GONÇALVEZ, Joaquín Alonso. – Sinologist, born at Tojal (Trás-os-Montes, Portugal) on 23 March 1781, died at Macao on 3 Oct. 1841. Admitted to the Congregation of the Mission on 17 May 1799, he set out for China in 1812, settling at Macao while awaiting an opportunity to enter the imperial court at Peking. He therefore devoted himself to the study of mathematics and the sciences. When this aim proved unattainable, he turned his attention to the Chinese language, which he cultivated with true passion.
His principal works are: *Grammatica latina ad usum Sinensium iuvenum* (Macao 1828); *Arte china constante de alphabeto e grammatica, comprehendendo modelos das differentes composições* (ibid. 1829); *Diccionario portugues-china no estilo vulgar mandarin e classico general* (ibid. 1831); *Vocabularium latino-sinicum pronuntiatone mandarina latinis litteris* (ibid. 1837); *Lexicon manuale latino-sinicum continens omnia vocabula utilia et primitiva, etiam Scripturae sacrae* (ibid. 1839); *Lexicon magnum latino-sinicum* (ibid. 1841). Unpublished manuscripts remain: *Lexicon magnum sinico-latinum* and *Versão do Novo Testamento em china*.