Europeans with a special interest in China were popularizers. They did not care about how Christianity and the teachings of Confucius could come together. Nor did these popularizers spend much time on missionary strategy or intellectual approaches that the Jesuits worked to discover. Rather, they focused on finding Chinese support for the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment did not improve the West’s understanding of China, but actually hurt as Chinese views were exploited and created a superficial image of China. Many people admitted to fictionalizing Chinese history. There were books written about Chinese culture by people who had never been to China, although they claimed to be. They used these writings to push the Enlightenment by claiming that respected Chinese such as Confucius said things that they would have never stated. It should not surprise anyone that as opportunities to push a narrative came about, lies were spread and words were perverted. The West used the reputation of China to push their own
Europeans with a special interest in China were popularizers. They did not care about how Christianity and the teachings of Confucius could come together. Nor did these popularizers spend much time on missionary strategy or intellectual approaches that the Jesuits worked to discover. Rather, they focused on finding Chinese support for the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment did not improve the West’s understanding of China, but actually hurt as Chinese views were exploited and created a superficial image of China. Many people admitted to fictionalizing Chinese history. There were books written about Chinese culture by people who had never been to China, although they claimed to be. They used these writings to push the Enlightenment by claiming that respected Chinese such as Confucius said things that they would have never stated. It should not surprise anyone that as opportunities to push a narrative came about, lies were spread and words were perverted. The West used the reputation of China to push their own