Education and Professional Appointments

1977-1982: BA & MA Chinese Studies, University of Leiden (the Netherlands)

1982-1983: Chinese history and philosophy, Fudan University, Shanghai

1984: Ph.D. Sinology, University of Leiden (the Netherlands)

1993-2025: Professor of Sinology, KU Leuven (Belgium); since Oct. 2000: full professor

2002 (spring): Member of the Institute for Advanced Studies, Historical Studies, Princeton.

2003-present: Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Belgium.

2009 (spring): Visiting Professor UCBerkeley

2011 (spring): Visiting Professor Harvard University

2024 (fall): Visiting scholar Dept. East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard Univ.

2025 (spring): Visiting scholar Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Peking University

2025: Professor em. KU Leuven (Belgium)

2026: Visiting Chair Professor, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Peking University

Selected publications:

Books [for the Chinese translations, see Chinese webpage]

The Chinese Gazette in European Sources: Joining the Global Public in the Early and Mid-Qing Dynasty (Sinica Leidensia 155), Leiden: Brill, 2022. 349 pp. ISBN 978-90-04-47270-9.

The Intercultural Weaving of Historical Texts: Chinese and European Stories about Emperor Ku and His Concubines, Leiden: Brill, 2016. ISBN:978-90-0431-615-7.

Chinese Voices in the Rites Controversy: Travelling Books, Community Networks, Intercultural Arguments, (Bibliotheca Instituti Historici S.I. 75), Rome: Institutum Historicum Societatis Iesu, 2012. 476 pp. ISBN 978-88-7041-375-5.

The Interweaving of Rituals: Funerals in the Cultural Exchange between China and Europe, Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2008. 328 pp. ISBN 978-0-295-98823-8 (paper) / 978-0-295-98810-8 (cloth).

An Illustrated Life of Christ Presented to the Chinese Emperor: The History of Jincheng shuxiang (1640), (Monumenta Serica Monograph Series LIX) Sankt Augustin Nettetal: Steyler Verlag, 2007. 333 pp. ISBN 978-3-8050-0548-7 / ISSN 0179-261X.

Methodology in View of Contact Between Cultures: The China Case in the 17th Century, (CSRCS Occasional Paper no. 11), Hong Kong: Centre for the Study of Religion and Chinese Society, Chung Chi College, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2002. 64 pp. ISBN 962-86556-8-X.

L'« autre » dans la mission: Leçons à partir de la Chine, Brussel: Lessius, 2003. 135 pp. ISBN 2-87299-122-0.

The Fascinating God: A Challenge to Modern Chinese Theology Presented by a Text on the Name of God Written by a 17th Century Chinese Student of Theology, (Inculturation: Working Papers on Living Faith and Cultures XVII), Roma: Pontificia Universita Gregoriana, 1995. 154 pp. ISBN 88-7652-680-3.

Yang Tingyun, Confucian and Christian in Late Ming China: His Life and Thought, (Sinica Leidensia 19), Leiden / New York / Kobenhavn / Köln, E.J.Brill, 1988, 263 pp., ISBN 90 04 08127 5, ISSN 0169-9563.

(Co-)Editor

(together with Ad Dudink 杜鼎克 Wang Renfang 王仁芳), Xujiahui cangshulou Ming Qing tianzhujiao wenxian徐家匯藏書樓明清天主教文獻續編 (Sequel to Chinese Christian Texts from the Zikawei Library), Taibei: Fu Jen Catholic Univ. Press, 2013, 34 vols., ca. 20.000 pp., ISBN 978-957-29848-4-0.

(together with Ad Dudink and Nathalie Monnet), Faguo guojia tushuguan MingQing tianzhujiao wenxian 法國國家圖書館明清天主教文獻Chinese Christian Texts from the National Library of France Textes chrétiens chinois de la Bibliothèque nationale de France, Taibei: Ricci Institute, 2009, 26 vols; in total 15.600 pp. . ISBN 978-957-29848-3-3.

(together with Ad Dudink), Yesuhui Luoma dang'anguan MingQing tianzhujiao wenxian耶穌會羅馬檔案館明清天主教文獻 (Chinese Christian Texts from the Roman Archives of the Society of Jesus), Taibei: Ricci Institute, 2002, 12 vols., in total 6786 pp. ISBN957-9390-16-9.

(together with A. Dudink, Y.L. Huang 黃一農 and P.Y. Chu 祝平一), Xujiahui cangshulou Ming Qing tianzhujiao wenxian 徐家匯藏書樓明清了主教文獻 (Chinese Christian Texts from the Zikawei Library), Taibei: Fu Jen Catholic Univ. Press, 1996, 5 vols., 2621 pp., ISBN 957-98886-0-4.

(also revisor) Handbook of Christianity in China: Volume One (635-1800), Leiden: Brill, 2000, 964 pp. ISBN 90 04 114319.

(together with Ad Dudink) Forgive Us Our Sins: Confession in Late Ming and Early Qing China, (Monumenta Serica Monograph Series LV), Sankt Augustin/Nettetal, Steyler Verlag, 2006, 268 pp.

(together with Yves Lenoir†) Les Danses rituelles chinoises d’après Joseph-Marie Amiot, Brussel/ Namur: Éditions Lessius / Presses universitaires de Namur, 2005, 328 pp.

Guest editor of double issue of: “Networks and Circulation of Knowledge: Encounters between Jesuits, Manchus and Chinese in Late Imperial China”, East Asian Science, Technology and Medicine 34 (2011), 193 pp.; 35 (2012), 132 pp.

(together with Carine Defoort), The Mozi as an Evolving Text: Different Voices in Early Chinese Thought, Leiden: Brill, 2013, 294 pp.

 (together with C. Defoort) Tien stellingen tegen Confucius: Het pleidooi van de Chinese wijsgeer Mozi, Kapellen/ Kampen: Pelckmans/Klement, 2009, 192 pp.

(together with C. Defoort) Hemel en aarde verenigen zich door rituelen: Een bloemlezing van de Chinese wijsgeer Xunzi, Kapellen/ Kampen: Pelckmans/Klement, 2003, 160 pp.

(together with C. Defoort), In gesprek met Mencius, Pelckmans/ Kok Agora, Kapellen/ Kampen, 1998, 151 pp.

Database:

(together with Ad Dudink): CCT-database (Chinese Christian Texts Database): http://www.arts.kuleuven.be/sinologie/english/cct

Over 200 articles or chapters in (international) periodicals and books.