The Teaching of Chinese in Naples in the Nineteenth Century: Guo Dongchen’s handbook in Italian

The Chinese College in Naples, founded by Father Matteo Ripa in 1732 after his
return from China, where he had spent about 15 years at the court of the Manchu
emperors Kangxi and Yongzheng, is the first institution in Europe where Chinese
was taught, initially only for religious purposes and then for cultural and commercial
aims. The University of Naples “L’Orientale” represents its heritage. This
article focuses on the work of one of its first students, who later became one of
the first Chinese teachers of the College, Guo Dongchen 郭棟臣 (1846-1923). He
wrote the first Chinese grammar in Italian and edited a version of the famous Three
Character Classic with Latin translations of each individual entry. These texts are
not only the result of a fortunate encounter between the Chinese traditional education
system and European religious culture, but also one of the first attempts at
cross-cultural didacticism.