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.