[West] By Paul Robert Moreno, revised by Dong Shaoxin, Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, September 2024 edition

When talking about the history of China studying abroad, people are most familiar with Rong Hong (1828-1912), who is known as the "father of China students." In fact, China studied abroad long before this. However, before the Opium War, there were not many China students who were proficient in Western languages and made achievements after returning home. For example, Chinese priests Li Ande (1695-1773) and Li Zibiao (1760-1828), who have attracted more attention in recent years. The former studied at the General Seminary of Siam for 9 years. After returning to China, he missionary in Sichuan and other places and left a 700-page Latin diary; the latter stayed in Italy for nearly 20 years and served as an interpreter in the Magartney Mission after returning to China. "A Study of Luo Wenzhao, the First Chinese Bishop"([West] Written by Paul Robert Moreno, revised by Dong Shaoxin, Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, 2024)Luo Wenzhao (Luo Wenzao, 1617-1691), the protagonist of the book, not only went abroad many times, but also became the first Chinese bishop after returning to China, far above Li Ande and Li Zibiao. This book tells the story of Luo Wenzhao's growth from an ordinary farm child to the Nanjing Apostolic Church who managed missionaries and believers in Zhili, Shandong, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Gansu, Henan, Jiangsu, Anhui, Korea and other areas. Behind the story is the great history of the encounter between China and the West, the revolution of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and the controversy over etiquette.

Luo Wenzhao was born in Fu 'an, Fujian in 1617. Before adulthood, his social status and education level were not high. 1632-1633 In 1977, Spanish missionaries came to Fu 'an to preach, completely changing Luo Wenzhao's fate. He was baptized into the Church in 1634, went to Macau at the end of 1638, and moved to Manila in 1640. Since then, he has traveled between Fujian and Manila many times, and studied theology, Spanish and Latin in Manila. In 1654, he was ordained a priest in Manila. 1665-1671 In 1977, missionaries were expelled because of Kangxi's imprisonment. As a China, Luo Wenzhao was the only priest who could freely preach in various provinces. In 1674, he was appointed by the Pope as alternate Apostolic Pastor of Nanjing and was consecrated in 1685. Luo Wenzhao was the only Chinese bishop in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It was 1926 that the Chinese bishop reappeared.

The statue of Luo Wenzhao in the National Library of France

The quality of character research works largely depends on the level of portrayal of historical details and character psychology. As a Chinese biography of Luo Wenzhao, this book successfully takes into account both: this book collects copper from the mountains through careful combing of Western historical materials, showing a large number of little-known precious details. Since Luo Wenzhao left almost no Chinese works or letters, and there were very few Chinese documents even mentioning him (Professor Zhang Xianqing made up for some regrets through field investigations), the study of Luo Wenzhao requires relying on Western literature. Before this book, although José María González's Biography of Luo Wenzhao (1966) was famous for its breadth, it only collected 47 letters from Luo Wenzhao, but this book collected more than 120 letters from Luo Wenzhao! It is not difficult to imagine the hard work of the author. Unlike Yuan Ruose, who simply attributed these letters to Luo Wenzhao, the author noticed that most of the letters signed by Luo Wenzhao were ghostwritten, and divided them into four categories: those conceived and written by Luo Wenzhao, those conceived and written by others, those written by Luo Wenzhao, those dictated by Luo Wenzhao and were written by others, and those conceived and written by others.(page 308), so as to distinguish who they each represent. The author and the reviser are proficient in many Western languages, and their mastery and application of Western historical materials have been improved.

More importantly, this book also uses archives as the basis to deeply describe the complex psychology of Luo Wenzhao and the European missionaries, which I personally believe is the most outstanding advantage of this book. At that time, European missionaries preaching in China included the Order of Jesus, the Order of Dominicans, the Order of Franciscans, the Order of Foreign Missionaries in Paris, and the Order of Austonian, etc., which were involved in power struggles in Spain, Portugal, France, and the Holy See. As a China, Luo Wenzhao was baptized by the Franciscans but joined the Dominicans. His appointment as bishop was pushed by the foreign missionaries in Paris, but his attitude in the debate over etiquette in China is closer to that of the Jesuits and Austonian missionaries in Paris. Therefore, he had to maintain a delicate balance between various forces for a long time.

On the one hand, some missionaries were not friendly to him. For example, although Luo Wenzhao was baptized by Franciscans, the Franciscans in Manila were relatively indifferent to him, so he finally had to join the Dominicans. While some missionaries used him, they didn't trust him. For example, some people suspected that Luo Wenzhao's "motivation for visiting various churches was his greed for money."(pages 153-154)。Another example is that after Luo Wenzhao was appointed bishop, he needed to be consecrated before he could officially take office. According to common sense, Dominicans should very much welcome members of this Council to be promoted to bishops. However, when Luo Wenzhao went to Manila to be consecrated, the Dominicans who accompanied him blocked them in every way. Luo Wenzhao wrote wronged: "He insisted that I couldn't be consecrated because all the priests in the Chinese Mission told him that, and he left China to avoid me being consecrated... in order to try to deceive me and betray me through lies and let me be locked up here... He told the provincial governor that all the priests in the Chinese Mission district begged the provincial governor to be very careful not to allow me to be consecrated because I opposed the Dominicans and supported the Jesuits..."(Page 265)He even wrote angrily: "If I am an enemy of Dominicans, why didn't I hang in China?"(Page 269)He was deeply stung by the betrayal of his colleagues. After Luo Wenzhao was promoted to bishop, some missionaries only regarded him as a tool. They did not want Luo Wenzhao to have his own will and repeatedly tried to control him. In order to achieve their goals, they sometimes did not hesitate to fake Luo Wenzhao's name and tamper or forge letters.

On the other hand, China also have ambiguous attitudes towards Luo Wenzhao. Although many China believers are proud of his promotion to bishop, many people despise him. They respect European missionaries more than Chinese priests. For example, a missionary recorded: "China people do not respect their own people, even priests. This has happened many times to Luo Wenzhao."(Page 289)"Once I talked to a China and told him that there was already a China who had achieved the position of bishop. He replied: Father, this bishop is no different from me, and I am also like him. He is a rice farmer."(Page 223)Luo Wenzhao even felt that he was "like a fugitive" and did not dare to return home because he was not consecrated in Manila and finally had to escape in humiliation from the imprisoned Dominican monastery.(page 302)Psychological accounts such as this are everywhere in the book. As the first Chinese bishop, Luo Wenzhao's growth path is full of thorns and heartaches. Therefore, this book can be said to be about the spiritual history of a China student during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

In addition to the individual and micro levels, the significance of this book at the macro level is also worthy of attention: First of all, Luo Wenzhao is a part of the global information network and "plays a role of liaison and communication" between China, Southeast Asia and Europe.(Page 456)He had been between China and Manila for a long time, helping to transport missionaries, funds, letters, etc., and even after the Qing government imposed a sea ban and relocation, he did not stop. Luo Wenzhao not only served the church, but the message he conveyed also influenced the Spanish military decisions. For example, in 1665, Luo Wenzhao went from Fujian to Manila to deliver letters, etc., and at the same time reported to the Manila government that the Dutch were gathering a navy and were likely to drive Zheng Jing out of Taiwan. Therefore, the Manila government decided to send troops to Cagayan and other islands to defend Zheng Jing.(page 145)As the book says: "Proclamation, trade and politics are closely connected, forming a complex network of relationships, and Luo Wenzhao is an important connection point in this network."(page 144)At the same time, as a bishop and fluent Spanish, Luo Wenzhao was qualified and able to report directly to Rome, which was difficult for other China. He became an important channel for missionaries and China believers to express their demands to Europe.

Secondly, many of the various disputes Luo Wenzhao experienced were China projections of world conflicts. While the Europeans moved various disputes between Europe and the colonies (such as the dispute over religious rights and the dispute over religious orders) to China, the situation became more complicated due to the addition of the situation in China, but Luo Wenzhao himself was often unaware of it. For example, the root cause of Luo Wenzhao's failure to canonize in Manila was that the Asian church structure plan designed by the Holy See at that time was very controversial."The Holy See appointed Luo Wenzhao as bishop and pontifical priest of Nanjing, and hoped that he would go after being consecrated to assist French pontifical priest Lu Franciscan. Unexpectedly, the Manila government, Spanish missionaries and Luo Wenzhao himself all opposed this church structure plan."(Page 263)As the author said: "Luo Wenzhao did not understand the Dominican order's role in the overall church structure, and may not fully understand the competitive relationship between the Jesuits and Dominicans and some of the upper and lower structures in the order."(Page 270)This book explores "Global History Starting from China."(Ge Zhaoguang's words)Excellent model.

Since this book mainly relies on Western historical materials, it is limited by its limitations. This book focuses more on the struggle between Europeans and the use of Luo Wenzhao by all parties, and analyzes the European voice behind Luo Wenzhao's so-called "China Voice"(this is a highlight of this book), and Luo Wenzhao's subjectivity has to be weakened. In the eyes of missionaries, Luo Wenzhao was often a man with little knowledge, wavering attitude, and easy to be manipulated by others, but many times he was actually quite independent and determined. For example, the Pontifical Vicar and Dominicans of France controlled Luo Wenzhao's appointment documents and bishop's allowance and tried to coerce Luo Wenzhao with this. However, he did not give in, but risked being unable to consecrate and lack of funds to stick to his position on China etiquette. Therefore, he does not "cooperate" with anyone without principles, but contains certain proactive choices. He hopes to find a more "gentle" way that best suits the "nature" of China, as Luo Wenzhao said,"Do you think I am so stupid?"(Pages 321, 428)For example, on the issue of funerals, he was fully aware that the Franciscans and Jesuits were "using my name to support their respective views" and also said that "they would wait for the right time and place, not only in their personal views, but also in their capacity as a Pope substitute pastor."(page 334)As a man who traveled between Chinese and Western factions and was honored as a bishop, his own subjectivity will be discovered in the future by more Chinese historical materials.

On the basis of this book, readers may wish to refer further to Jonathan D. Works by Spence and Henrietta Harrison(Written by Shi Jingqian, translated by Chen Xinhong: "Hu Ruowang's Questions", Guangxi Normal University Press, 2014; written by Shen Aidi, translated by Zhao Yanjie: "The Danger of Translation: The Extraordinary Lives of Two Translators between China and the British Empire in the Qing Dynasty," Democracy and Construction Press, 2024)Hu Ruowang, Li Zibiao, and Luo Wenzhao in his novels, all came from the bottom of the hierarchy. When viewing the three books together, we can better understand the mental entanglements of these pioneers who wandered between China and the West. Their pioneering and arduous nature are far above modern international students.