Francisco Varo

Francisco Varo (October 4, 1627 - January 31, 1687) was a Dominican monk, missionary in China, and author of the second grammar of Mandarin Chinese in a western language, "Arte de la lengua mandarina" (1703). His Chinese names were Wan Fangjige (Chinese: 萬方濟各; pinyin: wàn fāngjìgè Vuán Fāng Çhí kǒ) and Wan Jiguo (Chinese: 萬濟國; pinyin: wàn jìguó).

Varo was born in the city of Seville. On October 8, 1643 Varo joined the Dominican order in the convent of San Pablo. Varo then embarked on his journey to China when Juan Bautista de Morales recruited volunteers to cary out missions in the East, Varo was among them. He began a journey to China via Mexico and the Philippines. On June 12, 1646, Varo sailed to Veracuz in Mexico from Sanlucar de Barrameda. The trip to Manila in the Philippines was delayed by the presence of Dutch ships, but they started out from April 12, 1648, arriving in early July.

It was planned form the beginning that Varo go to China, but he still spent a year among the Chinese community in Manila to learn the language. On July 10, 1649, he departed from Pasig, near Manila, and arrived on August 3 in Fujian, at a part near Amoy, and then moved onto Fuan to his mission. Fujian's coast came under attack by the Ming dynasty loyalist Koxinga, who was very active between 1624 and 1662. the Qing Emperor ordered the evacuation of the coast in 1662 to undermine support for Koxinga, which allowed Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch influence to increase on the coast. From 1671 to 1672 Varo was exiled to Canton by the Qing dynasty government for religious reasons.

Varo studied the Chinese language there, both Mandarin and the local dialect. He was among the few who managed to master the complicated form of the language of the legal system and formal hearings. His superiors made him Chinese teacher for other missionaries.

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