Great Encounter of China and the West, 1500–1800

For the past half-century D. E. Mungello has been a leading scholar in Sino-Western history. From 1979 to 2016 he founded and edited a journal dedicated to the post-Mao Zedong era revival of contacts between Chinese and foreign historians. His books include Leibniz and Confucianism, Curious Land , The Great Encounter of China and the West, 1500-1800, The Spirit and the Flesh in Shandong, 1650-1785, Drowning Girls in China: Female Infanticide since 1650, Western Queers in China: Flight to the Land of Oz, The Catholic Invasion of China, This Suffering is my Joy: The Underground Church in Eighteenth-Century China and Interracial Lovers in Revolutionary China. He is the Professor of History Emeritus at Baylor University.

I’ve been using Mungello’s Great Encounter of China and the West in my global History survey course for many years. I can’t think of another text that so clearly encompasses so many of the processes of globalization in the early modern world. Better still, it flips the traditional narrative away from a Eurocentric world view and never fails to generate substantive discussions. I always tell colleagues that if they are looking for one supplemental text to use in their World Civ classes, this is the one to pick – students will read it, will recognize transnational phenomenon, will use it as a springboard for class discussions, and will find their interest in world history reinvigorated.

• Chapter 1: Historical OverviewChapter 2: Chinese Acceptance of Western Culture and ChristianityChapter 3: Chinese Rejection of Western Culture and ChristianityChapter 4: European Acceptance of Chinese Culture and ConfucianismChapter 5: European Rejection of Chinese Culture and ConfucianismConclusion