Nadokuse 彝文教理問答 [Catholic Catechism in Yi script] the earliest known book printed in the Yi script with movable metal type, Hong Kong, 1909

著者(Author)：Paul Félix Vial 鄧明德

出版元(Publisher)：Hong Kong: Imprimerie de Nazareth (Typis Nazareth)

刊行年(Publishing Date)：1909

ページ数(Pages)：70, [2], 3

裝幀(Binding)：Softcover

コンディション(Condition)：Very Good

サイズ(Size)：13.3x9.5cm

The work was compiled and translated by the French Catholic missionary Paul Félix Vial (1855–1917)—known in Chinese as Deng Mingde (鄧明德)—a member of the Missions Étrangères de Paris. After arriving in Yunnan in 1879, Vial devoted himself to evangelizing among the Sani branch of the Yi people in Lunan (present-day Shilin County). In order to facilitate religious instruction, he collaborated closely with local bimo (ritual specialists) to collect, standardize, and systematize Yi characters, reducing the great variety of graphic forms into a usable script of approximately 430 characters. Based on this newly standardized writing system, Vial composed Nadokuse, a catechism in the Yi (Sani) language. Around 1907, he traveled to Hong Kong with a Sani assistant, Bi Yingdou, to cast Yi movable type and oversee the typesetting, proofreading, and printing of the work. The book was subsequently published in 1909 at the Nazareth Press in Hong Kong, and is most likely the earliest known book printed in the Yi script with movable metal type. It represents a landmark in both missionary linguistics and the history of printing among minority languages in China.

The title Nadokuse reflects its didactic structure—Na (“question”), Doku (“answer”), and Se (“writing” or “book”)—indicating a catechetical question-and-answer format. The contents follow closely the structure of a Catholic catechism, as outlined in the original French table of contents:

• Création du ciel et de terre
• Histoire de Jésus-Christ 
• La Sainte Église 
• Les dix Commandements 
• Les quatre Règles 
• Les Sacrements
• Le Baptême
• La Confirmation
• L’Eucharistie
• La Pénitence
• La Confirmation
• L’Ordre
• Le Mariage
• La Prière 
• Au nom du Père
• Angelus
• Notre Père
• Je vous salue, Marie
• Je crois en Dieu
• Les dix Commandements
• Les quatre Regles
  
• Je me confesse
• Acte de contrition
• Acte de foi
• Acte d’espérance
• Acte de charité
• Gloire au Père
• Sub tuum
• Regina cæli

Notably, the text reflects a process of cultural adaptation: Vial incorporated elements of Sani cosmology, oral traditions, and religious concepts into his presentation of Catholic doctrine, making it accessible to local audiences while simultaneously preserving valuable ethnographic material.

Listed in the National Catalogue of Precious Ancient Books of China (國家珍貴古籍名錄).

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