The Chinese culture enforced a Trend of Enlightenment in European civilization in the 18th century
ByVincent LEE Kwun-leung
Art Officer, Art Of Nature International Company Limited
Till the 18th Century, the ideological, academic, super-structural and political atmosphere of Europe underwent stagnation due to the predominance of religious and barbarian influences. French intellectuals adored Chinese life-styles during the reign of Emperor Kang Xi, hoping that a trend of “Chinoiserie” could enforce positive changes in their civilizations, eliminate the corruptive system within the national bureaucracies, deny superstitious thoughts and abolished the economic privileges of Papal and noble class.
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, a German Priest, together with Fr. Claudia Filippo Grimaldi from Ignatius of Loyola, brought Chinese classics back to Europe in 1689 and endeavored in translation. Joanchim Bouvet published “Novissima Sinica” to promote a reformation of moral values in Europe with reference to Emperor Kang Xi’s efficient governance. He introduced “yin-yang” concepts, Taoist philosophies and ethical thoughts to European intellectuals. The French encyclopedists endeavored to reorganize scientific knowledge, with an addition of proclaiming natural and rational values from Chinese culture. The French bureaucrats, therefore, introduced “Law of Nature” and “Right of Nature” that helped promote an open-minded autocratic rule in Bourbon Dynasty, and liberate people’s hierarchical and religious thoughts.
The reason for “Chinoiserie” to become the great camp of enlightenment in France was that, there was a northward expansion of European culture and a growing eagerness for an enhancement of palace life. Coincident with the Age of Reason, the French intellectuals were curious to explore new knowledge and material cultures from Chinese society; whereas the missionaries found that Confucian worships never conflicted with the Christianity as it perceived immortality from Confucius’education ideal, with a recognition to “Chinese etiquette” as humans’ attainment to spiritual and moral enhancement.
Apollo Louis XIV required luxurious decorations in ball rooms of Versailles Palace and gardening architectures, thus he made reference to Chinese interior aesthetics. Louis XIV placed the most valuable Chinese porcelains and vases at the ceiling of Versailles Palace in Paris and French Embassy in Portugal. He was also amazed by the non-integration between civil governance and religion in China. He hoped to re-modify the correlation between Bourbon and Catholic Church to be mutually-respectful, as well as cherishing a peaceful coexistence among different religions. The Bourbon Dynasty also formed a fair system of civic examination with reference to the Chinese mode. It allowed bourgeoisie and lower-class to participate in politics with an abolition of royal monopolization.
La Mothe Le Vayer published “Sinarum Scientia Politics” that collected the translated versions of “Mencius”, “Critical Lyrics”, “University”, “Equilibrium”, “Poetry”, “Etiquette”, “Easiness”, “Book” and “Spring-and-Autumn Warrior Tactics”. He regarded Confucius as “Chinese Socrates”. With the influx of Chinoiserie, French replaced Latin as the predominant language in Europe for academic developments. John Hay wrote vernacular literature to glorify the Chinese golden vases. The Baroque trend absorbed silk, pottery and tea from China. The loosened pigments of Rococo paintings in the 17th century were inspired by Chinese aesthetics, specifically the idea of “spiritual essences” and “vivid brushworks”. The Portuguese merchants exported Chinese pottery to Europe by colonizing Macao. Dutch stole Chinese pottery from Malaysia and prospered the port economy in Amsterdam. With reference to the Lacquer pottery in Fuzhou, the French enamelware in the 18th century was instilled with the essence of Chinese temples and landscapes. The upper class in France tended to reassure Chinese tea as comprising medicinal values and Chinese silk as comprising dress-code leisure.
Voltaire was inspired by Chinese respects towards every individual’s ideals. He cherished the justice and natural governance of Emperor Kang Xi with a forbearance to evaluate criminals’ guilt. In 1755, Voltaire re-produced “The Orphan of Zhao Family” as a theatrical performance in Paris. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz regarded Chinese worship to Nature as similar to Christian ideals. He found “yin-yang” concept as a utopian attainment to universal harmony and hierarchical stability. Francois Quesnay stressed the significance of Emperors to pursue a benevolent rule. By encouraging civic examination, Francois Quesnay rejected commercial-oriented thought, system of monopolization and tax exemption among nobles and clergymen. Bardon de Montesquieu awarded agricultural progresses and introduced an institutional division of three civic bodies as a mean of “check-and-balance”. Jean Jacques Rousseauproclaimed the importance of civic freedom and human rights with the inspiration from a Chinese idiom called “No imposition of private interests at the expense of vast reluctance”, and this sowed the seeds for the Napoleonic Revolution.
Though Crane Brinton and Raymond Dawsoncriticized that missionaries from Ignatius of Loyola had romanticized Chinese society in Qing Dynasty and neglected the actual inferiorities in Chinese Feudalistic Monarchism, Wong Tak-chiu, a modern Chinese historian, reiterated that there was NO OVERRIDE between Chinese moral standard and political struggles. Wong Tak-chiu stated that, Chinese culture was just a prototype borrowed by the missionaries to promote spiritual and cultural nourishments, which were only limited to philosophical and ideological absorptions, and legitimate their aspiration to innovatively enforce “civic-governmental division” in Europe. China never proactively promoted its culture, while the West made a subjective absorption of Chinese thoughts. But still, we could discover a mutual affection for cultural enhancements from both civilizations.
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