150 The Han Kitab Authors
cials, whom he met at an inn. Some of them read the Dianli and
contributed prefaces to the book. All were particularly impressed
with Liu’s ability to explain “a strange culture coming from afar, us-
ing their own [i.e., Chinese] language and their own [i.e., Confu-
cian] canon.”^82 Xu Zhuo 徐倬 of Deqing 德清, Zhejiang, a jinshi of
1673 (d. 1711 ), praised Liu Zhi for his use of the “language of the Ru
[in order to transmit the] knowledge of the West” 用儒文傳西學.^83
Lu You 鹿祐 of Yingzhou 穎州, Anhui, a jinshi of 1682 , compared
the book to the Six Classics, and the sages of Islam to those of Chi-
na. Jing Rizhen 景日眕, of Dengfeng 登封, Henan, a jinshi of 1691 ,
commended the author for his “thorough knowledge of the [Con-
fucian] classics” 折衷六經.^84 In these reactions, we see again that, in
the case of Liu, Chinese Muslim scholarship grew out of a commu-
nity of learning that was not inevitably circumscribed by Islam.
Liu actively attempted to engage in a dialogue with other schol-
ars (notably non-Muslim Confucian ones) and to receive their rec-
ognition of his work. It is perhaps due to his efforts that Tianfang
dianli found its way, about seventy years after its publication, into
the greatest collection of Chinese books, the Siku quanshu 四庫
全書 and received a notice in the general catalogue prepared for
this collection, the Siku quanshu zongmu tiyao 四庫全書總目題要.
The author of the short entry on the book was obviously biased
against it. He did, however, express some appreciation for Liu’s
knowledge of Confucianism:
Islam was from the beginning a somewhat absurd belief, but he [Liu] had
a good deal of knowledge in Confucian books, so he borrowed variously
from the meaning of the classics to decorate his arguments. His literary
style is in fact rather elegant. But the root was wrong to begin with, and
decorating it cleverly with literary elegance did him no good.^85
—————
82. Both of the Confucian degreeholders who wrote prefaces to Liu’s books
describe how he approached them in Beijing and handed them his books. See Xu
Zhuo, “Xu” 序 (Preface); and Lu You, “Xu,” in HRZ (Qingdai), pp. 366 – 67 and
367 – 68 , respectively.
83. Lu You, “Xu,” HRZ (Qingdai), p. 368.
84. Jing Rizhen, “Xu” (Preface to the Tianfang dianli), HRZ (Qingdai), p. 364.
85. Siku quanshu zongmu tiyao, no. 2640. I thank David Schaberg for letting me
use his translation of this notice.