Matteo Ricci, the famous sixteenth century pioneer Jesuit missionary to China, noted that books enabled people to understand the events of yesteryear. Thus, the Jesuits founded libaries throughout the world in a desire to share knowledge across cultures. Dr Jeremy Clarke describes the role of such books and libraries, and discusses some of the treasures on display from the NLA collection.

Dr Clarke lived in Beijing and Shanghai for a year after finishing high school, as the inaugural recipient of the Australian Young Scholar in China scholarship. He completed an undergraduate degree in Chinese language at Macquarie University, later obtaining a PhD in Pacific and Asian history at the Australian National University. He has spent a number of years as an Assistant Professor in the history department of Boston College.

In association with the Australian Centre on China in the World