Sancian, Gate to China

In 1552, St. Francis Xavier died on the island of Sancian without setting foot on mainland China. Since then, this image of Francis Xavier on Sancian has been enshrined in Western memory, and many missionaries, merchants and adventurers have tried to realise the unfinished dream of Francis Xavier. In 1700, the German Jesuit Kaspar Castner was sent to build a tomb for Francis Xavier on Sancian. During the three months he and his workers spent there, he encountered the local population and the soldiers that the Chinese government had installed there to protect them from pirates. Castner wrote a report on this period, which is presented here for the first time in a modern scholarly translation into German, English and Chinese. Kastner's report is a unique contemporary document that provides a glimpse of the clash of different worldviews, cultures, ethnicities and religions. The publication is rounded off by a facsimile of the Latin report cut in wood from the University Library of the LMU Munich.