• Binding (spine, front cover, back cover, inside front cover, inside back cover)
• Titlepage
• Imprimatur from Giovanni Paolo Oliva, S.J., Father General of the Society of Jesus, Rome, November 14, 1664
• Letter of dedication to Giovanni Paolo Oliva, S.J., Father General of the Society of Jesus, Rome, December 16, 1666
• Preface to the Reader
• Table of Contents
• Index of Figures

Part I - Interpretation of the Sino-Syrian monument

• Chapter 1 - The occasion for writing this work
• Chapter 2 - A correct and literal interpretation of the Sino-Chaldean Monument, erected about a thousand years ago by certain Christian preachers in the kingdom of China called Xemsi and discovered in 1625 for the good and profit of the Christian law
• Chapter 3 - On the triple method of interpretation of the stone or Sino-Syrian monument
• Chapter 4 - The cross inscribed on the top of the monument
• Chapter 5 - The articles of faith and other ceremonies and rites contained in the monument
• Chapter 6 - Interpretation of the Syriac names on the monument

Part II - On various journeys undertaken in China

• Chapter 1 - For what reasons, by whom, and by which journeys at various times the sacred gospel of Christ was taken to the farthest regions of the orient, India, Tartary, China, and the other regions of Asia by St. Thomas the apostle and his successors
• Chapter 2 - The propagation of the gospel in all of the regions of Eastern Asia
• Chapter 3 - Concerning Cathay and its true locations
• Chapter 4 - The dress, customs, and habits of the people of those kingdoms which were observed and described by Fr. Albert de Dorville and Fr. Johannes Grueber
• Chapter 5 - Concerning the Mogor, or Mogul, kingdom, and the noteworthy things there, and various journeys from there to China, India, and Europe
• Chapter 6 - The journey of Marco Polo the Venetian and Haython the Armenian to Cathay or China
• Chapter 7 - On the introduction of the Christian faith in Tartary and the kingdom of Cathay through these journeys
• Chapter 8 - The latest introduction of the Christian faith into China
• Chapter 9 - The correction of the Chinese calendar and the good that came from that
• Chapter 10 - The way in which our Fathers are accustomed to proceed in the conversion of the Chinese
  

Part III- The idolatry which came from the West, first to Persia and India, then later spread to Tartary, China, and Japan

Preface

• Chapter 1 - Chinese idolatry
• Chapter 2 - Parallels between Chinese, Japanese, and Tartar idolatry
• Chapter 3 - Parallels between Indian and Chinese Idolatry
• Chapter 4 - Brahmin Institutions, and how an Egyptian superstition passed by means of the Brahmins to Persia, India, China, and Japan, the farthest kingdom of the East
• Chapter 5 - The ridiculous Brahmin religion and the teachings about the origin of man
• Chapter 6 - The fabulous doctrine of the Brahmins, and the ten incarnations of God, in which the Indians on both sides of the Ganges believe
• Chapter 7 - The letters used by the Brahmins
  

Part IV - China illustrated with miracles of nature and art

• Preface
• Chapter 1 - The extraordinary geographical situation of China and her political system
• Chapter 2 - The political discipline of the Chinese
• Chapter 3 - Concerning the cities of China and the customs of the people
• Chapter 4 - Scientific investigations into the rare sights seen in China concerning the mountains of China and the stupendous prodigies seen on them
• Chapter 5 - Concerning the admirable things of the lakes, rivers and streams
• Chapter 6 - Exotic Chinese plants
• Chapter 7 - Exotic Chinese animals
• Chapter 8 - Certain flying creatures not found outside China
• Chapter 9 - The fish of the sea and the Rivers of China
• Chapter 10 - The serpents of China
• Chapter 11 - The rocks and minerals of China
  

Part V - The architecture and certain mechanical arts of the Chinese

• Preface
• Chapter 1 - The bridges and the other prodigious buildings of the Chinese
  

Part VI - Concerning Chinese literature

• Chapter 1 - The Hieroglyphic characters of the Chinese
• Chapter 2 - The anatomy of the ancient characters of the Chinese
• Chapter 3 - Explanation of the most ancient Chinese characters
• Chapter 4 - Difference between the Chinese and the Egyptian characters
• Chapter 5 - Final Chapter
  
• Conclusion of the work
• Index of noteworthy matters and places
• Note from the Typographer to the Reader on the Cobra de Capelos
• List of books published by Athanasius Kircher. Those marked with a cross are no longer available

Illustrations

• Frontispiece
• Portrait of Athanasius Kircher
• Map of the Whole Kingdom of China
• Copy of the Sino-Syriac Monument
• Syriac inscription of the date
• Names of Apostolic men inscribed on the margins of the stone in Syriac
• A map of voyages carried out by various people in Cathay
• The miraculous cross of St. Thomas the Apostle at Meliapore in India
• Tartar costumes and a prayer wheel
• A likeness of the dead King Han of the Tanguth, who is worshipped as a God (and a likeness of the God-king Tanguth)
• A Tartar of the North
• Courtly dress, trophies set up on mountain tops by the lamas and a man of the court in female dress
• The dress of the Tanchuth Kingdom, and a likeness of the demonic boy called Phut who slaughters men
• The idol Menipe in the city Barantola of the Kingdom Lassa
• A likeness of the Great Lama or eternal father
• The citadel Bietala where the Great Lama lives
• Women from the Kingdom Coin
• Women of Tanguth, Cuthi, and Necbal
• A Northern Tartar and dress of the Kingdom of Necbal
• The Mogul Emperor
• The Cobra de Cabelo and snake-stone
• The true shape of a tiger
• The bat called a flying cat because of the size of its body
• Supreme Monarch of the Sino-Tartar Empire
• Chinese costumes
• Fr. Adam Schall von Bell, a German and a Mandarin of the First Order
• Fr. Matteo Ricci of Macerata, the first Jesuit Propagator of the Christian Faith in China, and Paulus Hsu, a Great Colao of China
• A Chinese Lady
• Another Chinese Lady
• Pagodes, a Divinity of the Indians. The idol Menipe
• A Chinese Tower of Novizonia
• Drawing of the Principal Chinese Deities
• A three-headed Japanese spirit
• A Type of Pussa, the Chinese Cybele or Isis, and another in a different form
• The fabulous tale of Brahmins
• Elements of the Sanskrit Language
• The mountain in Kiamsi Province. The rocks called dragon and Tiger
• Ursa Major is pictured in the arrangement of the seven peaks of a mountain
• The Idol Fe formed by a mountain
• The lake Chin
• The Cia or Tea Herb
• A White Vine or Climbing Plant
• The Rhubarb of Matthiolus
• True Rhubarb
• The Polomie Tree
• The Papaya Tree
• The India Fig. The Tree of Paradise
• The Pineapple
• Nucius Piper and an unnamed fruit
• The Musk Deer Hiam
• The Hippopotamus or Marine Horse
• The Sumxu
• The Wool-Bearing Hen
• Flying turtles
• A lake of fire
• A flying bridge
• A Small Gate on the Wall of China
• A Bell of Erfurt and a Bell of Peking