A Catholic Catechism in Manchu

Monumenta Serica, Vol. 17 (1958), pp. 361-372.Whenever missionaries set out to preach their faith among people of a totally different cultural background, they are confronted with the formidable task of translating alien conceptions into another language that may have no equivalent words for them at all. In the case of China, this happened at least twice - if we except the limited, and rather local impact of Islam-: once in the first centuries of the Christian era, when Buddhism reached the country, and again in the 17th century, when Christian missionizing began in earnest. In both cases, skilful translators were able to build on native word material, by infusing new meanings into words already used.