生平

明萬曆四十年（1612年）中舉人。從徐光啟學習火器和數學。後經侯震暘保薦從軍遼東。天啟二年（1622年）九月，任兵部司務，協助遼東經略孫承宗修築城防。協同袁崇煥駐守寧遠，對袁崇煥等幫助極大，袁崇煥譽為「識慧兩精」。天啟六年，努爾哈赤率軍10餘萬攻寧遠，明軍城頭共布置有十一門紅夷大炮，威力驚人。傳言努爾哈赤身受重傷，不久身亡，史稱「寧遠大捷」。崇禎三年一月，孫元化隨孫承宗鎮守山海關，三月加山東按察副使，五月兵部尚書梁廷棟破格薦用孫元化升登萊巡撫。後袁崇煥殺毛文龍，皮島舊將嘩變，登萊巡撫孫元化接收了皮島的叛將孔有德、耿仲明、李九成等人。孔有德被任命為騎兵參將，耿仲明則被派往登州要塞。

崇禎四年（1631年）八月，皇太極率清兵攻大凌河（今遼寧錦縣），祖大壽圍於城內，糧盡援絕。孫元化急令孔有德以八百騎趕赴前線增援，然登州遼東兵與山東兵素不和，孔有德抵達吳橋（今河北省滄州市吳橋縣，明末屬于山東）時，因遇大雨春雪，部隊給養不足，士兵搶劫嘩變。孔有德受毛文龍舊部李九成之子李應元的煽動，在吳橋發動叛變，史稱「吳橋兵變」。後孔有德倒戈殺回山東半島，連陷臨邑、陵縣、商河、青城諸城，率兵直趨登州。孫元化急令張燾率遼兵守登州城外，與總兵官張可大發兵抗擊，兩路成合擊之勢。然張燾與孔有德舊職，張燾的兵卒隨即投入孔有德行列，而張可大部大敗。與孔有德是舊交的登州中軍耿仲明、陳光福等，舉火開門響應，崇禎五年（1632年）一月登州失陷。總兵張可大自殺，孫元化自殺未成，不向叛軍妥協，孔有德念舊讓他逃走。兵變發生後，朝中多言孫元化已反，三月孫元化、余大成等人被逮至京師錦衣衛鎮撫司，為政敵余應桂、李夢辰、路振飛所構陷，詔獄中曾遭嚴刑拷問，首輔周延儒欲免元化死罪，求救於徐光啟，終無法挽回。最後余大成、宋光蘭、王徵等遣戍，發配充軍，崇禎五年七月二十三日（1632年9月7日）孫元化與張燾同被處死。

湯若望曾在孫元化死前喬裝成送炭工人入獄探望，為其最後告解。孫元化之死，代表西方軍事專家派淡出明朝軍隊。著有《太西算要》、《幾何體論》、《幾何用法》、《西法神機》等。

Names

Sun Yuanhua initially went by the courtesy name Chuyang. Upon his conversion, he adopted the baptismal name Ignatius (Inácio) in honor of StIgnatius, the founder of the Jesuit order. He then adopted the courtesy name Huodong, which loosely translates it.

Life

Sun was born in Jiading in the province of Southern Zhili (now within Shanghai) in 1581 or 1582 during the late Ming. He passed Southern Zhili's provincial exam and became a juren in 1612. Converting to Roman Catholicism under the influence of the Chinese Jesuit mission, he became a protégé of Paul Xu, who instructed him in western mathematics and use of firearms.

Sun joined Xu and his fellow converts Leo Li and Michael Yang in writing memorials supporting Christianity in response to the harshly condemnatory memorials published by Shen Que (沈㴶) 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 European-style cannon 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 or earlier. Despite a general sense of cultural superiority and desire for self-sufficiency—evident in modern artillery becoming generally known as "red-barbarian cannon"—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 cannon 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, Xu, Sun, Yang, 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 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 European-style cannon. 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 governor 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 Korean 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. Xu, despite now holding some of the highest posts in China for his work reforming the 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.

Works

Sun assisted his mentor Paul Xu with the editing of his trigonometry textbook Principles of Right Triangles Gōugǔ Yì). Like Xu, Sun also wrote his own treatises on military science and geometry, incorporating the European knowledge being introduced by their Jesuit instructors.

The mathematical works included the Miscellanea on Western Learning (Xixue Zazhu), How to Do Geometry Jǐhé Yòngfǎ), and Western Calculation Tàixī Suànyāo).

One military work was his Jingwu Quanbian. His 1632 Western-style Masterpieces Xīfǎ Shénjī) became famous, advocating for the use of modernized fortifications as well as firearms. Sun was particularly impressed by the angled bastions ruìjiǎo) of Renaissance Europe's star forts, writing that, "with the angled bastion, the enemy is kept out beyond the walls and, when subjected to our attack, there is nowhere our guns cannot reach and the enemy has no way to approach." His efforts to construct them in the 1620s were apparently neutralized by factional feuds within the Ming government and turnover of the responsible officials, however, and they did not become widely employed in China.

Legacy

Kong and Geng, after considering their options, threw in their lot with Manchuria and rose to prominence under the Qing Empire it established. The Manchu welcomed their captured artillery: Despite continuing to call them hongyipao, they adjusted one of the name's characters to make them "red-coated cannon".

The Xu and Sun families remained close. Sun Yuanhua's niece Ms Wang later married Xu's grandson Erdou. A detailed Biography of Vice-Censor-in-Chief Sun was composed by Gui Zhuang (1613–1673). Gui knew Sun Yuanhua's grandson Sun Zhimi and wrote the preface for his 1671 Jiangxing Zashi.

Sun is the tragic protagonist of Ling Li's 1996 novel Qingcheng Qingguo.