One of the most important duties the Emperor of China was the maintenance of a proper calendar. It was a difficult task that required some of the best minds of China. At first, this may seem somewhat unusual to the reader; how hard can it be to count the days of the year?
The calendar’s importance is due to the fact that, unlike the Gregorian calendar, the Chinese year is based on upon a lunar calendar, so that a new month begins with a new moon. This means that errors are much more noticeable and hence important than they are with the solar calendar. And given how it is to begin farming during the proper month, well, you get the idea. Perhaps equally important was that eclipses, meteors, and other celestial phenomena, if not properly predicted, could be interpreted (often by rebels) as signs of Heaven’s displeasure with the dynasty.
So, needless to say, when the Jesuits arrived on scene, offering their knowledge of astronomy to the late Ming Emperors, they were welcomed, and continued in this role during the years of the Qing. Kangxi, in particular, loved them. There was only one problem.
They were lying.
Oh, sure, the Jesuits were more accurate than traditional Chinese astronomers. But thanks to the pope’s commands, the Jesuits were not allowed to teach Copernican heliocentrism in China. This was well and good, until Dutch learning began filtering into the Southern Ming court at Nanjing in the 1670s. As one scholar put it:
“Since the Europeans, attracted by the Emperor's civilizing virtue, came from afar and translated their techniques for pacing off the heavens, we have had the mathematics of deferents and epicycles. ….And then, after not very long, there was a change. For what have all along been called circles they have substituted ellipse techniques, and they hold that the earth moves and the sun is static. This means that the Westerners were unable firmly to maintain their previous arguments.
Never has there been a worse instance. From Tycho's time to the present has been only somewhat over a century, but how many times have they changed his methods! I cannot imagine how much further they will go. They are certain to surpass these beginnings, boasting of knowledge that only they have, inventing absurd theories. ”
Yet this did not mean that the scholars of China rejected Western learning, although it would cripple Jesuit efforts to convert China. It did mean that both courts were inspired to turn their own efforts to developing a more exact calendar that they could check, as the two competed for prestige by hoping to develop a more accurate calendar. But while the Qing would continue to rely on Jesuits for the development of some equipment, both would seek Western technology from outside sources, and by the beginning of the eighteenth century clock-making workshops, under Imperial patronage, existed in several cities, both north and south. And the southern Ming, still cobbling together a viable state, are unable to prevent people from learning about the new astronomical methods around the country [1].
Perversely, in the long run knowledge of competing schools of thought in Europe helped to save western learning in China; as it is no longer viewed as the purview of funny monks who want China to abandon its faith, more people are willing to deal to consider it while still distrusting the Jesuits.
This era also sees a renewed interest in mathematics, both north and south [1]. Trigonometry, in particular, blossoms, and interest in algebra increases. In Beijing, the Kangxi Emperor learns about surveying, mensuration, astronomy, and geometry from Jesuits, while books on these subjects are popular across the land. Perhaps the greatest development, however, was the establishment of Sauanxue guan; the Academy of Mathematics, by Jesuits in the Qing court in 1686 [2].
The Academy of Mathematics would ultimately have over a hundred scholars, as well as numerous technicians, and would teach the subjects of the Qing about astronomy, music, and mathematics. This would, of course, be followed by the establishment of the Academy of Astronomy in Nanjing, in 1694. It would be in Nanjing, in 1714, when the work of an Englishman would first be published in Chinese. “The Way of Seeing,” known to us as Opticks.
Meanwhile, the printing presses of Fujian are still humming, churning out works that family cartels spread across the countryside. And as prosperity returns, the scholars of both states continue their love of cataloging items and writing encyclopedias….
[1] the Ming tried to stop this OTL, and the Qing were leery about this as well, given the political implications. Ah well.
[2] This was done OTL, but not until 1713.