Matteo Ricci (l552～1610) was an Italian, who was a Jesuit missionary scholar who lived in China during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). He took the Chinese name, Xitai, also known as Qingtai and Xijiang. He was born on October 6, 1552, in the city of Marcelata, in bonacona, central Italy. He study law once. He joined the Jesuits in Rome in 1571 and went on to study philosophy and theology at the Jesuit-sponsored Roman Academy, where he studied astronomy under the teaching of renowned mathematician Clavius.

In 1577 he joined the order sent to India to preach Christian by Jesuits. Four years later he was sent to China as a missionary. He arrived in Macao in July in 1582 and was admitted to Zhaoqing, Guangdong in the following year of 1583. He moved to Shaozhou in 1589, reached Beijing via Nanjing in 1598, and returned to Nanjing in 1600. He returned to Beijing in December of 1600 and presented the sympathy-queclock and the Nations Disposition to the emperor Zhu Yijun and got his trust greatly . Then he obtained permanent residence in Beijing at that time. In 1610 he died in Beijing because of illness.

Matteo Ricci spent the latter half of his life in China. He adopted a Chinese name, learned Chinese, wore Confucian clothes and practiced Confucian etiquette. He was the first Western scholar who read Chinese characters and studied Chinese classics. In addition to spreading religious teachings, he also communicated widely with Chinese officials and celebrities, and spread western scientific and technological knowledge such as astronomy, mathematics and geography. At the same time, he introduced China's national conditions to Europe and made important contributions to the cultural exchanges between China and the West in Ming dynasty. His works include Elements of Geometry in mathemetics , Great Universal Geographic Map in geography and West Word Miracle in linguistics.

Matteo Ricci, based on his experience and knowledge during his mission in China, began to write down in Italian what he knew about China.  The name of the book is Notes of Matteo Ricci. After he passed away, the book was translated into Latin by Kinnige and supplemented, it was published in Augsburg, Germany, in 1615, on the subject of the Christian expedition to China. The book consists of five volumes.The first volume summarizes the situation of China, including its names,geographical products, technology, political system, academic customs and so on.The second to fifth volumes, in chronological order, describe the missionary activities and experiences of Matteo Ricci in Zhaoqing, Nanchang, Nanjing,Beijing and other places in China from 1583 to 1611. This book is an important private work by Jesuits to introduce China's national conditions. It is of great historical value to the study of the history of communication between China and the West in Ming Dynasty and the history of Jesuit missionaries in China in the late Ming Dynasty. After its publication,it was successively translated into Many languages such as French and German.The Chinese version, matteo Ricci's Notes on China, was published by Zhonghua Book Company in 1983.

Matteo Ricci came to China as a missionary, but also to spread Western science and technology in China. He made extensive friends with Chinese literati, learned Chinese language and studied Chinese literature, which enabled him to have a certain understanding of China's history, geography, culture,society, politics and economy.

He sent letters to tell his European friends how he felt in China. In the final stages of his life, he also wrote a record of his activities in China to introduce China to Europe. Objectively speaking, his activities are not limited to missionary work, and his role is not limited to missionary work at that time.