A diagram showing sunrise and sunset from Adam Schall von Bell’s Chinese treatise Yuanjing shuo (Explanation of the telescope; 1626). Photograph taken from an undated Japanese manuscript copy held at the Ricci Institute for Chinese-Western Cultural History, Boston College.A sea monster from Ferdinand Verbiest’s Chinese world map Kunyu quantu (1648). Photograph taken from a reproduction held at the Ricci Institute for Chinese-Western Cultural History, Boston College.A drawing of a European telescope from Adam Schall von Bell’s Chinese treatise Yuanjing shuo (Explanation of the telescope; 1626). Photograph taken from an undated Japanese manuscript copy held at the Ricci Institute for Chinese-Western Cultural History, Boston College.