Matteo Ripa and the first chinese students in Naples

Engraving by Matteo Ripa

Rome [ENA] From 1734 to 1759 Charles of Bourbon reigned in the city of Naples (1716-1788). Charles was the eldest son of Philip V of Spain and Elisabetta Farnese and his kingdom was a prosperous and culturally rich kingdom. In 1732, Matteo Ripa (1682-1746), a secular religious, managed to obtain authorization to found the College of Chinese Students. Matteo Ripa (马国贤 Ma Guoxian) had been in China from 1710 to 1724,

as a missionary and painter at the court of Emperor Kangxi (1661-1722) of the Qing dynasty. Matteo Ripa arrived in Beijing on February 6, 1711 and was admitted to court as a painter and above all copper engraver. In April 1714 he finished the copper engraving of the 36 views of the imperial villa of Gehol (Rehe, Manchura) and Kangxi liked it so much that he ordered him to publish the entire album in a large number of copies. In addition, between 1714 and 1717, Ripa also engraved the Great Map of the Empire of China on copper, an impressive cartographic work consisting of 44 plates.

With the death of Emperor Kangxi at the end of 1722, Ripa decided to return to Naples to found a College for young Chinese students.The new emperor Yongzheng authorized him to leave China and take four young Chinese with him (Giovanni Battista Gu Ruohan 谷若翰, 1701-1763; Giovanni Evangelista Yin Ruowang 殷若望, 1705-1735; Filippo Huang Batong 黃巴桐, 1712-1776; Lucio Wu Lujue 吳露爵, 1713-1763), accompanied by the master Gioacchino Wang Yajing王雅敬, who then left Naples for China in September 1734. In the ancient heart of Naples, in that part of the district "Sanità" called "Vergini" (Virgins), there is a " cluster" of alleys and stairs baptized with the exotic name of " I Cinesi", "The Chinese".

In the 18th century, the College of Chinese Students hosted 51 young Chinese people who were never less than fourteen years old and who over the years had devoted themselves to the study of Latin, Chinese, philosophy, theology and morals. The College of Chinese Students in Naples was a place of curiosity in the eighteenth century, a lively point of reference for the cultural and social life of the city, Italy and Europe. Matteo Ripa was born in Eboli in 1682 to a well-to-do family in the town that was still a rural village, his father was a physician as well as a baron, and soon Matteo was sent to Naples to study.

Ordained priest he was sent to Rome where he formed the first Fide propaganda nucleus dedicated to missionaries and since the Jesuits defended the Chinese rites, Matteo Ripa was sent to China where he brought the nomination as Cardinal to the Papal Legate Tournon . The Cardinal later died in confinement at Macau, 8 June 1710 because of the divergences that arose. The Kangxi Emperor received him kindly at first, but upon hearing that he came to abolish the Chinese rites among the native Christians, he demanded from all missionaries on pain of immediate expulsion a promise to retain these rites. At Rome, the Holy Office had meanwhile decided against the rites on 20 November 1704, and being acquainted with this decision, the legate issued a

at Nanjing on 25 January 1707, obliging the missionaries under pain of excommunication to abolish these rites. Hereupon, the Kangxi Emperor ordered Tournon to be imprisoned at Macau and sent some Jesuit missionaries to Rome to protest against the decree. Tournon died in prison, shortly after being informed that he had been created cardinal on 1 August 1707.When the cardinal died of heartbreak, Matteo Ripa managed to be appreciated by the court of the emperor Kangxi (of the Qing Dynasty, of Manchu origin) for his artistic skills.He was a skilled mechanic and connoisseur of clocks, but after the death of the emperor himself, he returned to Europe and after receiving the honors from King George in London,

Father Ripa

he bought a building with an adjoining church in Naples on a hill: here is the place that will later be called the college of Chinese students.Father Ripa, tenacious and ingenious, was convinced of the righteousness of his initiative and that he was inspired by the Lord. He went also to Vienna to meet the Emperor Charles VI of Habsburg on whom Naples depended. He stayed in Vienna from July 1726 to May 1728. He was received twice by the emperor obtaining royal protection at the new ecclesiastical foundation in Naples.

He also promised to prepare not only Chinese priests, but interpreters of the Chinese and Indian languages, necessary for the imperial "Ostend Naval Company" General Company Established in the Austrian Netherlands for Commerce and Navigation in the Indies in 1722. Thus was born the "College of Chinese and Indians" in Naples. After completing the project, in 1719 Matteo Ripa opened the school for Chinese catechumens and Christian collaborators. In December 1888, a state law transformed the Royal Asian College into an Oriental University Institute, now better known as the "L’Orientale" University of Naples.