Simon Yongjun Zheng 郑永君 2025, A Study on the history of CICM in China and its Dutch-speaking Sinologist Jozef Mullie, 上海古籍出版社
Newly launched publication in China: A Study on the history of CICM in China and its Dutch-speaking Sinologist Jozef Mullie by Simon Yongjun Zheng 郑永君, Researcher at the Verbiest Institute KU Leuven
In no doubt, there are countless fascinating stories about Sino-European encounters that are filled with intriguing characters, and missionary activities played a significant role in it from very early in history until the early 20th century. The Belgian missionaries, in particular the Flemish, have been mentioned in Chinese sources in a number of ways. Their handwritten materials, such as the writings of van Rubroeck, Verbiest, and more recent ones of the late 19th century, whose numbers are much greater than their forerunners, provide us with a wealth of information about China from their perspective. Due to this, the Scheut missionaries, a remarkable group of Flemish clergy with a long history of carrying out missions in northern China, captured my attention and piqued my interest, so much so that their works and stories became the focus of my PhD research.
Established in the 19th century, the Scheut Mission consisted primarily of Dutch-speaking Belgian missionaries. Besides that, another unique feature of this congregation is that it was specifically founded for the purpose of conducting missionary work in China. As early as 1865, the first 4 Scheutisten arrived in this Far East land, and over the next 90 years, nearly 700 people followed in their footsteps, leaving a lasting impression across many regions of Northern China. Among their many accomplishments were the establishment of schools, the organization of charitable activities, and, most notable, the conduct of extensive academic research. The missionaries gradually took it upon themselves to introduce Chinese culture, people, language, society, and customs to Europe, thus leading to the creation of Belgium’s first professional sinologists. A typical example of a China scholar born of the Mission is Jozef Mullie. Today, his research on the Chinese language, in particular Northern dialects and
Classical Chinese, has continued to be of academic interest and influence.
The results of my four-year PhD research have now been published in China as a monograph in the academic series of Fudan University, “Fudan Global History—Between the East and West”. This book is divided into two volumes, the first of which contains two chapters primarily discussing the CICM’s early history, thereby giving the reader an understanding of their hardships during their formative years in Belgium, their struggles upon arrival in China, and the arduous process of commencing missionary work in this foreign land. In the second volume, Mullie’s life as a Chinese missionary and his research in Sinology, specifically Chinese linguistics, are respectively discussed in two chapters. At the end of the book, I briefly introduce Mullie’s two life-long monographs, which are intended to provide readers with a better overview and understanding of Mullie’s important but nearly forgotten contributions to the academic field of Dutch-speaking Sinology. It is no doubt, in my personal opinion, that
the Chinese linguistic works left behind by Mullie can provide Dutch-speaking individuals of today with a fresh perspective and inspiration to examine both spoken and classical Chinese in terms of articulation, grammar, writing instruction, and usage.
About the author:
Simon Yongjun Zheng 郑永君, received his PhD in History from Fudan University in 2021. He is currently an academic researcher at the Verbiest Institute KU Leuven. Simon’s research focuses on the history of Christianity in China, Dutch-speaking Missionary Sinology, and Sino-Belgian encounters.
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