This past summer, students from Loyola Blakefield High School, Boston College High School, Xavier High School, Notre Dame High School, Wah Yan College Kowloon (Hong Kong), and St. Ignatius High School (Taiwan) visited the Tomb of Matteo Ricci during their time in Beijing. Father Matteo Ricci, S.J., was a very influential figure on modern Chinese society, and he is credited for being one of the main introducers of European culture to China. Ricci’s tomb is unique for many reasons, one being that Westerners in the Ming Dynasty were typically buried in Macau under the law of that era. However, the Wanli Emperor granted Ricci this burial plot as an exceptional honor in recognition of his contributions to Chinese society. Today, Beijing Administrative Institute is built around Ricci’s tomb.
The Beijing Center (TBC) escorted students to the tomb. Students were able to experience and feel the cultural significance of Ricci in person. Ricci noticed and remarked about the close similarities between Chinese Confucian thought and European Christian thought, and the students also got to catch a glimpse of the similarities in each discipline’s moral values.
At the tomb, the typically energetic and lively students grew quieter and more solemn in reflection. TBC’s guides explained the cultural and historical significance of Matteo Ricci on modern Chinese values and life. Some students were surprised to learn about how extensive East-West dialogue had been throughout time. Students became inspired to analyze Eastern and Western cultural differences in the same way that Ricci did.
This cultural exchange that students got to experience was incredibly important to understanding the universalities in human thought and moral values. The enormous differences between East and West did not seem so daunting under the framework of Ricci’s interpretation on how Chinese values intersect with European ones. At the tomb, many students thought deeply and related to Ricci as Westerners in China themselves, navigating the differences and similarities between their own familiar society and China. TBC also escorted students from Hong Kong and Taiwan, who were also touched by Ricci’s presence at the tomb. All the students passionately recognized Ricci’s cultural and historical significance in the East.
This past summer at The Beijing Center (TBC), students from Marquette University took TBC’s Chinese language courses for college credit. TBC’s program offers an intensive, immersive curriculum in the heart of Beijing.
This past summer in China, TBC connected students from Notre Dame School of Manhattan and Xavier High School with some of Beijing’s local elementary students. The young children were shy at first, but they eventually loved interacting with their new American friends.
This past summer, The Beijing Center (TBC) accompanied Loyola Blakefield High School, Boston College High School, Xavier High School, and Notre Dame High School to tour multiple famous attractions in China, including Beijing’s Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, and Great Wall.
In the summer of 2026, The Beijing Center (TBC) hosted Loyola Blakefield High School, Boston College High School, Xavier High School, and Notre Dame High School for visits to renowned attractions and immersive experiences in Chinese daily life.