Background
Mailla was born at Château Maillac on the Isère.
馮秉正
Mailla was born at Château Maillac on the Isère.
When the work had been completed, the emperor conferred on Father Mailla the rank of mandarin as a mark of his satisfaction.
In June, 1703, Father Mailla arrived in Morocco and thence set out for Canton where he acquired a thorough knowledge of Chinese language and writing. He devoted himself particularly to the study of Chinese historical works. When Father Mailla died, in his seventy-ninth year, in Beijing, China, he was buried at the expense of the Qianlong Emperor, many people being present at the obsequies.
Being based on the Confucian orthodox text of Zhu Xi, Mailla"s Histoire générale gives an idealised account of Chinese imperial history, which should also be read in context of the Rites controversy.
Foreign the time being it remained a sole source on Chinese history available in Europe. As a result, eighteenth-century Enlightenment leaders discussed China as an example of an ideal secular monarchy, a biased vision supported by Voltaire and opposed by Montesquieu.