I materiali didattici del Collegio dei Cinesi di Napoli: una ricerca preliminare

The Chinese College of Naples was the first school in the West where the Chinese language was taught and spoken. Several books and articles on the history of the College have been published until now, but very few works deal with the methodologies, assessments, and materials used to teach Chinese in 18th and 19th century Italy. The paper focuses on grammars and textbooks used in the Neapolitan institute during the first half of the 19th century. In particular, the paper will illustrate two different Chinese grammars kept in Naples National Library. The first, entitled De lingua Sinensi, is a Chinese grammar written in Latin by an anonymous author. The second one is the Zhongguo zi. Gramatica chinese fatta per uso della scuola speciale istallata nel Collegio de’ Chinesi in Napoli da Gennaro Filomeno Maria Terres allievo della suddetta scuola, 1813 (Chinese grammar made to be used at the special school of the Chinese College in Naples by Gennaro Filomeno Maria Terres, pupil of the above-mentioned school).