Matteo Ricci and The Forbidden Temple - ＂Ends of The Earth＂

In 1582, it was the Italian Jesuit Matteo Ricci who landed at the Portuguese settlement of Macau and made his way into the heart of mainland China. Ricci went on to be the founding figure of the Jesuit China missions. And in 1601, he was invited by the Chinese emperor to be the first European to enter the Forbidden City in Beijing. The Forbidden City served as the home of emperors and the center of Chinese government for nearly 500 years. Today, it houses the Palace Museum with an extensive collection of art and artifacts from the Ming and Qing dynasties of 1420 to 1912. While visiting the Forbidden City, Matteo Ricci would have also been one of the first Westerners to experience the massive Temple of Heaven. Built by the Ming dynasty in the early 15th century, this structure was built for one reason, to offer an annual sacrifice to God. According to ancient records, the ceremony was a continuation of the Chinese border sacrifice, which goes back at least 2,200 years before Jesus Christ. In the 5th century BC, Confucius described the border sacrifice as an annual offering of an unblemished bull or beautiful sheep to Shang Di. Shang Di was the high god of the ancient Chinese. Also known as Tian or Heaven, he was worshipped as the creator god for thousands of years. The border sacrifice was moved to Beijing in the 15th century. It was here at the Temple of Heaven that the ruling Chinese emperor would reverently enter the imperial vault once a year and sacrifice a bull or sheep on the huge white marble altar of heaven inside. As part of the ceremony, the emperor would recite a prayer that honored Shang Di as the creator of everything, the sun, moon, and stars, heaven and earth, plants and animals, man and woman. Parts of the ceremony were remarkably similar to the ancient ritual of the Jewish high priest entering the Holy of Holies once a year at the Temple in Jerusalem. As the first European Christian to visit this place, how could Matteo Ricci not be moved by the experience? It was in this mysterious part of Beijing that Matteo Ricci went on to serve the Chinese in areas of astronomy, mathematics, and Latin translations. He also produced a map of the world in Chinese characters, and he introduced East Asia to the discoveries of the European explorers. By the beginning of the 17th century, Ricci saw a number of prominent Chinese officials convert to Christianity because of his heart to serve them. But the 18th century brought something much different. The Catholic Church decided that combining Christian doctrines with Chinese customs didn't work. As a result, the pope ordered all Jesuit missionaries to publicly oppose Chinese traditions, such as ancestor worship and praying at shrines of the dead. The Chinese emperor found his order petty and began running Catholic missionaries out of his realm. By 1773, the Christian presence in China, Mongolia, and Taiwan nearly ceased to exist once again. Over 2,000 years ago, the man known as Jesus of Nazareth was born in the small town of Bethlehem in the land of Judea. His extraordinary life, brutal execution, and miraculous resurrection from the dead attest to the truth of his claim to be the only son of God. This is the story of how Jesus, through the lives of his faithful followers, has become known around the world, impacting all of human history from the first century until today. This is Drive Thru History, Ends of the Earth.