The Jesuit Strategy: Missionaries and Military Technology
When Jesuit missionaries arrived in China during the late Ming dynasty, they carried not just Bibles but also technical knowledge that would prove crucial to their survival. Recognizing the Ming government’s desperate need for military technology against Manchu invaders, the Jesuits positioned themselves as intermediaries for Western cannon technology. This strategic decision would shape Christian missionary activity in China for generations.
The connection between missionaries and artillery began in 1630 when Jesuit João Rodrigues successfully negotiated the first cannon sale to the Ming court. Emboldened by this success, Rodrigues included five additional priests in the second cannon shipment from Macau. While political infighting eventually forced the mission to turn back at Nanchang, the priests quietly continued to their destinations. Among these technologically savvy missionaries was the famous Johann Adam Schall von Bell, who served the Ming not just as an astronomer but also as an artillery instructor. His teachings were compiled into the influential military manual “Huogong qieyao” (Essentials of Firearms).
The Manchu Conquest and Shifting Alliances
As the Ming dynasty crumbled, the Jesuits found themselves navigating treacherous political waters. Their fortunes became tied to the very artillery technology they had introduced. Among the Manchu forces, the Han Chinese artillery units within the Eight Banners proved most receptive to Western missionaries. A telling example occurred when the surrendered Ming general Kong Youde intervened to save Jesuit priest Álvaro Semedo from execution by Qing soldiers in Guangzhou.
Kong’s actions reveal the complex web of relationships surrounding firearms technology. As a former Ming commander under the Christian convert Sun Yuanhua – an artillery expert who maintained close ties with Portuguese gunners and Jesuits – Kong understood the value of these foreign priests. When his defecting forces joined the Qing, they brought thirty Portuguese artillery instructors and one Jesuit priest with them. This background explains why Kong, widely reviled as a traitor by Ming loyalists, would rescue a foreign missionary – he recognized the Jesuits’ importance in firearms procurement and their potential diplomatic utility with the Portuguese in Macau.
The Tong Family Connection
The Jesuit missionaries’ survival during the turbulent Ming-Qing transition owed much to their connections with powerful Han Chinese families within the Manchu system, particularly the influential Tong clan. This relationship began when Schall von Bell petitioned Fan Wencheng, a high-ranking Qing official and brother-in-law to the Tong family, to exempt his Beijing church from relocation orders following the Manchu conquest in 1644.
Fan Wencheng, who claimed descent from the Song dynasty statesman Fan Zhongyan, recognized the political value of Schall’s astronomical expertise. In traditional Chinese cosmology, accurate calendars demonstrated heavenly mandate – a crucial concern for the new Qing regime seeking legitimacy. When Schall’s predictions proved more accurate than those of Chinese or Muslim astronomers during a 1644 solar eclipse, Fan secured his appointment to head the Imperial Astronomical Bureau.
The Tong family’s patronage extended beyond Schall. Tong Guoyu, a prominent Qing official in Jiangnan, became renowned for his protection of missionaries. His Catholic-convert wife (baptized as Agathe) and his sponsorship of church construction earned him recognition as one of Catholicism’s “Three Great Protectors” during the 1664 anti-Christian persecution.
From Captives to Courtiers: Two Jesuits’ Remarkable Journey
The dramatic story of Lodovico Buglio and Gabriel de Magalhães illustrates how the cannon connection shaped individual missionary fates. Captured by Manchu forces in 1647, their lives were spared when soldiers recognized their European features – likely associating them with valuable artillery technology. Enslaved to Prince Hooge’s banner, they eventually transferred to the household of Tong Tulai, a prominent artillery commander and maternal grandfather of the future Kangxi Emperor.
Tong’s patronage proved transformative. After hosting the priests in his home and introducing them to his sons Tong Guowei and Tong Guogang, he secured their emancipation in 1653 through elaborate banquets and negotiations with Qing officials. Two years later, with Tong family support, the Shunzhi Emperor funded their Beijing church – the famous “Eastern Church” (Dongtang) that still stands today near Wangfujing.
Competing Visions of Mission
The differing experiences of Schall von Bell and the Buglio-Magalhães duo reveal competing strategies for Christian propagation in Qing China. Schall, the court astronomer, embraced a top-down approach through imperial service, while Buglio and Magalhães operated through elite Manchu family networks. Their sixteen-year conflict with Schall, including accusations to Rome about his involvement in divination and court politics, reflected this strategic divide.
Yet their connection to the Tong family proved historically significant. As the Kangxi Emperor’s maternal relatives, the Tongs provided a conduit for Jesuit influence at the highest levels of Qing power. When Buglio and Magalhães became part of this circle, they established a pattern of missionary access to the imperial household that would flourish during Kangxi’s reign.
The Artillery Legacy
The early Qing period established a lasting connection between Western military technology and Christian missionary activity in China. The Manchu soldiers who spared Buglio and Magalhães did so because they associated Europeans with valuable cannon technology – a linkage that persisted across Asia, as evidenced by travel restrictions on Europeans in regions where Portuguese artillery had been deployed.
This military connection shaped the Jesuits’ political survival strategy. From Kong Youde’s intervention to Tong Tulai’s patronage, the missionaries’ utility in firearms procurement and maintenance opened doors that might otherwise have remained closed. While Schall von Bell’s astronomical service is better known, the artillery connection proved equally vital in establishing Christianity’s precarious foothold in early Qing China.
The Eastern Church that Buglio and Magalhães built in 1655 stands as a monument to this complex history – one where faith followed the trajectory of cannonballs, and survival depended as much on technical knowledge as spiritual conviction. Their story, long overshadowed by Schall’s prominence, reveals the crucial role of Manchu military structures and Han Chinese artillery specialists in shaping Christianity’s Chinese trajectory.