The Five Human Relationships (wulun 五倫) as presented to European readers in François Noël’s translation of the Elementary learning (Xiaoxue 小學)

This paper provides a preliminary examination of François Noël’s (1651-1729) translation of Zhu Xi 朱熹’s (1130 – 1200) Elementary learning (Xiaoxue 小學, 1187), which was included in Sinensis Imperii Libri Classici Sex (Six Classics of the Chinese Empire, 1711). In particular, by taking the chapter about the Five Human Relationships (wulun 五倫), “Quintuplex humanae conditionis ordo”, as case study, the paper will demonstrate how Noël’s writing agenda differed from that of his predecessors, with his translation acting as a systematically-construed tribute to the sapientia sinica in the background of the Rites Controversy.