It was written in Chinese by Matteo Ricci (1552- 16 10, Italian, 1583), a famous missionary in Nanchang, Jiangxi, more than 400 years ago. After his death, the book was approved by Jinjiang and Zhu, and was revised and published by Jesuits Gao Yizhi and Bi Francis, but it was not published. 35 books are kept in the National Library of Paris, France; Ming version once had a printed copy of the whole book in Shanghai Xuhui Bookstore. 1965 was included in the literature of Catholicism in Taiwan Province Province. According to the time when the second reviser preached in Jizhou, Shanxi, it is estimated that this publication may be published between 1624 or 1628 and 1640. The book is divided into six chapters, which are original, practical, setting, image, fixed knowledge and extensive information. Matteo Ricci introduced how to memorize Chinese characters by using the western mnemonic method ("displacement method") in combination with the literacy characteristics of China's ancient "Six Books" (pictograph, pointing to things, knowing, pictophonetic, and borrowing notes).
Matteo Ricci described the origin of "place memory method" (he called it "image memory method"), which originated from the story of Szimonidesz, an ancient Greek poet, recalling names through the seats where relatives and friends met, and introduced the specific operation methods. Combined with the literacy characteristics of ancient Chinese "Six Books", the pictographic structure of Chinese characters, the components and radicals of Chinese characters, the meaning is related and the words are homophonic.