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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011
The astronomical theory of Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) had similar difficulties in winning recognition and acceptance by the contemporary astronomers in China as it had in Europe. The conflict of the traditional astronomies of both cultures, the contrast between the cosmologico-philosophical ideas established during many centuries and the new theory of the solar system, all that was a basis not only for scientific but also for religious disagreement. The conservative attitude of the Church, rigorously interpreted to the disadvantage of the Copernican theory, went with the Christian missionaries to China.