ABSTRACT
At the beginning of the collection Kouduo richao, the chief editor Li Jiubiao gives a brief summary of his approach to recording the admonitions of Aleni and other Jesuit masters in Fujian. He writes in the statement of editorial principles, “This collection started in the spring of 1630. The entries in successive years have all been provided with dates; in doing so, I have presumed to follow the model of the historical chronicles (biannian jishi 編年紀事).”1 Clearly, Li is referring to the long tradition of historical writings in China, often embedded with Confucian ideology and moral judgments. If we read through Kouduo richao, all conversations start with a certain day in a certain month, preceded by the year of the reign of Emperor Chongzhen 崇禎 (Zhu Youjian 朱由檢, 16111644) and the season of the month, at a certain place. In other words, Li consciously applies a key element in historical narratives to a compilation which primarily consists of “motionless” conversations. Consequently, Kouduo richao shows an unusual chronological organization different from dialogue-based Confucian writings in the past but also from the majority of other Christian dialogic works produced in the late Ming period.
