Matteo Ricci joined the Society of Jesus in Rome in 1571, and studied philosophy and theology at the Roman College established under the Society. He also studied mathematics under the mathematician Christopher Clavius. Later, he was assigned by the Society of Jesus to proceed to China to preach Catholicism. He reached Macao in the seventh lunar month of 1582, the tenth year of Emperor Wanli's reign, and the following year he was granted approval to live in Zhaoqing, Guangdong. In 1589, he moved to Shaozhou. He travelled to Beijing for the second time in the 12th lunar month of 1600, when he presented a chime clock and a map of the world to Emperor Wanli. This won him the trust of the emperor, who permitted Ricci to live in Beijing. He died of illness there 10 years later.

Ricci was the first Western scholar who dedicated himself to studying Chinese literature and classics. He learned Chinese, took a Chinese name, wore Confucian robes, and abided by Confucian etiquette. Besides preaching Catholicism, he also enjoyed making friends with Chinese officials and public figures to disseminate Western knowledge of science and technology such as astronomy, mathematics, and geography. He was favored by many scholar officials, including Shen Yiguan, Ye Xianggao, Xu Guangqi, Li Zhizao, and Yang Tingyun. Meanwhile, he also introduced Chinese culture to the West. He co-translated into Chinese Euclid's  Elements  with Xu Guangqi, compiled the  Great Universal Geographic Map , and wrote  The Miracle of Western Letters  (known today as  Study on the Source Language of the Roman Transcription of Chinese Words by Western Missionaries in the Late Ming Dynasty ) to create a bridge linking Chinese and Western languages. This marked the beginning of the latinization of Chinese characters.

At the end of the 36th year of Emperor Wanli's reign, Ricci recorded his experiences in China in his well-known work  The Journals of Matthew Ricci . Originally written in Italian, it was translated into Latin and preserved after his death. In 1615, a five-volume Latin version of the book was published in Germany as History of the Introduction of Christianity in China. As an important Jesuit work introducing Chinese culture to the West, the book has played an important role in facilitating the study of the history of cultural exchanges between China and the West, and the history of the later Ming Dynasty. It has been translated into many languages, including French, German, and Spanish.