Louis le Comte (1655–1728), also Louis-Daniel Lecomte, was a French Jesuit and mathematician who participated in the 1687 French Jesuit mission to China under Jean de Fontaney. He arrived in China on 7 February 1688.Standaert, p.184 He had travelled with a group of Jesuit mathematicians and scientists including Joachim Bouvet, Claude de Visdelou, Guy Tachard and Jean-François Gerbillon.Eastern Magnificence and European Ingenuity: Clocks of Late Imperial China - Page 182 by Catherine Pagani (2001)
He returned to France in 1691 as Procurator of the Jesuits.Standaert, p.185 His Nouveau mémoire sur l'état présent de la Chine, which was published in Paris in 1696, caused great debate within the Chinese Rites Controversy.Xiping Zhang, p.186
By 1696, he had been appointed Mathematician to the King of France.
Publications His publications include; Nouveaux mémoires sur l'état présent de la Chine (Volumes 1 and 2)
Memoirs and Remarks Geographical, Historical, Topographical, Physical, Natural, Astronimocal, Mechanical, Military, Mercantile, Political, and Ecclesiastical, Made in above Ten Years Travels through The Empoire of China
Un Jésuite à Pékin: Nouveaux Mémoires De L'état Présent De La Chine, 1687-1692
A compleat history of the empire of China
Lettre a Monseigneur Le Duc Du Mayne Sur Les Ceremonies de la Chine
Eclaircissement sur la denonciation faite a N.S.P. le Pape, des nouveaux memoires de la Chine (s.n.], 1700) (with Charles Le Gobien)
A Collection of voyages and travels
See also Jesuit China missions
Notes
References N. Standaert The interweaving of rituals: funerals in the cultural exchange between China and Europe, University of Washington Press, 2008, , Xiping Zhang, Deshu Ding, Jinping Ye, Xiping Zhang, Deshu Ding, Jinping Ye Following the Steps of Matteo Ricci to China, published by 五洲传播出版社 (Wu zhou chuan bo chu ban she), Beijing, 2006 ,