Affiliation:
1. School of European Languages and Cultures , 12632 Beijing Foreign Studies University , Beijing , China
Abstract
Abstract
The Croatian Jesuit Ivan Vreman is recorded in historical literature as the first Croatian to arrive in China. He was born in Split, Dalmatia in 1583, joined the Jesuit Order in 1600, set sail from Portugal for Asia in 1615, arrived first in Macao of China in 1616, and then traveled northward into the mainland of China. He died of illness in Nanchang in 1620 at the age of 37. This article, with the help of historical materials in Croatian, Latin, English, Chinese, and other languages, reconstructs the life of Ivan Vreman and the history of cultural exchange between the East and the West in the late Ming dynasty from several aspects, including his educational background, scientific achievements, missionary journey to the East, and experiences in China.