British Protestant missionary Robert Morrison arrived in China in 1807, becoming first Protestant missionary to China. He translated Bible into Chinese, completing New Testament in 1814 and full Bible published in 1823. Morrison also created first Chinese-English dictionary (1815-1823), compiled 6-volume work with 80,000 characters. He established printing press in Malaya for Chinese Christian texts and developed Chinese romanization systems. Morrison's linguistic work required deep study of Chinese language and characters, representing unprecedented missionary linguistics achievement in Qing dynasty China.

Morrison's Chinese Bible translation created standardized written Chinese for Christian literature, influencing Chinese Protestant literary production. His dictionary enabled Western learning of Chinese, facilitating cross-cultural literary exchange. The translation inspired Chinese Christian poetry and religious writing, establishing vernacular Chinese Christian literary tradition. Morrison's romanization work influenced later Chinese language reform movements including modern Pinyin development.