64 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I42 



converts in Peking, Zainton, and several other cities. After the fall 

 of the Yuan dynasty Roman Catholicism, like Zoroastrianism, com- 

 pletely disappeared from China, 



During the Ming dynasty Roman Catholic missionary work was 

 resumed. The first missionary to come to China was St. Francis 

 Xavier, who died on the island of Shang-ch'uan in 1552 without 

 reaching the mainland. Other missionaries reached Macao and Can- 

 ton, but not the interior, and Matthew Ricci arrived at Macao in 

 1582, Nan-chang in Kiangsi and Nanking in 1595. In 1596 he 

 visited Peking, where he settled in 1601. Many other missionaries 

 followed, other organizations later entered the field, and the number 

 of converts increased. 



The Jesuits sent a number of scholars to Peking, who made im- 

 portant contributions in astronomy, mathematics, history, geography, 

 mechanics, and art. They brought prestige to the movement, and for 

 a time gained the favor and patronage of the emperor. Other mis- 

 sionaries, mainly from Italy, France, and Portugal, entered and estab- 

 lished churches in the provinces of Chili, Shansi, Shantung, Honan, 

 Szechwan, Hukuang, Kiangsi, Kiangan, Chekiang, Fukien, Kuang- 

 tung, and Kuangsi. 



The Roman Catholic priests and nuns were zealous in spreading 

 their religion. They opened hospitals, schools, and orphanages, and 

 established churches. Hospitals, by alleviating suffering, lessened op- 

 position and won the hearts of patients and friends. Schools, while 

 helping win the respect of educated Chinese, were places where re- 

 ligion was taught every day and were a means of influencing pupils 

 and their parents. In the orphanages the children were given a living, 

 a home, and an education, and were taught the Roman Catholic re- 

 ligion. The churches were often large buildings in which to worship 

 with dignity and which impressed the people with the greatness of 

 this religion. After the Boxer Uprising and partly with the aid of 

 the Boxer indemnity, the church came into possession of a great deal 

 of property. By 1922 there were approximately 2 million Roman 

 Catholic communicants in China, 



Protestant missions in China began in 1807 with Robert Morrison, 

 who had been sent out by the London Missionary Society. He was 

 able to live in the agency of the East India Company in Canton, al- 

 though confined within the limits of that agency. At that time, ac- 

 cording to Chinese law, the death penalty awaited any Chinese who 

 would teach the Chinese language to a foreigner, Morrison had pre- 

 viously studied medicine, astronomy, and the Chinese language. He 

 completed a Chinese grammar in 1812, a Chinese dictionary in 1814, 



