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Knowledge Diffusion and Intellectual Change: When Chinese Literati Met European Jesuits

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  • Ma, Chicheng

Abstract

From 1580, the Jesuits introduced European sciences to China―an autarkic civilization whose intelligentsia was dominated by Confucian literati. Drawing upon prefectural distributions of the Jesuits and Chinese scientific works, this paper demonstrates that the Jesuits stimulated Confucian literati to study science. On average, the literati’s scientific works increased four times in prefectures with Jesuit scientists after 1580. But this effect shrank after the Jesuits were expelled by the emperor of China in 1723. Since China’s scholar-official system remained unchanged, the literati’s scientific research aimed to serve the needs of statecraft rather than translating into economic progress.

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  • Ma, Chicheng, 2021. "Knowledge Diffusion and Intellectual Change: When Chinese Literati Met European Jesuits," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 81(4), pages 1052-1097, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:81:y:2021:i:4:p:1052-1097_3
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    Cited by:

    1. Sascha O. Becker & Jared Rubin & Ludger Woessmann, 2023. "Religion and Growth," Monash Economics Working Papers 2023-15, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    2. Jiwei Qian & Tuan‐Hwee Sng, 2021. "The state in Chinese economic history," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(3), pages 359-395, November.

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