§ Original score, act I, L’eroe cinese, music by Cimarosa, Pietro Metastasio librettist Santangelo Paolo (史华罗) Confucius in the 18 th century Italy: a case of coŵplex iŶterŵediate cross-cultural reflectioŶ 1 Key words: China, Confucianism, Italy, 18 th century The 18 th century is a borderline century in Europe and maybe in the world history. In the 18 th century the Jesuits had already played a really important role in the history of cultural interrelations, not only for their function of bridge between Chinese and European civilisations, but also as they founded the sinological studies in the West. The controversy on the “Chinese rites”, raised within the ecclesiastical ambit and between the religious orders, overcame the religious topic and the evangelization methods, and involved wider issues: the key questions concerned which was the nature of Confucianism at the European Catholic eyes; was it a moral system or a religion? The idea of a “sage China” and a tolerant Confucian morality could be useful for Jesuits in their polemics against other religious orders. In an analogous way, few years later the Chinese “deism”, Confucian mundane morality, and its enlightened despotism offered interesting elements to the debate raised by the new philosophers, not only in France but in the other European countries, included Italy. Thus, the Enlightenment movement took advantage of the rich information brought by Jesuits and focused their attention on the “rationality” and “functionality” of the Chinese system based on Confucianism. Several references to Confucius and Confucian thought are given in this paper, from idealistic bucolic representations of a morally perfect China in Arcadian fashion by physiocrats to the critical image by the "Sinophobes" and anti-enlightenment thinkers. The enlightenment program was a rational project to free Europeans from superstitions, the authority of tradition, and bounds with churches and guilds, and to establish a secular order: the Chinese model could be useful as an alternative to “no morality without divine Revelation” and the “privileges of the first and second estates”. Confucianism was tolerant with religions and was the opposite of any kind of fundamentalism. Thus, the philosophes admired the Chinese systems. However they underestimated the different aim between the discovery of the individual’s freedom and the creation n of a system to defend the citizen from the political power, on the one side, and, on the other, the orthodox maintenance of order and harmony in a society where the roles and functions were more important than the individuals’ autonomy and freedom. Anyway, notwithstanding misunderstandings and the instrumental use of the “other” for internal disputes, a series of interactions between Italian Culture and Confucianism started , and the Confucian message started to be “Italianised”. 在18世纪，耶稣会士就已在文化交流史上扮演着非常重要的角色，他们Ѫ中ഭо欧洲架起了沟通的桥梁，并ф在西方 建立起汉学研究DŽ起初只限于教会内部以及н同修会间的有关Ā中ഭ礼仪ā的争论，很快就超越了宗教ѫ题和福音传 道方法的范畴, ⎹及到更Ѫ广泛的议题˖о之相关的Ṩ心问题是，在欧洲天ѫ教徒看来，儒学的本质，究ㄏ是一种道 德体系䘈是一种宗教? 讨论的对象也逐渐转ਈѪ关于宗教本身的定义ǃ文化о信仰之间的关系ǃ上帝的看法，以及н 同社会中的价值差异DŽ对耶稣会士而言，在他们反对其他修会的争论中，Ā贤明中ഭā和Ā宽容的儒家道德ā的观念 是非常有用的DŽ同ṧ地，数年之后，中ഭ的Ā自然神论ā，儒家世俗道德和中ഭ的开明у制，也Ѫ那些⭡法ഭ和包括 意大利在内的其他欧洲ഭ家的新哲学家所引起的争论，提供了有意义的因素DŽ因此，启蒙运动的思想家们利用了⭡耶 稣会士带来的丰富的信息，并关注中ഭ体系的Ā理性ā和Ā功能āDŽ䘉一体系建立在儒学之基础上DŽ 䘉篇文ㄐ将会列举几种有关孔子和儒家思想的论述˖在重农ѫ义者眼中，一个理想化的，ф道德完美的充满⭠园 牧歌式的中ഭ形象; 在反启蒙思想家和Ā排华者ā眼中，一个⎸极的中ഭ形象DŽ启蒙运动试മ采用一种理性的方式， 将欧洲民众从迷信ǃ封建权威，教会和行业的束缚中解出来，建立世俗的秩序: 中ഭ模式可以ਆ代Ā无神圣启示即 1 Paper presented at the Conference held in Venice International University, September, 19, 2015, and partially translated into Chinese in Guoji Ruxue Yanjiu ഭ际儒学研究, 23, 2016, pp. 93-104 , “Kongzi zai 18 shiji de Yidali” 孔子在 18 世纪意大利.