QUESTION OF HU

by Spence, Jonathan D.

• ISBN13: 9780394571904
• ISBN10: 0394571908
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1988-10-01
• Publisher: Knopf

Summary

This lively and elegant book by the acclaimed historian Jonathan D. Spence reconstructs an extraordinary episode in the early intercourse between Europe and China. It is the story of John Hu, a lowly but devout Chinese Catholic who in 1722 accompanied a Jesuit missionary on a journey to France -- a journey that ended with Hu's confinement in a lunatic asylum. At once a triumph of historical detective work and a gripping narrative, The Question of Hu deftly probes the collision of two cultures, with their different definitions of faith, madness, and moral obligation. Book jacket.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. xi
Preface	p. xvii
The Question	p. 3
Departure	p. 5
The Ocean Voyage	p. 29
Landfall	p. 44
In the Provinces	p. 56
Paris	p. 70
Orleans	p. 88
The Road to Charenton	p. 95
Inside Charenton	p. 105
Release	p. 119
Return	p. 133
Notes	p. 135
Bibliography	p. 173
Index	p. 181
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