Sun Yuanhua

 ( 1580s Births ) 

Sun joined Xu and his fellow converts Leo Li and Yang Tingyun in writing memorials supporting Christianity in response to the harshly condemnatory memorials published by Shen Que () in 1616 and 1617 after he became the vice-minister of the Department of Rites at Nanjing. In the end, the Wanli Emperor sided with Shen: A number of Chinese converts were jailed; Alphonso Vagnoni and Álvarõ de Semedo, the Jesuit leaders at Nanjing, were imprisoned and then expelled; and the Catholic buildings in Nanjing were demolished.

After the fall of Guangning (now Beizhen in Liaoning) to the Manchu, Sun Yuanhua published two memorials advocating the use of hongyipao to defend the capital and the northeastern borders and passes. He argued that "at this stage the army is terrified of the enemy. If we are not under the shelter of garrisons, our condition will not be stable and, if we do not use telescopes and excellent cannon to strike first from a distance of 10li or more, then the enemy will not be warded off.". Most such military memorials were composed by mandarins unfamiliar with war and consisted of general platitudes and historical anecdotes, often dating back to the Zhou dynasty or earlier. Despite a general sense of cultural superiority and desire for autarky—evident in modern artillery becoming generally known as "hongyipao"—and although Sun failed Beijing's imperial examination for 1622, his memorials attracted important attention at the War Ministry because of the strength of his arguments and the great and familiar detail he included concerning the construction and use of modern cannon and fortifications. On 15 March 1622, the supervising censor Hou Zhenyang, working at the Office of Scrutiny for Personnel, composed a memorial lauding Sun's talent: "Sun Yuanhua... should be employed urgently to cast cannon and to construct garrisons... Let him investigate and measure the terrain, pin down the routes that should be followed, establish a platform for at each juncture and then, with the cost of one platform as a base of reference for the others, the entrances to the passes will be rock-safe!... Let Yuanhua teach the tactics to the generals and commanders, since only the people who actually make the cannon can teach how to operate cannon." Hou was dismissed because of a memorial against Shen Que and the "Eunuch Party" but not before his proposals regarding Sun were put into practice. The war minister and Grand Secretary Sun Chengzong offered Sun Yuanhua a place on the ministry staff but acceded to his demands to take up responsibility in the war zone, making him a "military commissioner responsible for armament in the field". A general modernization program was delayed, however, when a 1623 demonstration of foreign artillery at Beijing went awry and a piece exploded, killing a Portuguese artillerist and three Chinese.. Though subdued, official interest continued: Yuan Chonghuan began supporting Sun's policies in 1626.

An important meeting was held at Sun's Jiading estate around 1627, where Andrea Palmeiro, Paul Xu, Sun, Yang Tingyun, and eleven Jesuit missionaries planned the future of Christian expansion in China, including the status of Chinese rites and which Chinese name should be used for the Christian God.

Following Paul Xu and Li's 1629 memorials, the Portuguese captain Gonçalo Teixeira Corrêa was permitted to bring ten artillery pieces and four "excellent bombards" across China to begin the training of Ming troops in hongyipao. Further reinforcements were turned back at Nanchang in Jiangxi, owing to an outpouring of official complaints when a sudden illness removed the threat of a Manchu assault on Beijing. The merchants in Guangzhou were anxious lest their special monopolies on Portuguese trade be curtailed but a memorials of Lu Zhaolong singled Sun Yuanhua out for particular condemnation because of his overly fond treatment of the foreigners..

In 1630, Sun received the title of Shandong's Assistant Surveillance Commissioner for "having penetrated deep into the camp of the enemy".. Liang Tingdong, the minister of war, offered him the post of xunfu of Denglai Dēnglái) in northern Shandong, but Sun was hesitant. He composed a memorial stating

Rather than assuage Sun's concerns, he was ultimately ordered to take up the post at Dengzhou (now Penglai) with a force of 8000 Liaoning conscripts and the Portuguese instructors. There, Sun worked with Gonçalo and his translator, the elderly Jesuit João Rodrigues, to train Ming troops to repel the continuing Manchu invasion. He also began manufacturing his own cannon in the Portuguese style. In a report to the capital, Sun complained of the Liaoning refugees who had fled to his district in the hundreds of thousands that they "had seen few wars" and were thus "weak, deceitful, and completely unreliable".

In early 1631,. the Joseon diplomat Jeong Duwon visited Dengzhou while traveling to Beijing by sea, war having blocked the usual overland route from Seoul. Sun introduced him to Rodrigues, whose interviews and gifts on the occasion have been credited with the introduction of western religion, science, geography, firearms, and jurisprudence to Korea.

On 19 January 1632, Governor Sun's subordinates Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming mutinied. Both had previously served together under Mao Wenlong, a Ming general executed for using his post overseeing the Yellow Sea to support and conduct smuggling throughout northern China. Rather than immediately attacking Kong and Geng, Sun attempted to negotiate a peaceful resolution of their differences. This proved futile and, on 11 February, their forces besieged Dengzhou. When the city fell a little over a week later, Captain Corrêa and 11 other Portuguese were killed in battle, 15 escaped only with serious injury, and Rodrigues survived only by jumping from the high city wall into the sea. Sun was spared by Kong and Geng for his earlier leniency but, for the same reason, he was then condemned and arrested by the Ming government. Paul Xu, despite now holding some of the highest posts in China for his work reforming the Chinese calendar, was unable to secure clemency through memorials absolving Sun for Kong and Geng's actions. Sun's court martial condemned him to death and he was executed shortly thereafter on 7September 1632.