Note 120 — The Printing of the Books
Reading edition
“Moreover the Father of the Company who was in China wrote and printed in Chinese letters a whole book of the unity of God, the creation of the world, and the commandments explained; and in this book has gotten as far as the incarnation of the Son of God. Concerning this I am not speaking of things heard, for I have it, and am thus certain of it, as of all the things that happened. How far I have progressed with the Chinese letters I shall say later. This book was printed in China in 1584. It circulates freely in China whence we have our copy, and because of the writing, contrary to what others have misleadingly said about the Chinese, they have done him no ill: from which it may be inferred that the lion is not so wild as they paint him.”120