Zhang says that many of the Jesuit missionaries who came to China between the 16th and 18th centuries later became what we would today call China hands, responsible for introducing - or in a sense reintroducing - the ancient country of the Orient to their contemporaries in the West.

But before that, most of them had to reconcile what they had had in mind with what was laid out in front of their own eyes.

"Until before the Second Opium War (1856-60), in which China suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Anglo-French troops, the country accounted for one third of the world's total GDP," Zhang says.

"When the first batch of Jesuit missionaries arrived in the late 16th century, China was affluent and prosperous, mature with its own guiding traditions and underlying philosophy.

"The West, for its part, was still in the throes of the Renaissance and Reformation, cultural, political and religious movements that would ultimately usher in the modern age. Scientifically, China may have started to lag behind; but culturally and economically it clearly showed its edge."

Some missionaries must have had their own moments of doubt, Zhang says.

"They socialized with members of Chinese high society, who dressed in luxurious fabrics and traveled in beautifully decorated sedans. It was a totally different experience from the one Western explorers had in other parts of the world, the Americas for example. And for them it always came back to the question: 'How is it that a place totally untouched by the message of God is blessed with such wealth and prosperity?' Such experience, humbling in many aspects, must have contributed to the flexibility they later demonstrated in their missionary work."