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Book/Printed Material Kong ji ge zhi 空際格致

About this Item

Title

  • Kong ji ge zhi

Other Title

  • 空際格致

Translated Title

  • Investigation into the Phenomena in the Atmosphere

Summary

  • This scientific work is by Gao Yizhi (the Chinese name of the Italian Jesuit missionary Alfonso Vagnoni (1566--1640)). Vagnoni left Europe for China in 1603, arrived in Macao in 1605, and later was transferred to Nanjing, where he built a new church in 1611. The building of the church caused jealousy and displeasure among the Chinese officials and Buddhist and Taoist monks. In 1616 Shen Que, vice minister of the Nanjing Board of Rites, submitted two memorials to the imperial court, asking for the expulsion of the missionaries on the grounds that they were undermining the traditional ways of China. The Board of Rites in Beijing endorsed the memorials. Along with another Jesuit living in Nanjing, Vagnoni was arrested, flogged, and expelled to Macao, where he stayed for two years. By 1616, only 14 missionaries were left in China. At this time Vagnoni used the Chinese name Wang Fengsu. In 1624 he returned to China from Macao and changed his name to Gao Yizhi. He was first dispatched to Jiangzhou, Shanxi Province, where he stayed for 15 years. During his years in Jiangzhou he built churches and baptized many Chinese Christians. In the severe Shanxi famine of 1634, he tirelessly helped the poor and needy. This work explains in detail the Western theory of the four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. In the second juan, Gao explains various natural phenomena said to be related to the four elements, such as meteors, meteorites, thunder and lightning, comets, the Milky Way, colors of the sky, rainbows, wind, rain, clouds, fog, snow, hail, ice, dew, frost, tides, rivers, earthquakes, and ground fire. There is no preface and no table of contents. This manuscript copy, with blue-lined pages, is not dated but presumably was issued after 1624. At the front of the work is an inscription that reads: "written by Gao Yizhi, the Jesuit priest from the West, and put in book form by Han Yun in the old city of Jiangzhou." Han Yun and his brother Han Lin both were scholars and officials who were great supporters of Vagnoni.

Names

  • Han, Lin, 1601-1649 Associated Name
  • Longobardo, Nicola, 1565-1655 Contributor
  • Vagnoni, Alfonso, 1566-1640 Author

Created / Published

  • [Place of publication not identified] : [Publisher not identified], [1624 to 1640]

Headings

  • -  China
  • -  1624 to 1640
  • -  Jesuits

Notes

  • -  Title devised, in English, by Library staff.
  • -  Original resource extent: 2 volumes, 2 juan ; 19.7 x 13.6 centimeters.
  • -  Original resource at: National Central Library.
  • -  Content in Chinese.
  • -  Description based on data extracted from World Digital Library, which may be extracted from partner institutions.
  • -  Title revised per Asian Division.--cc28 2023-01-06

Medium

  • 1 online resource.

Source Collection

  • Chinese Books, Manuscripts, Maps, and Prints

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2021666408

Online Format

  • compressed data
  • pdf
  • image

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

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Credit Line: [Original Source citation], World Digital Library

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Han, Lin, Associated Name, Nicola Longobardo, and Alfonso Vagnoni. Kong Ji Ge Zhi. [Place of publication not identified: Publisher not identified, to 1640, 1624] Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021666408/.

APA citation style:

Han, L., Longobardo, N. & Vagnoni, A. (1624) Kong Ji Ge Zhi. [Place of publication not identified: Publisher not identified, to 1640] [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2021666408/.

MLA citation style:

Han, Lin, Associated Name, Nicola Longobardo, and Alfonso Vagnoni. Kong Ji Ge Zhi. [Place of publication not identified: Publisher not identified, to 1640, 1624] Pdf. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2021666408/>.