Matteo Ricci

(1552 - 1610)

An Italian Jesuit priest who lived in China from 1583 until his death in 1610, Matteo Ricci wrote several books in Chinese as part of his missionary efforts, including The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven, a dialogue between a Chinese and a Christian scholar. The Jesuits, he wrote, “tried to learn the language, literature, and etiquette of the Chinese, and to win their hearts and, by the example of their good lives, to move them in a way that they could not otherwise do because of insufficiency in speech and for lack of time.” His efforts to learn the language and wear Chinese fashion won him entry into Beijing on his second try in 1601; the imperial city remained his home for the rest of his life.