“In 1683, the Kangxi emperor of China asked that I and two other Jesuit fathers accompany him on a journey from Beijing to the Mongol and Turkic regions beyond the Great Wall with 60,000 cavalry and members of the court on a hunting expedition. The emperor wanted to keep the military in constant movement during peace and prepare it for war. He also wanted to prevent his Manchu and Turkic troops from becoming infected by Chinese luxury and, further, to keep the peoples of the region in obedience. The emperor has divided the immeasurable districts beyond the Wall into forty-eight provinces and has made them all subject and tributary. Thus, he is sovereign of the Chinese and the nomads and could be justly called the greatest and mightiest ruler in the world. Indeed, the emperor chastises offenders of the highest and lowest classes with impartiality according to their misdeeds and he alone makes decisions after considering the advice of his imperial council and hearing the sentences of the imperial law courts. On this account, men of all rank stand in his presence with deep awe and recognize him as sole ruler.”

-Ferdinand Verbiest, Flemish Jesuit missionary, adviser, and astronomer at the court of the Kangxi emperor of the Qing dynasty, letter to fellow Jesuits in Europe, 1683

Explain ONE factor that might have contributed to Verbiest’s view of the emperor in the second paragraph.