The Matteo Ricci Network comes from the name of the Italian sinologist, mathematician, and cartographer who lived in China in the Ming era. It brings together some of the most important Chinese and Italian universities in a joint teaching, educational, and research network with the aim to strengthen scientific and economic collaborations between the two countries. The network was launched in 2018 during the Italy-China Innovation Week in Milan; as of late 2020, it gathers 15 Italian and 11 Chinese universities (and more are joining) with the primary objective of developing joint research and higher education projects, as well as promoting the mobility of students, professors, and researchers. A first meeting of the members was held in Beijing in November 2019, discussing the opportunities related to partnerships, scholarships and student mobility as stated in the original agreement. Among these, the promotion of the mobility of people (students, professors, and researchers) in Italy and China, such as to create new opportunities and to acquire new experiences and knowledge; the development of joint research projects based on knowledge sharing; the organization of seminars, conferences, workshops on topics of common interest; the exchange of information, teaching materials and research ideas.
MATTEO RICCI (Macerata, Italy, 1552・Beijing, China, 1610)
Jesuit and sinologist originally from the Marches, he was firstly sent as a missionary to the East Indies (1577) and then to China (from 1582), where he began his work of popularizing western culture and the study of eastern civilization. His work as apostolate and evangelist based on respect for local cultural values earned him the favor and esteem of the Ming imperial court, in particular of the emperor Wanli. Matteo Ricci, called by the Chinese Li Madou, is the symbol of the meeting between China and Europe since 1600. He introduced elements of European culture in China by spreading philosophical, religious and scientific texts in Mandarin. In the country where the synocentric conception was still deeply rooted, he showed the Chinese, with his famous world map, how the world was made outside the Celestial Empire. However, Ricci did much more: he introduced China to Europe; he translated some classical texts of Confucian philosophy into Latin and described Chinese culture in his works, such as in in Dell’entrata della Compagnia di Gesù e Christianità nella Cina. Thanks to his high mathematical and astronomical knowledge, he stimulated the interest of Chinese intellectuals about Western knowledge.He remained in China from 1582 until his death in 1610 in Beijing where he is buried in the Zhalan Cemetery.
CREDITS
Concept and web design: Prof. Sergio Ulgiati (Università degli Studi di Napoli “Parthenope”), Ms. Anne-Marie Bruyas (Fondazione Città della Scienza), and Dr. Silvio Cristiano (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia and Università degli Studi di Napoli “Parthenope”)
Webmaster: Mr. Attilio M. Iannitto (Fondazione Città della Scienza)
International academic relations: Ms. Elena Maresca (Fondazione Città della Scienza), Ms. Jingyan Xue (Beijing Normal University), and Dr. Marco Casazza (Università degli Studi di Napoli “Parthenope”).
Consortium acceleration and networking team: Prof. Liu Gengyuan (interim co-coordinator, Beijing Normal University); Prof. Sergio Ulgiati (interim co-coordinator, Università degli Studi di Napoli “Parthenope”), Dr. Marco Casazza (acting secretary / assistant coordinator)