Abstract
When contact was made between foreign cultures, the exchange of language would inevitably occur. Therefore, dictionaries or grammar books compiled by those who understood languages of both sides were considered valuable historical materials that enabled us to understand the history of exchange between different cultures. When the Portuguese and Spanish began to arrive in East Asian seas since Mid-Ming dynasty, the Catholic church gained an incentive to evangelize the Chinese. As a result, missionaries have produced several Mandarin and Minnan dictionaries and grammar books during the 16th to 18th centuries for practical use, and these works became fundamental materials for modern scholars to study upon. On the other hand, except a few Chinese classics that happened to contain certain Portuguese or Spanish vocabulary, records of Chinese learning European languages were surprisingly scarce. This context made a group of manuscripts held in Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel, Germany distinctive: once considered by the academic circle as a Portuguese-Chinese work that originated from 18th century Macau, this article will narrate the process of how it was revealed to be a Minnan-Spanish dictionary written by a Chinese in the 17th century Philippines. The article will also discuss upon the manuscripts'' historical materials, which included the Foranji Huaren Huabu, Lishubu, and five other letters written by Chinese merchants.