# Louis Le Comte

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{{Short description|French Jesuit and mathematician}}
'''Louis le Comte''' (1655–1728), also '''Louis-Daniel Lecomte''', was a French [Jesuit](/source/Jesuit) and mathematician who participated in the 1687 French Jesuit mission to [China](/source/China) under [Jean de Fontaney](/source/Jean_de_Fontaney). He arrived in China on 7 February 1688.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=9RLH18MQXGUC&pg=PA184&dq=%22Louis+le+Comte%22+Jesuit Standaert, p.184]</ref> He had travelled with a group of Jesuit mathematicians and scientists including [Joachim Bouvet](/source/Joachim_Bouvet), [Claude de Visdelou](/source/Claude_de_Visdelou), [Guy Tachard](/source/Guy_Tachard) and [Jean-François Gerbillon](/source/Jean-Fran%C3%A7ois_Gerbillon).<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=8bXxHSZkWssC&pg=PA182 ''Eastern Magnificence and European Ingenuity: Clocks of Late Imperial China'' - Page 182 by Catherine Pagani (2001)]</ref>

thumb|Engraving of Kangxi Emperor from le Comte's ''Nouveaux Memoires''
He returned to France in 1691 as Procurator of the Jesuits.<ref>Standaert, p.185</ref> His ''Nouveau mémoire sur l'état présent de la Chine'', which was published in [Paris](/source/Paris) in 1696, caused great debate within the [Chinese Rites Controversy](/source/Chinese_Rites_Controversy).<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=o_u2P83LgGUC&pg=PA156&dq=%22Louis+le+Comte%22+Jesuit Xiping Zhang, p.186]</ref>

By 1696, he had been appointed Mathematician to the King of France.<ref>{{cite book|last=le Comte|first=Louis|title=Nouveaux memoires sur l'etat present de la Chine|url=https://archive.org/details/gri_000133125010712483|page=title page|date=1696|place=Paris}}</ref>

==Publications==
His publications include; 
* ''Nouveaux mémoires sur l'état présent de la Chine'' (Volumes 1 and 2) <ref name=ABE1>{{cite web |url= https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?ds=20&kn=louis%20le%20comte&ref_=ds_ac_d_14&sts=t  |title= Louis Le Comte |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website= ABE Books |publisher= |access-date= November 20, 2025 |quote=}}</ref>  

* ''Memoirs and Remarks Geographical, Historical, Topographical, Physical, Natural, Astronimocal, Mechanical, Military, Mercantile, Political, and Ecclesiastical, Made in above Ten Years Travels through The Empoire of China'' <ref name=ABE1 />

* ''Un Jésuite à Pékin: Nouveaux Mémoires De L'état Présent De La Chine, 1687-1692''  <ref name=ABE1 />

* ''A compleat history of the empire of China'' <ref name=ABE1 />

* ''Lettre a Monseigneur Le Duc Du Mayne Sur Les Ceremonies de la Chine'' <ref name=ABE1 />

* ''Eclaircissement sur la denonciation faite a N.S.P. le Pape, des nouveaux memoires de la Chine'' (s.n.], 1700) (with [Charles Le Gobien](/source/Charles_Le_Gobien)) <ref name=Upenn>{{cite web |url= https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=le%20comte,%20louis,%201655-1728 |title= Louis Le Comte |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website= University of Pennsylvania Online Books |publisher= |access-date= November 20, 2025 |quote=}}</ref>    

* ''A Collection of voyages and travels'' <ref name=Upenn />

==See also==
*[Jesuit China missions](/source/Jesuit_China_missions)

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
*N. Standaert ''The interweaving of rituals: funerals in the cultural exchange between China and Europe'', University of Washington Press, 2008, {{ISBN|0-295-98823-1}}, {{ISBN|978-0-295-98823-8}}
* Xiping Zhang, Deshu Ding, Jinping Ye, Xiping Zhang, Deshu Ding, Jinping Ye ''Following the Steps of Matteo Ricci to China'', published by 五洲传播出版社 (Wu zhou chuan bo chu ban she), Beijing, 2006 {{ISBN|7-5085-0982-X}}, {{ISBN|978-7-5085-0982-2}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Louis Le Comte}}
Category:17th-century French Jesuits
Category:1655 births
Category:1728 deaths
Category:French Roman Catholic missionaries
Category:Jesuit missionaries in China
Category:French missionaries in China

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