...supposed himself to be an excellent musician, and a still better mathematician ; but though he hud a taste for the sciences and other acquirements in...scarcely understood the first elements of mathematics." Again he says : " He wa9 really a man of enlarged understanding, hut believed all the exaggerated praises...

...Emperor [K'ang-hsi] supposed himself to be an excellent musician and a still better mathematician; though he had a taste for the sciences and other acquirements...music and scarcely understood the first elements of mathematics'.44 On the other extreme, the French Jesuit, Joachim Bouvet reported: He [K'ang-hsi] employed...

...accomplishments. In his memoirs — written after he left China for good — Father Ripa had this to say: The Emperor supposed himself to be an excellent musician,...first elements of mathematics. There was a cymbal or spinet in almost every apartment, but neither he nor his ladies could play upon them; sometimes indeed...