Southern Ming survives, converts to Christianity

Historical background for this thread.

This happened in the late 1640s, when the last emperor of the Ming loyalist regime (or Southern Ming), Zhu Youlang - also known as the Yongli emperor after his reign title - converted to Roman Catholicism partly in the hope of receiving aid from the European states (especially the Portuguese) against the Manchus who had by now conquered almost all of China. Zhu Youlang's family and much of his court seems to have converted along with him, and his official mother (i.e., his father's official wife, but not his natural mother) Empress Dowager Wang was baptized as Helena. His natural mother Lady Ma was baptized as Maria, while his wife Empress Wang was baptized as Anna. Matteo Ricci had nothing to do with the conversion (he was already dead at this time); rather, Zhu Youlang and his family were converted and baptized by the German Jesuit Andreas Xavier Koffler (who died in 1652).

In 1650, Zhu Youlang's court entrusted the Polish Jesuit Michal Boym with the mission of bringing letters from himself and the Empress Dowager to the Pope, the Doge of Venice, and the King of Portugal. These letters were primarily requests for military aid against the Manchus. Boym's mission was exceptionally difficult and dangerous, because the Venetians and Portuguese were both inclined to abandon the seemingly hopeless Ming loyalist cause and concentrate on developing trade relations with the victorious Manchus. Even the leaders of the Jesuit Order did not approve of getting involved in the Ming-Qing conflict. Boym had to wait until 1655, when the new pope Alexander VII was elected, to get a positive response from the Vatican. Even then, the pope did not offer any practical support, only a letter expressing sympathy and blessing for the Ming loyalist court. With this letter, Boym was able to secure a promise of military aid from the Portuguese king, but again it was only a promise without any practical action taken.

Nonetheless, Boym began his return journey to China and reached Vietnam (then known as Dai Viet) in 1658. He then tried to reach Zhu Youlang's court in Yunnan by travelling through Guangxi, but died en route in 1659. Zhu Youlang and his court fled to Burma in 1661, but the Burmese king handed him over to Wu Sangui (who was now serving the Manchus) in 1662 and Wu put him to death.

On Zhu Youlang, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhu_Youlang
On Michal Boym and his diplomatic mission, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Boym
To read a 1650 letter from Empress Dowager Helena to the Pope, carried by Michal Boym to the Vatican and now kept in its archives, see http://asv.vatican.va/en/visit/doc/zoom04.html

After reading the story of Michal Boym's mission, I have great respect for his tenacity, courage, and refusal to abandon the Ming loyalist cause despite its bleak prospects.

In the case of Empress Dowager Wang (Helena) and Zhu Youlang, there is no evidence that their conversions to Christianity caused any division in the Ming loyalist court. One loyalist minister did object to Zhu Youlang's replacement of the Ming empire's official Datong calendar with the Gregorian calendar (which the minister referred to as a 'barbarian calendar' 夷曆) on Andreas Xavier Koffler's recommendation, arguing that this was a violation of ancestral traditions, with the result that Zhu Youlang changed back to using the Datong calendar (this incident is recorded in the Veritable Record of the Yongli Reign or Yongli Shilu, written by the Ming loyalist scholar Wang Fuzhi). But this was a problem of cultural conservatism and chauvinism rather than religious conflict. Also, because Koffler was esteemed as a mentor by the powerful eunuch Pang Tianshou (baptized Achilleus Pang), his position in the loyalist court remained safe until his death in 1652.

Interestingly, by this time (the late 1640s) the Qing regime had adopted a revised and updated version of the Datong calendar, which was originally developed in the early 1630s by the Jesuit Johann Adam Schall von Bell and the learned Christian convert Xu Guangqi (Paul Xu) by incorporating European astronomical knowledge. This revised calendar was called the Chongzhen calendar until the fall of the Ming empire, but was never officially adopted by the Ming court due to opposition from conservative courtiers and preoccupation with the Manchu and rebel threats. Adam Schall then became an advisor to the Shunzhi emperor of Qing, who adopted the Chongzhen calendar in 1645 under the new name 'Shixian calendar'. This is the version of Chinese calendar that is still used today. The Gregorian calendar was not adopted by another Chinese regime until 1912, when the Republic of China did so.

So suppose the Southern Ming had held on, for whatever reason, and Roman Catholicism slowly becomes the court religion of the Ming. How would that affect their administration of the lands they held on to? Furthermore, could their survival have been aided by Portuguese or other European assistance? Maybe Zheng Chenggong and his group holds out in Taiwan as well? How would this entire situation play out, could we have a redux of one of those north-south divisions that always happens every few dynasties?

Irony points if the Shunzhi emperor of the Qing happens to also get converted at the same time.
 
I'd suspect if the Southern Ming court became Catholic, the Qing court will use this as propaganda to strengthen their argument that their opponents are influenced by barbarians. They'd be really, really stupid to try to impose Christianity (and ignore their own history of rule) on their remaining subjects, and it's frankly ASB to expect Spain and Portugal to be able to change the general course of history. Chinese civilization has never placed a great emphasis on religious affiliation and this will end up as a mere footnote in the grand scheme of things.
 
The Southern Song can't make any significant religious changes so long as they are in exile and under the threat from the Qing, but past emperors have differentiated between religions. Like I've said before, certain emperors have persecuted the Buddhists in favor of the Daoists, and vice versa. Emperor Wuzong also attacked Zoroastrianism and Nestorian Christianity as well.
 
Certainly by the Song, Buddhism and Taoism were no longer seen as incompatible and were both taken for granted. Wuzong's persecutions were borne largely (bot not entirely) out of a desire to fill the empire's coffers after a costly war against Uighur tribes, making religious institutions a tempting target for his tax grab.

Regardless, it's still true that the Southern Ming court might become Catholic privately, but they would be almost Hitler-launching-Barbarossa stupid to try to impose Catholicism on their remaining territories *and* expect Spain and Portugal to provide meaningful assistance.
 
I'm not positing the entire nation converts. More like a foreign religion is introduced, gains favor from the top, and then we'll see what happens from there. Kind of like what happened with Buddhism. Maybe the Europeans could've sold the Song holdouts weapons or something idk
 
I haven't researched the idea to crank out something too detailed, but there are a few ways a Catholic Southern Ming could be more plausible.

First, using 1646 as the POD, which would be right after Zhu Youlang becomes Emperor, the former Ming general Wu Sangui decides that his life is in imminent danger if he continues to collaborate with the invading Qing forces. There are several possible approaches from this.

First, perhaps Wu Sangui could revolt against the Qing immediately, in which case the Qing might be weakened to the point they can't conquer China. Wu Sangui's forces were pretty decent and provided serious assistance to the Qing. Without Wu Sangui and his troops, the weakened Qing are somehow forced to allow the Southern Ming to survive.

Second, perhaps Wu Sangui could switch sides and work with the Southern Ming. I don't know why this would happen, since I'm pretty sure his forces are a match or stronger than the forces of the Southern Ming, and also because the Southern Ming would probably hate him for being a traitor. However, if this happens, Wu Sangui's forces might help the Southern Ming survive.

Third, also possible, is if Wu Sangui reduces the Southern Ming to the status of puppets, so while the Yongli Emperor and his court are Catholic, they have no power, so it doesn't really affect the country too much.

All of this being said, I don't see the Southern Ming being organized and resurgent enough to take over all of Southern China, so I feel that the Qing would probably win in the end. But maybe not.

Also, if you use a point of divergence that goes even a little further back, like to 1644 or 1645, you might have already butterflied away Zhu Youlang's chance to become the Yongli Emperor.
 
I'm not positing the entire nation converts. More like a foreign religion is introduced, gains favor from the top, and then we'll see what happens from there. Kind of like what happened with Buddhism. Maybe the Europeans could've sold the Song holdouts weapons or something idk

The Qing conquered the Ming, not the Song. And besides, how many ASBs are needed for Spain and Portugal to bother to ship enough weapons across oceans to make a difference?

This isn't Civ where Spain can use gold to buy dozens of Conquistador units and instantly gift them across continents.

And besides, few religions have spread because an imploding dynasty converted out of desperation for foreign assistance. Even if China was balkanized and resembled the Three Kingdoms era, the Ming court will do their best to downplay their faith lest their rivals use it as anti-Ming propaganda.

So to answer the OP's question, the fact that the Southern Ming became Catholic in their last years would have ended up as a minor footnote in history.
 
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