4 ideas
Giuseppe Castiglione, a Jesuit painter trained in European chiaroscuro, served the Qing court for decades. The result was a hybrid style bred by necessity, with his technique adapting to the viewer rather than converting him.
The Jesuits entered the Qing court on the strength of useful skills such as painting, astronomy and mechanics, meant as a door to conversion. The court valued the skill and ignored the message, so the missionaries became long-serving imperial craftsmen whose religious purpose shrank as their usefulness grew. When you gain entry by being useful, the host defines what you are for.
Single-point perspective and cast shadows look like 'how things really are' to a European eye. To a Chinese eye trained on shifting viewpoints and unshaded forms, they look distorted or unclean. Pairing the two traditions shows that what counts as accurate depiction is a learned agreement, so every realistic image encodes the conventions of its audience.
The Qing emperor had Castiglione help design European-style palaces and fountains as exotic curiosities, without adopting European thought. The novel's two strands mirror each other: close contact between cultures often produces decorative appropriation rather than understanding.