自从利玛窦于1605年在北京会见中国开封犹太人艾田之后，西方认为在中国发现犹太人是民族学史上的一大奇迹。西方入华传教士、西方犹太人、官吏和学者，争相对开封犹太人进行调查研究。直到当代，西方汉学界仍在研究这一问题，并取得了很大的成果。本文试对这段历史作初步探讨，对某些历史事件略作钩沉。 Since Ricci met with Kaifeng Jewish Ai Tian in Beijing in 1605, the West believes that finding Jews in China a miracle in the history of ethnology. Western missionaries to China, Western Jews, officials and scholars, competing for Kaifeng Jews for investigation. Up until the present age, Western Sinology still studied the issue and made great achievements. This article tries to make a tentative discussion of this period of history and gives some clues to some historical events.