Rhetorica and Exemplum: The Genesis of Christian Literature in Late Imperial China
Abstract
:1. Why Did the Ming Chinese Forget Rhetoric?
2. European Jesuits and the Appearance of Western Rhetoric in China
……[嘗] 聞古有一賢士,欲盡明天主之說,晝夜尋思。一日在於海邊往來,遇一童子,手執漏碗,望海而行。士問曰:『子將何往?』童子曰:『吾執此碗,欲汲盡此海水。』士笑曰:『欲以漏碗而汲盡滄海,子言謬矣。』童子曰:『爾既知漏碗不能汲竭海水,而顧勞神殫思,求知天主之說,豈不大謬?』須臾,童子不見。士大驚,悟知其為天人也。
… [I] was told that there was a virtuous scholar who would like to know all about God, thinking about Him all day long. One day, as he was walking along the seashore, he met a child, who hold a bowel with cracks and walked toward the sea. The scholar asked the child, “Where will you go?” The child replied, “I like to put all the water of the sea into this bowel.” The scholar laughed, “You are wrong if you want to put the entire sea into this bowel.” The child answered, “Since you have known that I can’t exhaust the sea by using this bowel with cracks, isn’t it ridiculous for you to exhaust the knowledge about God by sparing no effort to do so?” The child then vanished in no time, and the scholar was so surprised that he was illuminated to knew that the child was an angel.5
3. Ciceronian Rhetoric and Its Representation in Ming China
[此五法者] 先究事物人時之勢,而思具所當言之道理,以發明其美意焉。次貴乎先後布置有序,如帥之智者節制行伍:勇者置於軍之前後,而懦者屯之於中。次以古語美言潤飾之。次以所成議論嫻習成誦,默識心胸,終至於公堂或諸智者之前辯誦之。
[The five parts of rhetoric] begin with the study of things, events, persons, and the conditions of times before one speculates on the cause of delivering one’s speech for the presentation of one’s proper intention. What is important next is the deployment [of materials and arguments.] This has to be made in good order, in the way as a wise commander would do with his troop: the brave will be deployed in front and at the back of the troop, while the cowardly will be placed in the middle. And then one adorns one’s speech with antique gems and beautiful diction. And then one commits to memory the finished discourse by recitation. Finally one delivers it in a public hall or disputes it with wise persons.13
[西人]議論之法,大約必由五端:一先觀物觀事,觀人觀時勢,而習覓道理以相質,所謂種種議論之資料是也。二貴乎先後布置有序而不紊。三以古語擷華潤色。四將所成議論嫻習成誦,默識心胸。其人靈悟善記,則有溫養之法;其人善忘難記,則有習記之法。終至於公所主試者之前誦說之,或登高座與諸智者辯論焉。蓋議論本欲破人之疑而發其志,以善處其事,不能通人之心,感人之情,無益也。故言語之輕重疾徐,以至容貌顧眄,舉手順目,皆有其法,俾聽者之愛惡悲喜,言下即觸,不徒浮言散於空中而已。
As for the method of discourse, there are five steps. First, to observe things, events, persons, and the conditions of the times, and to seek the causes behind them; such are called materials for discourse. Second, to deploy [materials and arguments] in good order: first this, then that. Third, to adorn with gems from ancient writers. Fourth, to commit to memory the finished discourse. If a student is intelligent and good at memory, there is method for keeping his memory fresh. If the student is forgetful, there is the art of memory. Finally, the student appears in a public hall in front of the examiners to recite his discourse or mounts a platform for a disputation with wise and learned persons. Now the purpose of discourse is to pierce the doubts and guide the will of the listened, for it does little benefit if one is capable of handling affairs but incapable of moving the hearts and emotions of others. Hence, there is a method, too, in the stress and speed of delivery, in the facial expressions, and in the movements of the hands and eyes, of the speakers, so that the words will touch the listeners’ loves and hates, sorrows and joys and do not merely disperse in the air.14
4. European and Chinese Rhetoric Compared
5. Exemplum and the Thematic Sermon
6. Coda
Funding
Conflicts of Interest
References
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2 | For a biography of Zou Weilian, see Chen 1991, comp., juan 18, in Zhou 1991, 6:231. For Su and Zhang, see the discussion of them in Xing 1998, p. 87. |
3 | Not until the Song and the Ming, those Neo-Confucians, for teaching purposes, began to deliver longer speeches as we understand them today, although they were still not the outputs of an art equaled to the Greco-Roman art of speech. See Song and Huang 1991, pp. 166–259. |
4 | For the text of Xiguo jifa, please refer to Wu 1964, 1–70. For a recent study on Xiguo jifa, see Ahn 2017, “On Xiguo jifa (『西國記法』) of Matteo Ricci (1552–1610),” pp. 99–121. |
5 | My translation. For the Chinese text of the story, see Luo 2002, 1:14–15. For the nature of Tianzhu shilu, see Front 2019, pp. 201–25. |
6 | So far as I know, the anonymous Chinese authors of Xingmi pian醒迷篇 (Anonymous 2002), Tianzhu shengjiao koduo天主聖教口鐸 (Anonymous 20013b), Lun fuli xiushi論輔理修士 (Anonymous 2013a), and Shanyi shengxue三一聖學 (Anonymous 2009) all quote the “Vision of St. Augustine” in their respective titles. See Zhong et al. 2009, 9:268–269; 9:268–269; Zhong et al. 2009, 3:428–430; Zhong et al. 2013, 20:130. For known authors’ citations, see Li 2009; Zhou 2013, 27:148. |
7 | See Sánchez 1992, p. 277. Ricci, in his Tianzhu shiyi天主實義, offers the first “correct” version as paraphrased in the text. See Li 1965, 1:395. |
8 | For the texts where Christian type of exemplum was often made of, see Rosweyd 1864, in J.-P. Migne, ed. 1862–1864, vol 73; Waddell 1987; and Voragine 1993. It is said that it was partially for the latter collection that Ignatius of Loyola made up his mind to be a priest (Tylenda 1985, p. 12). Ignatius’s dramatic decision had itself become a Christian exemplum in Alfonso Vagnone’s work in Chinese before 1628 (Gao, in Zhong et al. 2002, 1:367–68). For a modern discussion on the rhetoricity of this episode in Ignatius’s autobiography, see Boyle 1997, pp. 5ff. |
9 | For more discussions, see Grendler 1989, pp. 377–81; and Lang 1952, pp. 286–98. |
10 | Most of the important texts concerning the medieval art of preaching can be conveniently found in Miller et al. 1974. For an excellent survey, see Murphy 1974, pp. 269–355. |
11 | For a discussion on this subject, see D’Elia 1950, pp. 58–76. For Aleni’s text, see Ai 1964, pp. 27–30. |
12 | For the year the chapter on Western learning was completed, see Mei 2017, p. 216n2. |
13 | My translation here is done partially by following Bernard Hung-kay Luk’s rendition of Aleni’s version, with different wording and diction, in Xixue fan. See Luk 1977, p. 70. Unfortunately, Luk is ignorant of Aleni’s borrowing from Vagnone, nor is he aware of Vagnone’s borrowing from Soarez. He thus comes to the misleading conclusion that the Ciceronian parts of rhetorical formation “are quite obviously derived from Cicero’s De oratore.” I agree that Soarez’s source is Cicero, De Oratore, 1.31.142–143, but it is clear that Vagnone’s source is De Arte rhetorica. An obvious evidence of Vagnone’s borrowing from Soarez lies in their shared emphasis on the simile of the commander and his troop. Soarez’s original in this context, to quote Flynn’s translation, reads, “The calibre of a distinguished commander is not better discerned from his selection of the brave and the spirited soldiers for war, than from posting an army for battle” (Soarez in Flynn 1955, p. 209). Elsewhere, Soarez uses the same figure of idea once more, although not so relevant to my argument: “The army that has a wise commander is governed more satisfactorily in all respects than one ordered by some rash and stupid person” (Soarez in Flynn 1955, p. 240). |
14 | Luk’s translation with proper additions made by me. See Luk 1977, pp. 70–71. For Aleni’s text, see Ai 1964, 1:28–30. |
15 | D’Elia 1942, 1:37. For the English translation, I quote from Gallagher 1942, p. 28. |
16 | As I will suggest in what follows, it has been a mistake to take xiuqi xue 修辭學as an equivalent to “rhetoric;” I prefer yantan zhishu言談之術to it, though it is still different from Western idea of rhetoric. |
17 | See Xunzi 1979, “Feixiang 非相,” pp. 73–91; Hanfeizi 1964, “The Difficulties of Persuasion” (“Shuonan 說難”), pp. 73–79; and Liu Xie 劉勰, “Lunshuo 論說” and “Yidui 議對,” in Liu 1985, pp. 126–33, 169–75. For a historical survey in this respect, see Song and Huang 1991, and Yuan and Zong 1990, pp. 9ff; Oliver 1971, pp. 84–257; and Garrett 1993, pp. 105–15. |
18 | |
19 | There were, of course, exceptions in the vernacular. For examples in this regard, see Crane 1983, pp. cii–cxvi. |
20 | For a discussion of the collections of model sermons, see Bataillon 1980, pp. 19ff. For discussions of the collections of “alphabet of tales,” see Pfander 1934, pp. 19–29. Cf. Nolcken 1981, pp. 271–84. |
21 | For an introduction to such collections and anthologies, see Kindstrand 1986, pp. 226–42; and Kloppenborg 1987, pp. 306–15. |
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Li, S.-S. Rhetorica and Exemplum: The Genesis of Christian Literature in Late Imperial China. Religions 2019, 10, 465. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10080465
Li S-S. Rhetorica and Exemplum: The Genesis of Christian Literature in Late Imperial China. Religions. 2019; 10(8):465. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10080465
Chicago/Turabian StyleLi, Sher-Shiueh. 2019. "Rhetorica and Exemplum: The Genesis of Christian Literature in Late Imperial China" Religions 10, no. 8: 465. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10080465