Category: Update

Day #4: The Jesuit cemetery in Beijing

By Angelica Giombini11 August 201612 August 2016 Categories: Beijing, Update

One of the greatest evidence of the presence of the missionaries in China is their cemetery; the Zhalan cemetery. The cemetery is located in what is now the Communist Party School and it took a while to convince the guards to let us in to visit it. Here, 53 Jesuits are buried along with 10…

Day #4: The imperial city seen by the Jesuits

By Angelica Giombini11 August 201612 August 2016 Categories: Beijing, Update

Today we went to visit the Imperial City, in the center of Beijing. The Imperial City, or Forbidden City, used to be the residence of the Emperors and until the Republic was forbidden for the public. Kircher in the China Illustrata describes the center of Beijing with this words: “There are vast city walls in the…

Day #3: The Great Wall

By Samantha Jenkins10 August 201612 August 2016 Categories: Beijing, Update

Today we conquered the Great Wall of China! Well, at least one small section of it. Mutianyu is one of the most beautiful, large and popular sections of the Great Wall stretching about 70km. The wall was built in the mid-6th century and has been re-built since. One of the newer renovations to the wall…

Day #2: Finding the Jesuits in Beijing (and a little bit of heaven)

By Samantha Jenkins9 August 201612 August 2016 Categories: Beijing, Update

Today was packed full of exploring the city and attempting to find the remnants of the Jesuits who came here centuries ago. Beijing is such a dense and busy city that finding anything is a challenge, especially when those places are the lesser visited tourist attractions. We got soaked through looking for the Jesuit church…

Day #1: Hunting Jesuit’s traces

By Samantha Jenkins6 August 201612 August 2016 Categories: Beijing, Update

We got here as the sun set since it took us a whole day to reach St. Joseph’s Church, known more commonly as Wangfujing Church or Dongtang, one of the few proofs of the Jesuits’s presence in the capital city! Hidden by the skyscrapers, the huge modern malls and the imperial monuments, this fascinating church…

Day #1: Introduction to Beijing

By Samantha Jenkins6 August 201612 August 2016 Categories: Beijing, Update

Our first day in Beijing was hot, sweaty and different from what you would expected from European capitals. Even though the world today is so globalised, Beijing is like a world of its own. Few people in the capital speak English and although our Mandarin is rudimentary we can still get by using a combination…

Beginning our Expedition!

By Angelica Giombini3 August 20166 August 2016 Categories: Update

At 8 am tomorrow our flights leave! After all the preparation, we are now ready to put ourselves in the shoes (or maybe funny robes?) of the Jesuits!

Meeting with an expert on Oriental studies: Dr. Polichetti

By Angelica Giombini3 August 20165 August 2016 Categories: Update

Before we leave for such a research expedition, it is important that we are knowledgeable about the topic that we are going to be researching. This is why we organized a meeting with the Director of the National Museum of Oriental Art ‘Giuseppe Tucci’ in Rome, Dr. Massimiliano A. Polichetti, a man who has dedicated…

Getting in touch with the locals

By Angelica Giombini1 August 20165 August 2016 Categories: Update

Jesuit travelers who arrived in China from Europe were never left alone to their faith. In fact, the Jesuit order in the XVII century was a huge community and had contacts worldwide. Every new Jesuit that arrived had contacts with those already in the country who helped him to integrate himself to the new country…

Mandarin 101

By Samantha Jenkins31 July 2016 Categories: Update

Learn some more about Mandarin from Su Li, one of the teachers from the Maastricht Language Centre. After a week together I have learnt a lot, but I think my pronounciation could still use some work!

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