Karel Slavíček, SJ and His Correspondence from China with European Astronomers and Scholars

Abstract

Karel Slaviček, SJ (1678–1735) was a Jesuit missionary to Chinese Empire, and in the same time the mathematician, astronomer and musician, coming from the Czech Crown lands. He was one of the eight Jesuits of the old Bohemian province who reached China. His letters from China are an ample source of his observation of life and customs in China, as well as of Chinese science. These letters in Czech translation, together with their originals (mostly in Latin), were published, for the first time, in 1995. This edition was later translated into Chinese and published in 2002 in Beijing. This article aims to acquaint the readers with the scientific contribution of Karel Slaviček, which we can found primarily in his letters to European scholars published so far.

Keywords

• Jesuit missionaries
• China
• Karel Slavíček
• correspondence