'Visiting humanists' and their interpreters. Ricci (and Ruggieri) in China

Although Hsia is right in pointing out that “we know next to nothing about Matteo at the university” (p. 5), we can still make a few conjectures that may help us get a better understanding of his intellectual background. In this review, attention will be paid to the chapters in which Hsia discusses Ricci’s education in Rome and Lisbon, connecting it with the missionary’s textual production in China, thereby providing a few integrations that hopefully will enrich our understanding of Ricci as a “visiting humanist.”