Tianzhu (Chinese name of God)
Tianzhu, meaning "Heavenly Master" or "Lord of Heaven", was the Chinese word used by the Jesuit China missions to designate God.History
The word first appeared in Michele Ruggieri's Chinese translation of the Decalogo, or Ten Commandments. In 1584, Ruggieri and Matteo Ricci published their first catechism, Tiānzhǔ shílù.
Matteo Ricci later wrote a catechism entitled Tiānzhŭ Shíyì.
Following the Chinese rites controversy, the term Tiānzhŭ was officially adopted by the Pope in 1715, who rejected alternative terms such as Tiān and Shàngdì.
"Catholicism" is most commonly rendered as Tiānzhǔjiào. An individual Catholic is Tiānzhŭjiào tú; tú includes the meanings "disciple" and "believer." The same hanja characters are used in the Korean words for Catholicism and Catholic believer.
