Strategic Visuality and Cross-Cultural Translation: Localization and Collaborative Networks in the Illustrations of the “Song Nianzhu Guicheng”

Résumé

This article takes the late-Ming Catholic illustrated book "Song Nianzhu Guicheng" (誦念珠規程) as a case study to examine its strategic localization at the level of visual imagery. By comparing its adapted illustrations with their source in Nadal’s "Evangelicae Historiae Imagines", it reveals how the Jesuits, while maintaining theological consistency, promoted the visual translation of Christian imagery through selective adjustments in composition, setting, and symbolism. This process rested upon the theological oversight of the Jesuits, the cultural mediation of Chinese literati, and the technical execution of local artisans. The study argues that such modifications were not acts of passive compromise, but rather instances of creative cross-cultural adaptation, reflecting the interaction between Catholic doctrine and Confucian notions such as "zhenjie" (貞潔 chastity). In this way, the "Song Nianzhu Guicheng" not only testifies to the exchange and transformation of religious art between China and the West in the late Ming, but also provides a new perspective for understanding the visual strategies of Christianity’s accommodation in China.