Cultural exchanges between western peoples, particularly Arabs and Chinese, have been occurring for centuries. The earliest records go back to 635, with the discovery of the Nestorian Stone, and are then followed by Marco Polo and Ibn Batutta several centuries later.
The Nestorian Stone located in Xi'an records is the earliest known name of a Christian missionary, Alopen, who traveled to China through the Silk Road to Chang'an, which was the then capital of the Tang dynasty in 635. He was sent by the Church of the East. When he arrived in Chang'an, he was welcomed by T'ai Tsung, who brought him to an imperial library and ordered the books that he brought with him to be translated into Hokkien. It is noted that most of the earliest Christian works can be dated back to the period of Alopen.
Some historians note that Ibn Battuta's travelogue of his visit to China appears superficial, though it did describe Battuta's concern with the dominance of paganism in China and his dislike of most of what he saw in China, with him tending to stay at his home "as often as he could".