François Noël (1651–1729)

The first acquaintance of Europe with Confucianism is contributed to Jesuits working in China in the 16th to 18th centuries. The first contribution was the translation of introduction to Da xue 大學 into Latin, published in Rome (Italy) in 1593. However, the first translation of the Confucian classic books, which attracted significant attention, was Confucius Sinarum Philosophus (Confucius, the Chinese philosopher), published in Paris in 1687. This publication has contained the annotated translation of three of Four Books of the Confucian canon. It is important, that new translation of the mentioned books was published in Prague in 1711. The author was François Noël (1651–1729; Chinese name: Wei Fangji 衛方濟), a Belgian (Flemish) poet, dramatist and Jesuit in China. His Sinensis Imperii Libri Classici Sex (Six Classics of Chinese Empire) has contained a new translation of the first three of the Four Books and added the Mencius (Mengzi 孟子). He also included in this book the Classic of Filial Piety (Xiao jing 孝經), one of the Thirteen Classics, as well as the Small Learning (Xiao xue 小學), a collection of texts put together for children by Zhu Xi 朱熹. The translations are divided up in small, numbered sections like the Chinese original. When comments are given, often at the end of a section, they are usually accompanied by the name of the commentator. Many of the sentences are introduced by lengthy paraphrases and sometimes followed by brief, helpful explanations. Unlike the translations of the Confucius Sinarum Philosophus there is no or very little Christian discourse interpolated in the text. Noel's work appears to be a serious attempt at a scholarly presentation of the ancient text, perhaps in deliberate contrast to the aims of the Jesuits who composed their Confucius Sinarum Philosophus half a century before.

The first acquaintance of Europe with Confucianism is contributed to Jesuits working in China in the 16th to 18th centuries. At the beginning was the translation of introduction to Da xue 大學 into Latin, published in Rome (Italy) in 1593. However, the first translation of the Confucian classic books, which attracted significant attention, was Confucius Sinarum Philosophus (Confucius, the Chinese philosopher), published in Paris in 1687. This publication has contained the annotated translation of three of Four Books of the Confucian canon. It is important, that new translation of the mentioned books was published in Prague in 1711. The author was Francois Noel (1651–1729), a Belgian (Flemish) poet, dramatist and Jesuit in China. His Sinensis Imperii Libri Classici Sex (Six Classics of Chinese Empire) has contained a new translation of the first three of the Four Books and added the Mencius (Mengzi 孟子). He also included in this book the Classic of Filial Piety (Xiao jing 孝經), one of the Thirteen Classics, as well as the Small Learning (Xiao xue 小學), a collection of texts put together for children by Zhu Xi 朱熹. The translations are divided up in small, numbered sections like the Chinese original. Noel’s work appears to be a serious attempt at a scholarly presentation of the ancient text, perhaps in deliberate contrast to the aims of the Jesuits who composed their Confucius Sinarum Philosophus half a century before.