Jesuits in the Ming Dynasty

Because of the subjective actions of the emperors, this degraded the status of high officials and risked their welfare they had less impact on the villagers which were left to run their own affairs. Which led to some of the most important developments for the Chinese people themselves during the Ming dynasty were that because the population was growing there was an increase in commercialization, a growing publishing industry, a great amount of commodities including silk, alcohol, porcelain, tobacco, crops, vegetable and fruits was sold in the market, and increased elite leadership and intervention in local community life were strengthening ties among populations giving them a stronger sense of common history and identity. And the southern Yummam and Guizhou were absorbed into Chinese sphere to a degree never accomplished before.

After reading over the chapter and from what I know of Europe and china at the time when the Jesuits visited China. I would say that their accounts were a bit exaggerated. For the simple fact that anytime a story gets passed along from one person to the next something gets added to the story, every person takes their interpretation differently. I do think that during their visit to China that the Jesuits saw the people in the courts of the Ming dynasty were very civilzed and cultured. They were probably a lot more civilized than Europe was at the same time. Because the Ming were able to achieve great periods of peace throughout such a large area, it was probably more impressive to the Jesuits who were coming from Europe at a time where there was a great deal of wars and fighting for such a smaller area.

Because many of the Jesuits were held in great respect because of their knowledge of mathematics, astronomy and calendar writing, they were allowed to be in the court of the king as high standing officials. While back in Europe they were not as highly respected, this would have led to them being treated with a lot more civility. Which may have led to why they had such great remarks as to the civility and culture of where they stayed.

...