Bulletin of Portuguese - Japanese Studies ISSN: 0874-8438
[email protected] Universidade Nova de Lisboa Portugal Golvers, Noël DISTANCE AS AN INCONVENIENT FACTOR IN THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATION BETWEEN EUROPE AND THE JESUITS IN CHINA (17TH / 18TH CENTURY) Bulletin of Portuguese - Japanese Studies, vol. 18-19, junio-diciembre, 2009, pp. 105-134 Universidade Nova de Lisboa Lisboa, Portugal Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=36129851004 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative BPJS, 2009, 18/19, 105-134 DISTANCE AS AN INCONVENIENT FACTOR IN THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATION BETWEEN EUROPE AND THE JESUITS IN CHINA (17TH / 18TH CENTURY) Noël Golvers K.U. Leuven (Fac. of Arts, Dept. Sinology) – F. Verbiest Institute Abstract Distance was a key element in the existential situation of the European Jesuits in China in the 17th-18th century. In addition to the linguistic and cultural distance they had to overcome, we will reflect here especially on the geographical distance (with consequences in terms of time and money), as a contribution to the historical research on the scientific communication from Europe to China, more precisely on the basis of a selection of contemporary testimonia. Therefore, I focus on three precise questions: (1) how seriously the geographical distance did affect a