Taikang Lu, Lane 210, Building No. 2B
Shanghai, Shanghai

ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY
- Shanghai -
Matteo Ricci’s Memory Palace

The great Jesuit missionary, Matteo Ricci, died this month in 1610. To commemorate his work, the Royal Asiatic Society is pleased to offer a free lecture by Mr. Paolo Sabbatini, a distinguished Italian scholar.

Matteo Ricci was the first European since Marco Polo 200 years earlier to live and work in China. He rediscovered China for the West, spending almost thirty years here, and died in Beijing where his tomb still stands. He had studied science in Rome and brought the latest discoveries and ideas of the Renaissance with him. Living first like a Buddhist monk and then a Confucian scholar, he mastered similar interests here. One particular fascination was the structure of the Chinese language. With his logical and highly trained mind, he developed a system for both Chinese and Westerners to remember words and ideas, which he called a Memory Palace. He left some writings on it without, however, ever explaining it in detail.

Paolo Sabbatini has studied the “Art of Memory” for many years and has organized a possible reconstruction of Matteo Ricci’s system, which he is willing to share with those interested.

Date: Wednesday, 23 May 2007
Time: 7:30 pm
Venue: Deke Erh Art Center, Taikang Lu, Lane 210, Building No. 2B, Shanghai

All are welcome. This is a Regular Meeting of the Society. There will be a charge of 50 RMB per person for unlimited coffee or tea.

Official Website: http://www.shanghaiexpat.com/index.php?name=MDForum&file=viewtopic&t=59817

Added by msittig on May 15, 2007

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