Abstract
This chapter tracks the increasing European fascination with Chinese writing and its mythology between 1565 and 1590. It also fully explores many new rhetorical articulations whereby the “universal” Chinese language becomes associated with Latin and the “ideographic” Chinese writing with Egyptian hieroglyphs. Luca follows these Chinese language myths in both well-known texts like those by Gaspar da Cruz, Bernardino de Escalante, Martín de Rada, or Juan González de Mendoza, as well as less visited works by Alessandro Valignano, Filippo Sassetti, Michele Ruggieri, Matteo Ricci, or Blaise de Vigenère. After discussing the observations made by Alonso Sánchez, “Figures, Hieroglyphs, and Ciphers” concludes with an analysis of José de Acosta’s comparisons and hierarchies of signs, also noticing connections with Francis Bacon’s speculations.