The K'ang-Hsi Emperor's Absorption in Western Mathematics and Astronomy and His Extensive Applications of Scientific Knowledge

The introduction of Western science into China by the Jesuit missionaries during the late Ming and the early Ch’ing dynasties came to a climax in the middle of the K’ang-hsi reign (1662-1722). The enthusiastic approval and acceptance of scientfic knowledge and techniques from the West by the second Ch’ing emperor, K’ang-hsi, had encouraged the Jesuits serving in his court and surprised contemporary Europeans as well as his Chinese subjects. For this reason, K’ang-hsi became famous in the West as a devotee of the European civilization.