This is the first comprehensive work on one of the key figures in early Chinese-Western relations. Xu Guangqi was one of the first promoters of Western science in China, worked together with the Jesuit Matteo Ricci on translations of Western science, was one of the first Chinese converts, a high-ranking statesman, organizer of a major calendar reform, introduced Western weapons into the Chinese army, etc. etc.

His astonishingly multifarious activities are now for the first time pieced together within their (Chinese and Western) social, intellectual and cultural context. The result is a composite profile of this complex figure that is solidly anchored in Chinese (and Western) primary sources A major achievement.

Catherine Jami, Ph.D. (1985, Université de Paris XIII), is Chargée de Recherche at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (Paris). She works on the history of Chinese mathematics and astronomy and has published extensively on the reception of European science in China during the Ming and early Qing.

Peter Engelfriet, Ph.D. (1996, University of Leiden), specializes in Chinese religious and scientific history, including particularly the early Jesuit mission to China. His publications include Euclid in China (Brill, 1998) and Linked Faiths (Brill, 2000), a festschrift honouring Kristofer Schipper.

Gregory Blue, Ph.D. (1989, University of Cambridge), teaches History at the University of Victoria (BC, Canada). His research focuses on the history of Sino-Western relations and on Western interpretations of Chinese history and society.