9-11 Sep 2015 Paris (France)
Ancient books on China in Colonial Mexico: the Middle Kingdom globalized (17th to 18th centuries)
Teresa (maite) Gonzalez Linaje  1@  
1 : Universidad Veracruzana, Mexico

The enormous number of books published on the topic of China during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries not only found a widespread public in Europe but also in their New World colonies. Spain, one of the first countries involved in the distribution of such publications, enlight-ened its colonies by sending titles on China to the cultural elites and wealthy families. In the case of Mexico, in that time the Viceroyalty of New Spain, it is remarkable to find exemplary editions of con-secrated titles about China such as Athanasius Kircher's China Illustrata, or critical writings over the Controversy of the Rites, and other subjects such as Juan de Palafox y Mendoza's book on The Con-quer of China by the Tartar; later editions during the eighteenth century, including surprises such as the so-called Suite des seize estampes représentant les conquêtes de l'Empereur de la Chine, can be found today among the ancient collections of certain Mexican libraries. In this case, we are not refer-encing the first command ordered by the Qianlong emperor, but the reduced edition produced later by Isidore Stanislas Helman. The presence in the Viceroyalty of these publications, together with Chinese art is clear proof of the globalization of Chinese culture in these centuries.


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