Xu Guangqi was one of China’s greatest pioneers of modern science.  Under the Ming Dynasty, he promoted cultural exchange between China and the West. The bustling district of Xujiahui in Shanghai is named after Xu and his family.

In the field of mathematics, Xu Guangqi was the first to translate Euclid’s Principles of Geometry into Chinese. The Chinese names for the geometric terms such as “right angle”, “acute angle” and “parallel lines” were introduced by him and have continued until today.

Xu’s accomplishments in the field of agriculture were even more outstanding.  He edited thousands of years of China’s agricultural know-how and experience into “A Compendium of Agricultural Management,” a major milestone in Chinese history.

Xu Guangqi saw the end of the Ming Dynasty and beginning of the Qing Dynasty.  At that time, the Western world, engaged in successful ocean trade and spurred on by the Renaissance’s passion for knowledge, had already found harbors for its large sailing vessels along the coast of the Western Pacific and was looking Eastward.  Concurrently, the Ming Dynasty was in ferment and facing a major turning point in its history.

The clash of old and new ways of thinking benefited scholars of both the Eastern and the Western world. This four-part documentary about Xu Guangqi recounts the chance encounter of Eastern and Western scholars 400 years ago.