The Question of Hu

Jonathan Spence’s novel The Question of Hu covers mid-eighteenth century travels from China to the western world of a Jesuit missionary, Father Jean-Francois Foucquet, and a Chinese scribe, John Hu. The interactions that occur consist of the cultural differences between Chinese and European customs. Hu’s personality becomes a large question Spence raises not only with the title but also throughout the story when Spence talks about Hu’s way of thinking. John Hu’s personality is described by both Father Jean-Francois Foucquet and the narrator as being both insane and oppressed, respectively. The reader is led to have a sympathetic view of Hu, even though the narrator does not come out and explain exactly how the reader should feel, because he is a Chinese scribe in Europe where little people can communicate with him through speaking. This feeling of sympathy is the reason The Question of Hu was written in the first place, given that we know about Hu because there were rumors that Foucquet had mistreated Hu so Foucquet wrote letters to nobility and senior members in the Jesuit church. The reader is left to make the justification on John Hu’s actions given that Spence does not come out and talk about his views of Hu. Hu’s actions are judged on a reader-to-reader basis by the major theme of the novel, cultural differences versus insanity.

John Hu’s place in history can be summed up by the first sentence in the preface of the story, “Perhaps the most astonishing thing about Hu is that we know anything about him at all.” (Spence xvii) The question of why we know so much about Hu is that there were more than fifty Chinese who went westward during the eighteenth century, three of which were jailed in Canton under vague charges and stayed under arrest for eleven more years. Hu’s travels are no more historically important than those three that were jailed for eleven years. (Standeart 137) What we do know of Hu though is from letters written form Foucquet to other noble men and letters from people who housed Hu and people who lived saw what was taking place. Along with these letters there was the personal account that Foucquet kept in his journal which Spence uses to format the way the story was written. The diary format the book is written in allows for a visual timeline that few books like The Question of Hu offered. The so-called facts in the novel though are not necessarily facts because some events in the story are taken from Foucquet’s letters he wrote in an attempt to persuade the senior members of the Jesuit church.

John Hu was a gatekeeper at a Jesuit church in Canton, China with decent calligraphy skills. Hu noticed that Foucquet was looking for a scribe to copy the Chinese texts on a ship ride to the west, so Hu talked to Father Perroni at the church and got the job. Hu shows actions along the trip that can be contributed to both insanity and cultural differences. Cultural differences came into play when John Hu was thrust into a world that does not speak his native language (except a few people only one of which he travels with) and told to get along with others. Insanity comes into play though, when Hu reacts to things that mentally stable human beings would not normally react in such a way towards no matter where they come from. As Hu and Foucquet travel to France and throughout the western world there is an underlying theme that takes place, cultural differences versus insanity.

Father Jean-Francois Foucquet is a French missionary sent to China for twenty-two years to spread the Jesuit faith to China. Foucquet realizes he is late in life so he wants to continue his studies in peace back in the west, though this goal becomes less true once Foucquet returned to Europe and obtained the title of “Bishop of Eleutheropolis in partibus infidelium” (Spence 121) which means Foucquet is the Bishop of Eleutheropolis and there is no overseeing bishop who watches over all the other bishops. Foucquet felt it necessary to copy Chinese text with his own interpretations to “prove the mysteries of the true religion and save the mission in China from the errors into which it is falling.” (Spence 13) Foucquet, from this passage, shows a yearning need to do what was right for China and the religious prosperity in China. As the story unfolds it is shown that Foucquet’s goals are so rigid on becoming high up in the Jesuit order that he does not care for the average person such as Hu. “Foucquet declares [Hu] to be a fool” (Standeart 137) which can be reasonable given how Hu acts but it shows how Foucquet has little respect for him. Foucquet also shows how little respect he has for Hu when he does not even think about paying for Hu’s trip home or his stay at the asylum in Charenton. Even though Hu did not complete his required contract Foucquet should have payed for