Title: The Westerner: Matteo Ricci’s World Map and the Quandaries of European Identity in the Late Ming Dynasty
Abstract:Beginning with the late Ming dynasty, Europeans in China assumed the name of “people from the Great Western Ocean” ( Daxiyang ren 大西洋人), often shortened to “Ocean people” ( yang ren 洋人) or “Western pe...Beginning with the late Ming dynasty, Europeans in China assumed the name of “people from the Great Western Ocean” ( Daxiyang ren 大西洋人), often shortened to “Ocean people” ( yang ren 洋人) or “Western people” ( xi ren 西人). What is the origin of this name? This paper seeks to answer this question by suggesting a new interpretation of the cartography of Matteo Ricci. Much of the scholarly debate about the Ricci world map revolves around the notion that it was a scientific artifact meant to present an accurate image of the world to a willfully ignorant, but otherwise impressive civilization. This paper argues instead that the purpose of Ricci’s cartographic project was to sustain a new identity, that of the Westerner and of the “Great West,” notions created in translation by borrowing and modifying Ming China’s geopolitical vocabulary.Read More