Notes about the Early European thought About China and Chinese Civilization

Abstract

These pages aim to stress how pre-Enlightenment and Enlightenment thought dedicated attention to Chinese civilization, highlighting its affinities but also the differences with different aspects of Western European civilization. Leibniz played a primary role in this, and the remarks of Bayle, Wolff, Voltaire and Montesquieu faced the same issue with different approaches, more or less positive toward the Chinese civilization, as described by the Jesuits since Matteo Ricci and other missionaries having lived in China for years