Setting Off from Macau: Essays on Jesuit History during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, by Tang Kaijian, is the newest volume in the Jesuit Studies book series by Brill Publishers, which notes: “It is impossible to understand the early history of the Society of Jesus and the Catholic Church in China without understanding the preeminent role played by the island of Macau in the Jesuit missionary endeavor; indeed, it can even be said that Catholicism would not exist in China if there was no Macau. This book seeks to restore Macau to its proper place in the history of Catholicism and the Jesuit missions in China during the Ming and Qing dynasties by offering a unique insight into subjects ranging from the origins of Jesuit missionary work on the island to the history of Jesuit education and Catholic art and music on the Chinese mainland.”
In using Jesuit missionaries to examine Catholicism in Macau during the two dynasties, Kaijian’s book has eight chapters: on Catholicism’s origins and development; Catholicism’s spread in Mainland China; Japanese Christians in Macau; Catholicism’s rise and fall of Catholicism in Hainan; the funding of Jesuit missionary work; Catholic art; Catholic Music; and the so-called “Jesuit Clock Diplomacy.”