Confucius (551 to 479 BC) is the one of the earliest and most influential thinkers and teachers in China. The Confucian system of learning was the first in the world that allowed for societal promotion to be based upon education. This is the first edition of the three major Confucian works to be published together in any language other than Chinese and the first Confucian work to be published in Europe in a European language. It comprises Latin translations of three Confucian classics: Da xue (the Great Learning), Zhong yong (the Mean), and Lun yu (the Analects), and has been described as one of the supreme achievements of Jesuit accommodative scholarship in China. It constituted the culmination of a century of Jesuit investigation into Confucianism and made this scholarship available to a European readership.

Authors:
Intorcetta, Prospero, 1625-1696
A Jesuit missionary from Sicily, Intorcetta departed on a missionary voyage to China in 1656. From 1659, he lived in the province of Jiangxi. In 1664 he was taken prisoner in Guangdong, and in 1671 he returned to Rome where he reported on the sad state of the mission. After returning to China he settled in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang. He died in China in 1696, admired even by his enemies for his energy and knowledge of Chinese philosophy. Intorcetta was a pioneer in developing a technique for producing Sino-European xylographic works (woodblock printing) in which both Chinese and Latin characters appeared on the same page. A prolific writer and editor, he published Latin translations of the Chinese classics as well as Chinese translations of countless Christian works. He is remembered as one of the best Confucian scholars of the 17th century.

Herdtrich, Christian Wolfgang, 1625-1684
An Austrian Jesuit missionary in China, Herdtrich was born at Graz, Styria. Having been chosen for the Chinese mission, he labored for two years on the island of Celebes, and after 1660, was in the Chinese provinces of Shanxi and Henan. In 1671 he was called to the court of Peking as mathematician, and was one of that group of scholarly Jesuits with whom the great emperor Kangxi surrounded himself. He professed a profound knowledge of the Chinese language and literature. In addition to the present volume, Herdtrich was also the author of a large Chinese-Latin dictionary, probably one of the first of its kind. Emperor Kangxi himself composed his epitaph.

Rougemont, Francois de, 1624-1676
Jesuit missionary to China, Rougemont was born in Maastricht, present-day Holland. He arrived in Macao in July 1658 and spent a year in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, before working in Chengdu. The famous Qing dynasty painter, Wu Li accompanied Rougemont on one of his mission tours. Besides several catechisms in Chinese, Rougemont also wrote an important essay on the need for an indigenous clergy and an account of his exile in Guangdong. He died at Taicang, near Shanghai, while preparing to go to the island of Chongming, and is buried in Changshu, Jiangsu.

Couplet, Philippe, 1623-1693
The principal editor of the present work and Jesuit missionary to China, Couplet was born in Malines, Belgium. His interest in China was sparked by a lecture given by another Jesuit missionary, Martino Martini.
He was active in several provinces of China, including the cities of Guangzhou and Songjiang and the island of Chongming. He went to Rome in 1681, stopping en route at the court of Louis XIV. To the French king Couplet made a gift of woodblock printed books in the Chinese language. He was also instrumental in getting royal support for Jesuit mathematicians to come to Peking. On his return trip to China, Couplet lost his life aboard ship in a storm off the coast of Goa, India.