I had a lunch fellowship with my BFF We Tsoo, a few months ago. Apart from catching up with each other, she asked if I knew of whether Emperor KangXi (1645-1722) (1) was a Christian? Immediately, two of emperor’s poems with English translations, which I came across a few years ago, came back to my mind.
After the lunch, I reflected on what’s the significance for people to know whether or not the Emperor was a Christian? It probably would bring a sense of purpose to Christians who were called to serve our dear Lord of God, in China if they knew about KangXi’ policy to open doors for foreign mission works done in China.
Time flies, a few months later, today, Arthur and I had lunch with my cousin Michael and his wife, Taky. And I couldn’t believe that in the course of having our fellowship, we were talking about Emperor KangXi and his magnificent poems.By the grace of social media, Michael managed to show Kangxi’ ‘The Death of Christ,” on his smart phone for us,
In the restaurant, Michael and I joyously recite the poem together. We were a bit loud but surely, we had Christ centered conversation at lunch with the family member. And Taky suddenly asked if KangXi was a Christian? What an awesome way to direct me that’s what I am going to put up for posting today.
Although evidently no record of the Emperor being baptized as Christian, but in Chinese history, he had befriended with Ferdinand Verbiest,(2) a Catholic missionary from Belgium, Europe.Many Jesuit priests managed to win his trust and lived in with him in the Forbidden City.
And in 1692, he personally issued a decree to legalize Catholic churches and the practice of Christianity nation wide. Regrettably, the friendly relationship had its ramifications. Speculations were saying that the live-in priests disapproved the emperor to have more than one wife.
As a matter of fact, it was that his priest friends sent by the Vatican fervently condemned Chinese ‘Ancestor worship and ‘Confucian Ceremonies. In a rage, therefore, the Emperor thus decided to closed hundreds of churches and banned missions, so the Emperor was never a Catholic.
My former Pastor, David Packer, once contended that “you don’t need to tell people that you are a Christian, but let them be surprised when they found out that you are one.” So, it is immaterial that no record revealed that the Emperor was Christian. And it wouldn’t surprise us if we saw him when we get to heaven because of the Christ centered poems he wrote.
Has it ever occurred to you, that the Manchurian, descended from North Nomadic (游 牧) tribe, hunters and horsemen of China came to rule the majority of sophisticated civilized, ethnic Han-Chinese people during the Feudal times for almost two hundred years if it were not by God’s will? (3)
It was a miracle for a non-Han emperor not only to have an exceptional good command of the language that’s differed from his own, but was also given a vision, in 1710 to order the compilation a new version of Chinese dictionary, the KangXi Dictionary (康 熙 字 典– Kāngxī Zìdiǎn) (4) that had evolved from an early 2nd Century, Classical ‘Chinese Dictionary (说 文 解字 – Shuōwén Jiězì),’(5) on Han Dynasty.
It took more than 5-year to complete the compilation. Therefore, the KangXi Dictionary was named after the emperor’s era name. And it was the standard Chinese dictionary during the 18th and 19th centuries. And it has always been a useful tool for people who are learning the Chinese language ever since.
It is hard to fathom that the Emperor had never left the country, and the printed bible was probably not readily available during his entire reign, especially after he parted with his Jesuit priest friends, but he could compose few spirit led poems. The one with the title of ‘The Death Of Christ,” with only 8 completed sentences and 56 Chinese characters to depict the suffering Christ and the essence of HIS finished work on the Cross.
God has always worked in mysterious ways. Last year, in 2016, I couldn’t find a single slot to rejoin the local BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) (6) for the book study on Revelation. At the end, thankfully I got into the one and only Chinese class, in Singapore, and it’s the first time, in my life, to study the Bible with my Chinese resources.
I have continued on the Gospel of John in the Chinese class since the beginning of 2017. I didn’t expect the Chinese version of the Bible would come as a perfect aid for me to ponder Emperor Kangxi’ poem, ‘The Death Of Christ,’ all over again. The English version of the poem is available via Google search(7).
In general, I rejoiced that the profoundness of the poem was not lost in translation. But have a bit of reservation to say Amen to few sentences of the translation when I refer to the actual scriptures. And prayerfully, I hope to be able to footnote the original text with the passage of scriptures from the Bible, on ‘The Death of Christ.’
To be continued!
Kay
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangxi_Emperor
- 2014.net/blog/background-jesuit-relations-with-emperor-kangxi
- com/romans/13-1.htm
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangxi_Dictionary
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuowen_Jiezihttps://en.wikipedia.or
-
blogspot.com/2008/12/kangxi-his-poems.html
The Light Of Faith 
How interesting to learn that back in the 1600’s, a member of the royal family may have been a Christian?!
So the concubines stopped the good work of the Catholic missionary…
Keep posting, Kay, your messages are inspirational!
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