ABSTRACT
Over time, those who have tried to deal with the Chinese developed three attitudes: the philosophers of enlightenment and the Maoists of our era projected their own illusions on the other about whom they were almost totally ignorant; disappointed, they directed their wrath at the fallen idol. The British traders and diplomats wanted to deal with the Chinese “on their own terms,” thus causing many clashes and bad feelings. The Jesuits learned to know the other so as to identify common ground for understanding; their conversion effort was bound to fail, but their culture of dialogue remains a model.
