In 1605, Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci published Xiji qiji (The Miracle of Western Letters) in Beijing, the first book to use Roman alphabet to write a Sinitic language. Twenty years later, another Jesuit in China, Nicolas Trigault, issued Xi ru ermu zi, further developing Romanization of Chinese. These missionary linguists sought to help Chinese Christians and scholars understand Western learning through phonetic transcription. This pioneering work represented first systematic attempt to write Chinese using European alphabetic script, laying groundwork for later Chinese romanization systems.

Ricci's romanization enabled Chinese Christians to learn Christian prayers and texts phonetically, facilitating Bible translation efforts. This work influenced later missionary linguistics in China, including Wade-Giles and modern Pinyin systems. The romanization approach influenced Chinese scholarly engagement with Western phonetics and language study, creating new possibilities for Chinese-language Christian poetry and religious writing accessible to those unfamiliar with complex Chinese characters.