoire, les sciences et les arts des Chinois'', 1780.]]
[[File:ChineseartAmiot.jpg|thumb|alt=Musicians playing Chinese instruments|A page from ''Mémoires concernant l'histoire, les sciences et les arts des Chinois'', 1780.]]
In 1772 Amiot's translation of [[Sun Tzu]]'s ''[[The Art of War]]'' was published. It includes a translation of the [[Yongzheng Emperor]]'s ''Ten Precepts''. Amiot was the first person to translate ''The Art of War'' in the West. The next translation of the work in a Western language would not be made until Everard Ferguson Calthrop published his English rendition in 1905.{{sfn|Dobson|2013|p=91}}


Amiot could speak in [[Manchu language|Manchu]], the language of the emperor.{{sfn|Davin|1961|p=383}} He wrote a Manchu-French dictionary, which was published from 1789 to 1790 with the help of Bertin;{{sfn|Davin|1961|p=388}} Prince Hongwu, a member of the Qing imperial family, praised the dictionary.{{sfn|Statman|2017|p=101}} He also wrote a Manchu grammar, which was never published.{{sfn|Davin|1961|p=388}}
Amiot made good use of the advantages which his situation afforded, and his works did more than any before to make known to the [[Western world]] the thought and life of the [[Far East]]. His [[Manchu language|Manchu]] dictionary ''Dictionnaire tartare-mantchou-français'' (Paris, 1789) was a work of great value, the language having been previously quite unknown in [[Europe]]. In 1772 he translated ''[[The Art of War]]'', one of the most influential war strategy and tactics treatises in military history, written around the 6th century [[BCE]] and attributed to General Sun Tzu, into French. The first successful translation to English would not be achieved before another 138 years, in 1910. His other writings are to be found chiefly in the ''Mémoires concernant l'histoire, les sciences et les arts des Chinois'' (15 volumes, Paris, 1776–1791). The ''Vie de [[Confucius]]'', the twelfth volume of that collection, was more complete and accurate than any predecessors.


Amiot carried out scientific observations and experiments while working in China. For example, he made a record of the weather in Beijing, which was published by [[Charles Messier]] in 1774.{{sfn|Hermans|2019|p=244}} He also tried to build a [[hot air balloon]], but was discouraged by Prince Hongwu, for fear of the danger of flying and disseminating the discovery.{{sfn|Statman|2017|p=108}}
Amiot tried to impress mandarins in Beijing with [[Jean-Philippe Rameau|Rameau]]'s harpsichord piece ''Les sauvages'',<ref>Thomas Christensen, "Rameau and Musical Thought in the Enlightenment", Cambridge University Press, 1993. {{ISBN|0-521-42040-7}}. Page 295. [https://books.google.com/books?id=170CpILluzUC On Google Books]</ref> a suite that was later reworked as part of Rameau's opera-ballet ''[[Les Indes galantes]]''. Amiot was the first European to comment on the [[Chinese yo-yo]].<ref name="Duckett">Duckett, M. W.; ed. (1861). "[https://books.google.com/books?id=Xlrmg86wrr4C&dq=%22Ce+hochet+bruyant+consiste+en+deux+cylindres+creux+de+m%C3%A9tal%2C+de+bois+ou+de+bambou%2C+r%C3%A9unis+au+milieu+par+une+traverse.%22&q=diable#v=snippet&q=diable%20jouer&f=false Diable]", ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=dupDAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&vq=diable&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=diable%20jouet&f=false Dictionnaire de la conversation et de la lecture inventaire raisonné des notions générales les plus indispensables à tous par une société de savants et de gens de lettres sous la direction de M. W. Duckett]'' ["Dictionary ... under the direction of M. W. Duckett"], Volume 7, p.531-2. 2nd edition. F. Didot. {{in lang|fr}}</ref> Amiot was the first European to ship free-reeded instruments from the orient to Europe. The introduction of the [[Sheng (instrument)|sheng]] was to set off an era of experimentation in free-reeded instruments that would ultimately lead to the invention of the [[harmonica]].<ref name="The Encyclopedia of the Harmonica">[http://www.naxos.com/mainsite/NewDesign/fintro.files/bintro.files/operas/Indes_galantes_Les%28The_Gallant_Indies%29.htm "Indes galantes, Les (The Gallant Indies,"] Naxos.com website (accessed 9 March 2010)</ref>


== See also ==
== Music ==
Amiot could play the [[harpsichord]] and the [[flute]]. He tried to win over Chinese listeners by playing pieces by French baroque composers, including [[Jean-Philippe Rameau|Rameau]]'s ''Les sauvages'' and ''Les cyclopes''. These attempts, however, were not successful;{{sfn|Irvine|2020|pp=38–39}} when he asked the Chinese musicians for their opinions, they remarked that "your music was not made for our ears, nor our ears for your music".{{sfn|Lindorff|2004|p=411}} Lester Hu, assistant professor of musicology at the [[University of California, Berkeley]] has doubted the veracity of this story.{{sfn|Hu|2021}}
{{Portal|Biography|Catholicism|France}}

* [[Catholic Church in China]]
Amiot sent his translation of [[Li Guangdi]]'s ''Guyue Jingzhuan'' ({{lang|zh|古樂經傳}}), a treatise on Chinese music, to Paris in 1754;{{sfn|Irvine|2020|p=33}} he later acknowledged that it contained errors and was incomplete.{{sfn|Davin|1961|p=389}} Jean-Philippe Rameau referenced the work in his 1760 treatise, {{lang|fr|Code de musique pratique}}, though Rameau's idea of harmony in Chinese music was erroneous.{{sfn|Irvine|2020|pp=33–34}} Amiot's own work on Chinese music, {{lang|fr|Mémoire sur la musique des Chinois}} was published twice by [[Pierre-Joseph Roussier]] in 1779 and 1780.{{sfn|Hermans|2019|p=258}} The author's supplements to the work were not published until 1997.{{sfn|Hermans|2019|p=259}} He also sent collections of Chinese music and instruments to France.{{sfn|Hermans|2019|p=260}} In 1777, he sent a [[Sheng (instrument)|Sheng]], thus contributing to the development of the [[harmonica]] in Europe.{{sfn|Chen|Deng|Dong|Liu|2022|p=237}}
* [[François Noël (missionary)|François Noël]]
* [[Jesuit China missions]]


== References ==
== References ==
=== Citation ===
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist|30em}}
{{reflist}}


=== Sources ===
=== Sources ===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Amiot, Jean Joseph Marie}}
*{{cite book

| last1=Chen
== Further reading ==
| first1=Shouxiang
* Ching Wah LAM, "A Highlight of French Jesuit Scholarship in China: Jean-Joseph-Marie Amiot's Writings on Chinese Music", ''[[CHIME, Journal of European Foundation for Chinese Music Research]]'', Leiden, 2005, 16-17: 127–147.
| last2=Deng
* Jim LEVY, "Joseph Amiot and Enlightenment Speculation on the Origins of Pythagorean Tuning", "''[[THEORIA, University of North Texas Journal of Music Theory]]''", Denton, 1989, 4: 63-88
| first2=Fuxing
| last3=Dong
| first3=Lijun
| last4=Liu
| first4=Jingchen
| last5=Liu
| first5=Junxiang
| last6=Liu
| first6=Xicheng
| last7=Li
| first7=Xifeng
| last8=Qin
| first8=Xu
| last9=Sun
| first9=Hui
| last10=Yang
| first10=Hongxun
| editor1-last=Li
| editor1-first=Xifan
| display-authors=1
| title=A General History of Chinese Art
| date=3 October 2022
| publisher=De Gruyter
| isbn=9783110790924
| url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110790924-014/html
| language=en
| chapter=The Art of Instrumental Music in the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties
| doi=10.1515/9783110790924-014
| url-access=subscription
}}
*{{cite journal
| last1=Davin
| first1=Emmanuel
| title=Un éminent sinologue toulonnais du XVIIIe siècle, le R. P. Amiot, S. J. (1718-1793)
| journal=Bulletin de l'Association Guillaume Budé
| date=1961
| volume=1
| issue=3
| language=fr
| pages=380–395
| doi=10.3406/bude.1961.3962
| doi-access=free
| url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/bude_0004-5527_1961_num_1_3_3962
}}
*{{cite book
| last1=Dobson
| first1=Sebastian
| editor1-last=Cortazzi
| editor1-first=Hugh
| title=Britain and Japan: Biographical Portraits
| volume=8
| date=2013
| publisher=Brill
| isbn=9789004246461
| pages=85–101
| chapter=Lt.Col. E.F. Calthrop (1876–1915)
| url=https://brill.com/display/book/9789004246461/B9789004246461-s008.xml
| url-access=subscription
}}
*{{cite book
| last=Hermans
| first=Michael
| date=28 September 2019
| title=The Mandate of Heaven
| publisher=Brill
| pages=224–274
| chapter=Appendix 2 Amiot's Life
| editor-last=Parr
| editor-first=Adam
| url=https://brill.com/display/book/9789004416215/APP000002.xml
| doi=10.1163/9789004416215_009
| isbn=9789004416215
| s2cid=214432345
| url-access=subscription
}}
*{{cite journal
| last1=Hu
| first1=Zhuqing (Lester) S.
| title=Chinese Ears, Delicate or Dull? Toward a Decolonial Comparativism
| journal=Online.ucpress.edu
| date=December 2021
| volume=74
| issue=3
| pages=501–569
| doi=10.1525/jams.2021.74.3.501
| doi-access=free
| s2cid=246599971
| url=https://online.ucpress.edu/jams/article/74/3/501/119254/Chinese-Ears-Delicate-or-Dull-Toward-a-Decolonial
| access-date=25 December 2022
}}
*{{cite book
| last1=Irvine
| first1=Thomas
| title=Listening to China: Sound and the Sino-Western Encounter, 1770-1839
| date=2020
| publisher=University of Chicago Press
| location=Chicago
| isbn=9780226667263
}}
*{{cite journal
| last1=Lindorff
| first1=Joyce
| title=Missionaries, Keyboards and Musical Exchange in the Ming and Qing Courts
| journal=Early Music
| date=2004
| volume=32
| issue=3
| pages=403–414 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3519339
| doi=10.1093/em/32.3.403
| jstor=3519339
| issn=0306-1078
| url-access=subscription
}}
*{{cite journal
| last1=Marin
| first1=Catherine
| title=La mission française de Pékin après la suppression de la compagnie de Jésus en 1773
| journal=Transversalités
| date=2008
| volume=107
| issue=3
| pages=11–28
| language=fr
| doi=10.3917/trans.107.0009
| doi-access=free
}}
*{{cite book
| last1=Peyrefitte
| first1=Alain
| title=The Immobile Empire
| translator-last1=Rotschild
| translator-first1=Jon
| date=1992
| publisher=Alfred A. Knopf
| location=New York
| url=https://archive.org/details/immobileempire00peyr/
| isbn=9780345803948
| url-access=registration
}}
*{{cite book
| last1=Pfister
| first1=Louis
| title=Notices biographiques et bibliographiques sur les Jésuites de l'ancienne mission de Chine. 1552-1773
|date=1932a
| publisher=Imprimerie de la Mission catholique
| pages=837–860
| url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k14158244/f301.item.texteImage
| language=fr
| chapter=Le P. Jean-Joseph-Marie Amiot
}}
*{{cite book
| last1=Pfister
| first1=Louis
| title=Notices biographiques et bibliographiques sur les Jésuites de l'ancienne mission de Chine. 1552-1773
|date=1932b
| publisher=Imprimerie de la Mission catholique
| pages=861–862
| url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k14158244/f301.item.texteImage
| language=fr
| chapter=Le Fr. Philippe-Stanislas Kang
}}
*{{cite book
| last1=Rochemonteix
| first1=Camille de
| title=Joseph Amiot et les derniers survivants de la mission française à Pékin (1750-1795)
| date=1915
| publisher=A. Picard et fils
| language=fr
| location=Paris
| url=https://archive.org/details/josephamiotetles00rochuoft
}}
*{{cite journal
| last1=Statman
| first1=Alexander
| title=A Forgotten Friendship: How a French Missionary and a Manchu Prince Studied Electricity and Ballooning in Late Eighteenth Century Beijing
| journal=East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine
| date=2017
| volume=46
| issue=46
| pages=89–118
| doi=10.1163/26669323-04601007
| jstor=90020958
| url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/90020958
| issn=1562-918X
| url-access=subscription
}}
{{refend}}


{{Clear}}
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[[Category:Linguists from France]]
[[Category:Linguists from France]]
[[Category:French sinologists]]
[[Category:French sinologists]]
[[Category:French Roman Catholic missionaries]]
[[Category:Jesuit missionaries in China]]
[[Category:Jesuit missionaries in China]]
[[Category:Manchurologists]]
[[Category:Manchurologists]]

Revision as of 00:56, 20 December 2023

Jean Joseph Marie Amiot
Refer to caption
Painting of Amiot, anon.
Born(1718-02-08)February 8, 1718
Toulon, Kingdom of France
DiedOctober 8, 1793(1793-10-08) (aged 75)
Beijing, Qing Empire
OccupationJesuit missionary

Jean Joseph Marie Amiot (Chinese: 錢德明; pinyin: Qián Démíng; February 8, 1718 – October 8, 1793) was a French Jesuit priest who worked in Qing China, during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor.

Born in Toulon, Amiot entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus at the age of 19. After he was ordained in 1746, he aspired to serve in an overseas mission. Eventually, he was assigned a mission in China and left France in 1749. He arrived at Beijing in 1751 and remained there for the rest of his life.

Amiot served as an intermediary between the academics of Europe and China. His correspondence provided insight on the culture of China to the Europeans. He translated Chinese works into French. Most notably, his translation of Sun Tzu's The Art of War is the first rendition of the work into a Western language.

Early life

Amiot was born in Toulon on February 8, 1718 to Louis Amiot, the royal notary of Toulon, and Marie-Anne Serre.[1] He was the eldest of ten children: five boys and five girls.[2] His brother Pierre-Jules-Roch Amiot would go on to become the lieutenant-general of the admiralty of Toulon[3] and his sister, Marguerite-Claire was an Ursuline nun.[4] Amiot maintained contact with both.[5]

After finishing his studies in philosophy and theology at the Jesuit seminary in Toulon, Amiot entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus in Avignon on September 27, 1737;[5] he remained a novice for two years.[5] Afterwards, he taught at the Jesuit colleges of Besançon, Arles, Aix-en-Provence and finally at Nîmes, where he was professor of rhetoric in the academic year of 1744–1745. He completed his theological studies at Dôle from 1745 to 1748[6] and was ordained as a priest on December 22, 1746.[6]

Arrival at China

Amiot requested Franz Retz, the Superior General of the Society of Jesus at that time, to serve in an overseas mission, and was eventually given a mission to China.[7] Earlier, in a letter to his brother, he had expressed his desire to serve in a delegation to this particular country.[8] He left France in 1749, accompanied by Chinese Jesuits Paul Liu and Stanislas Kang,[7] who had been sent to study in France and were returning to their home country. Kang died at sea, before the party could reach China.[9]

They arrived at Macau on July 27, 1750.[7] The Jesuits of Beijing announced Amiot's arrival, along with that of the Portuguese Jesuits José d'Espinha and Emmanuel de Mattos,[7][10] to Emperor Qianlong, who ordered that they be taken to the capital.[11] On March 28, 1751, they left Macau for Guangzhou and arrived there five days later.[12] They left Canton on June 2, and reached Beijing on August 22.[13]

After his arrival in Beijing, he was put in charge of the children's congregation of the Holy Guardian Angels. Alongside this, he studied the Chinese language.[11] He adopted the Chinese name Qian Deming (錢德明)[14] and wore Chinese clothing in order to adapt himself to the culture of China.[15] In 1754, Amiot made a young Chinese man by the name of Yang Ya-Ko-Pe his assistant[15] and instructed him in the European manner. Yang died in 1784, after working with Amiot for over thirty years.[11]

Suppression of the Jesuits

In 1762 the Parlement of Paris ordered the suppression of the Society of Jesus and the confiscation of its property.[16] The society was abolished in France two years later, by the order of King Louis XV.[17] The Jesuit mission in China survived for a while after their suppression, being protected by the Qianlong Emperor himself.[18] The final blow, however, would be Pope Clement XIV's brief, Dominus ac Redemptor, issued on July 21, 1773, with which the Bishop of Rome officially ordered the suppression of the Society of Jesus. The brief reached the French Jesuits in China on September 22, 1775[19] via a German Carmelite named Joseph de Sainte-Thérèse.[20] The Jesuits of Beijing surrendered to it, resigned from the Society of Jesus and became secular priests.[18][21] Wishing to keep the French mission alive, King Louis XVI sent them financial aid and appointed François Bourgeois as their administrator.[22][23] Amiot was named as Bourgeois' replacement in the event of his absence.[24]

Subsequently, Amiot turned his attention to writing. He maintained contact with Henri Bertin, the foreign minister of France. His correspondences were published from 1776 to 1791 in the Mémoires concernant l’histoire, les sciences, les arts, les mœurs et les usages des Chinois.[25] He also corresponded with other European Academies, including brief contacts with the Imperial Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society.[26]

Later life and death

After the death of Bourgeois in 1792, Amiot started visiting the tombs of his Jesuit companions, where he prayed and meditated; he also carved the Jesuits' epitaphs on their tombs.[27] News about the upheaval of the French Revolution distressed him to the point that his physical and mental health declined, and thus he had to stop visiting the tombs by September 1792.[28]

In 1792, Britain sent a diplomatic mission to China, led by George Macartney. The goals of the delegation were to open new trading ports with the country and establish a permanent mission there.[29] Macartney had wished to meet Amiot in Beijing.[30] However, he was too ill to meet the diplomat and instead sent him a portrait of himself and a letter,[29] which was delivered on October 3, 1793. He gave his advice to Macartney and suggested that he leave China.[31]

On October 8, 1793, the news of King Louis XVI's execution reached Amiot, who celebrated Mass for the deceased monarch. He died on the same night of October 8, or on the following day, October 9, 1793.[32]

Works

Musicians playing Chinese instruments
A page from Mémoires concernant l'histoire, les sciences et les arts des Chinois, 1780.

In 1772 Amiot's translation of Sun Tzu's The Art of War was published. It includes a translation of the Yongzheng Emperor's Ten Precepts. Amiot was the first person to translate The Art of War in the West. The next translation of the work in a Western language would not be made until Everard Ferguson Calthrop published his English rendition in 1905.[33]

Amiot could speak in Manchu, the language of the emperor.[34] He wrote a Manchu-French dictionary, which was published from 1789 to 1790 with the help of Bertin;[35] Prince Hongwu, a member of the Qing imperial family, praised the dictionary.[36] He also wrote a Manchu grammar, which was never published.[35]

Amiot carried out scientific observations and experiments while working in China. For example, he made a record of the weather in Beijing, which was published by Charles Messier in 1774.[37] He also tried to build a hot air balloon, but was discouraged by Prince Hongwu, for fear of the danger of flying and disseminating the discovery.[38]

Music

Amiot could play the harpsichord and the flute. He tried to win over Chinese listeners by playing pieces by French baroque composers, including Rameau's Les sauvages and Les cyclopes. These attempts, however, were not successful;[39] when he asked the Chinese musicians for their opinions, they remarked that "your music was not made for our ears, nor our ears for your music".[40] Lester Hu, assistant professor of musicology at the University of California, Berkeley has doubted the veracity of this story.[41]

Amiot sent his translation of Li Guangdi's Guyue Jingzhuan (古樂經傳), a treatise on Chinese music, to Paris in 1754;[42] he later acknowledged that it contained errors and was incomplete.[43] Jean-Philippe Rameau referenced the work in his 1760 treatise, Code de musique pratique, though Rameau's idea of harmony in Chinese music was erroneous.[44] Amiot's own work on Chinese music, Mémoire sur la musique des Chinois was published twice by Pierre-Joseph Roussier in 1779 and 1780.[45] The author's supplements to the work were not published until 1997.[46] He also sent collections of Chinese music and instruments to France.[47] In 1777, he sent a Sheng, thus contributing to the development of the harmonica in Europe.[48]

References

Citations

  1. ^ Rochemonteix 1915, p. 6.
  2. ^ Hermans 2019, p. 225–226.
  3. ^ Hermans 2019, p. 226.
  4. ^ Hermans 2019, p. 228.
  5. ^ a b c Rochemonteix 1915, p. 7.
  6. ^ a b Hermans 2019, p. 232.
  7. ^ a b c d Hermans 2019, p. 233.
  8. ^ Rochemonteix 1915, p. 10.
  9. ^ Pfister 1932b, p. 861.
  10. ^ Rochemonteix 1915, p. 38.
  11. ^ a b c Pfister 1932a, p. 838.
  12. ^ Rochemonteix 1915, p. 40.
  13. ^ Rochemonteix 1915, p. 41.
  14. ^ Pfister 1932a, p. 837.
  15. ^ a b Hermans 2019, p. 236.
  16. ^ Rochemonteix 1915, p. 99.
  17. ^ Hermans 2019, p. 251.
  18. ^ a b Marin 2008, p. 17.
  19. ^ Rochemonteix 1915, p. 180.
  20. ^ Rochemonteix 1915, pp. 151, 193.
  21. ^ Rochemonteix 1915, p. 194.
  22. ^ Marin 2008, p. 20.
  23. ^ Rochemonteix 1915, p. 219.
  24. ^ Hermans 2019, p. 253.
  25. ^ Hermans 2019, p. 254.
  26. ^ Hermans 2019, pp. 245–246.
  27. ^ Rochemonteix 1915, p. 424.
  28. ^ Rochemonteix 1915, p. 426.
  29. ^ a b Peyrefitte 1992, p. 158.
  30. ^ Hermans 2019, p. 54.
  31. ^ Peyrefitte 1992, p. 295.
  32. ^ Pfister 1932a, pp. 842.
  33. ^ Dobson 2013, p. 91.
  34. ^ Davin 1961, p. 383.
  35. ^ a b Davin 1961, p. 388.
  36. ^ Statman 2017, p. 101.
  37. ^ Hermans 2019, p. 244.
  38. ^ Statman 2017, p. 108.
  39. ^ Irvine 2020, pp. 38–39.
  40. ^ Lindorff 2004, p. 411.
  41. ^ Hu 2021.
  42. ^ Irvine 2020, p. 33.
  43. ^ Davin 1961, p. 389.
  44. ^ Irvine 2020, pp. 33–34.
  45. ^ Hermans 2019, p. 258.
  46. ^ Hermans 2019, p. 259.
  47. ^ Hermans 2019, p. 260.
  48. ^ Chen et al. 2022, p. 237.

Sources

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