Joseph de Prémare was a French Jesuit who went to China in the reign of Emperor Kangxi. He was banished to Guangzhou by Emperor Yongzheng, who had been hostile to Catholicism ever since he was enthroned. In Guangzhou, Prémare translated eight poems from the Shijing into French, all being taken from the sections "Ya" and "Song". He showed almost no interest in the poems from the more lyrical "Guofeng". The poems he translated addressed his love of Chinese sage kings and their benevolent rule. His interpretations, typical of Jesuit figurism, were replete with intriguing intimations of Christian doctrine. Prémare employed poetic figurism to connect the Shijing to the Shenjing, or the Bible, in the eighteenth century.