元代以来,西方传教士陆续到中国来传播西方宗教。为了传教,传教士必须学会中国的语言,而中国的汉字不能表音或不能正确表音,各地方言土语又妨碍着汉字的正确读音,用他们熟悉的拉丁字母(即罗马字母)记录和拼写中国话,是他们最容易想到和做到的事情。明万历年间,意大利传教士利玛 Since the Yuan Dynasty, Western missionaries came to China one after another to spread Western religions. In order to preach, missionaries must learn the Chinese language, while Chinese characters can not be phonetic or can not be correctly phonetic, local dialects and soil impede the correct pronunciation of Chinese characters, with their familiar Latin (ie Roman letters) record and spell China Words, they are the most easy to think and do. Ming Wanli, the Italian missionary Lima