Ricci exhibition shows a lost age of cultural vitality

• Source: Global Times
• [21:12 March 14 2010]
• Comments

China, meanwhile, has been invigorated through decades of reform and is feeling an inner urge to expand its worldwide influence.

Yet what, intellectually, does China have to offer now?

Four hundred years ago, Matteo Ricci and his companions brought the basic ideas of science and technology to China. Those ideas broadened our vision and laid down the foundations that many later developments relied on. The geometric ideas Ricci introduced are still taught in Chinese schools.

But imagine in another 400 years, an exhibition was held in the Louvre Museum on a single Chinese's great trip to Europe in 2010. What fascinating items would there be to display?

The author is an editor with the Global Times. lujingxian@ globaltimes.com.cn