from previous Jesuit advisors that either ignored Copernicus's ideas or contradicted one another. For instance, German Jesuit Schall von Bell previously argued that the planets and the sun moved in a circular motion, while Benoist argued the sun was a static body. Benoist, according to Sivin, was not only among the greatest champions of the Copernican model in China, but was also one of the last successful Jesuit scientists to do so. Benoist also instructed the Qianlong Emperor on use of the telescope for the observation of celestial bodies. Other work Benoist set up a printing shop to produce prints of historic battle scenes from a set of copper engravings which had been gifted from king Louis XV of France in 1772, and was the last of Benoist's contributions to the Qianlong Court. Death Michel Benoist died in Beijing, China on 23 October 1774 of a stroke. He died at 59 years old, shortly after learning of the formal suppression of the Society of Jesus in Europe. His body was interred at the Zhengfusi cemetery on the outskirts a Beijing. In his honor, the Qianlong Emperor funded his funeral with "one hundred pieces of silver." Zhengfusi was one of two cemeteries dedicated to Jesuits in service in China. The first, Zhalan, was a cemetery built in 1611 that interred Jesuits such as Matteo Ricci, while Zhengfusi was built in 1732 for the French Jesuit community. Many of Benoist's accomplishments were destroyed during the Second Opium war. Following the invasion of Beijing by British and French forces, Lord Elgin ordered the looting and destruction of Yuanming Yuan as retribution for the execution of European journalists and prisoners of wars by Qing forces. The ruins were again destroyed during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900. See also Religion in China Jesuit China missions Christianity in China List of Jesuit scientists Old Summer Palace Catholic missionaries in China Giuseppe Castiglione Armand David Matteo Ricci Johann Adam Schall von Bell Ferdinand Verbiest St. Francis Xavier Protestant missionaries in China See separate article List of Protestant missionaries in China. References Catholic Encyclopedia Young-tsu Wong, "European Buildings with Chinese Characteristics." Notes Further reading Cams, Mario. 2017. Companions in Geography : East-West Collaboration in the Mapping of Qing China (C.1685-1735). East and West : Culture, Diplomacy and Interactions, Volume 1. Leiden: Brill. Charbonnier, Jean (2007-01-01). Christians in China: A.D. 600 to 2000. Ignatius Press. . Elliott, Mark, Emperor