Xu Guangqi Memorial

Xu Guangqi Memorial is composed of the Tomb of Xu Guangqi and Nanchunhua House, a building of the Ming Dynasty, and has been open to the public since January 2005. Xu Guangqi was a famous scientist in the Ming Dynasty. With outstanding contributions in agriculture, mathematics, astronomy and calendar, he was one of the main representatives of the transmission of Western learning to the east. The memorial is composed of screen wall, tablet porch, halls and wing-rooms, and is divided into four parts: Biography of Xu Guangqi, A Complete Collection on Agriculture and Euclid’s Elements, Calendar of Emperor Chongzhen and Xu Guangqi’s View on the Arts of War, and Xu Guangqi and Shanghai. A large number of precious materials are displayed, including Xu Guangqi’s portrait, manuscripts of letters to home, personal letters on agricultural experiments, Ming edition of A Complete Collection on Agriculture, Qing edition of Euclid’s Elements, A Map of the Myriad Countries of the World, the first map of the world introduced to China, and four copies of watercolor portraits of Xu Guangqi, Matteo Ricci, Johann Adam Schall von Bell and Ferdinand Verbiest made by Shanghai T’ou-Sè-Wè Gallery, which are now collected by the University of San Francisco. By using image-scene combination, spectra vision and other high-tech means, together with texts, pictures, statue models and physical materials, the memorial displays Xu Guangqi’s biography, books, scientific achievements, historical influence, homeland complex and graveyard history, as well as later generations’ memory of and respect to him. The memorial is National Science Popularization and Education Base. Address: No.17 Nandan Road Tel: 021-64689252