Joachim Bouvet (, courtesy name: 明远) (July 18, 1656, in Le Mans – June 28, 1730, in Peking) was a French Jesuit who worked in China, and the leading member of the Figurist movement. China Bouvet came to China in 1687, as one of six Jesuits, the first group of French missionaries to China, sent by Louis XIV of France, under Superior Jean de Fontaney. Before setting out for their destination, he and his associates were admitted to the French Académie des Sciences and were commissioned by that learned body to carry on astronomical observations, to determine the geographical positions of the various places they were to visit, and to collect various scientific data. The group, after being provided with all necessary scientific instruments, by order of the king, sailed from Brest, 3 March 1685, with Father Fontaney as Superior. After spending some time in Siam, they finally arrived in Peking, 7 February 1688. The Jesuits were well received by the Kangxi Emperor. Bouvet and Jean-François Gerbillon stayed at Peking, teaching the emperor mathematics and astronomy. While engaged in this work, the two Jesuits wrote several mathematical treatises in the Manchu language which the emperor caused to be translated into Chinese, adding the prefaces himself. So far did they win his esteem and confidence that he gave a site within the Imperial City enclosure for a church and residence which were finally completed in 1702. Bouvet later served as the Chinese emperor's envoy to France, and returned to his home country in 1697 with instructions from the emperor to obtain new missionaries. Kangxi made him the bearer of a gift of forty-nine volumes in Chinese for the French king. These were deposited in the Royal Library, and Louis XIV, in turn, commissioned Father Bouvet to present to the emperor a magnificently bound collection of engravings. In 1698, Bouvet chartered the ship Amphitrite, registering it as a warship to avoid customs duties. In 1699 Bouvet arrived in China for the second time, accompanied by ten missionaries, among them Joseph Henri Marie de Prémare, Jean-Baptiste Régis, and Dominique Parrenin. Kangxi honored Bouvet further with the title of interpreter to his son, the heir-apparent. In 1700, with four of his fellow missionaries, Bouvet presented a memorial to the emperor, asking for a decision as to the meaning attached to the various ceremonies of the Chinese in honor of Confucius and their ancestors. The