On behalf of the Jewish community in London, Isaac Nieto wrote a letter in Hebrew to the Kaifeng kehillah. This was believed to be the first letter sent by the European Jews to the Kaifeng kehillah.

This letter was signed Isaac, son of David Nieto.

The letter was written in the form of Hebrew so pristine and elegant that it was potentially ineligible or incomprehensible to the Chinese Jews. The letter conveyed that while it was uncertain "whether ye are descendants of the Ten Tribes ... or whether you descend from the other tribes, being those of Judah, Benjamin, and Levy, as we are, … the descendants of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levy, are dispersed all over the face of the globe, east, west, north, and south, whose numbers may be computed at ten million," the Kaifeng Jewish community should not feel alone. The letter also had a list of nine questions whose answers could help determine the chronology of their dispersion and the nature of their rites and rituals.

The Jews of London appeared to be more interested in the search for the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel rather than the accuracy of the scriptures.

In his book, Moses Edrehi claimed the Kaifeng kehillah had replied to the Nieto's letter and that "the letter was sent by some respectable persons, who on their return from China brought an answer in Chinese and Hebrew languages, which was afterwards translated into the English language for the Portuguese Jewish congregation; and the original was left in the museum at the India House. I could not find the copy, and supposed it has been lost." Edrehi did not discuss the content of the alleged reply received from Kaifeng.

The Jews of London received the letter; he continued, "from Jews who are in China, in the town of Honan, where they are established with their synagogue, and academies, etc. An answer was sent from the Portuguese community (of London) to them. The copy of the letter signed (and authenticated) by the late Grand Rabbi the Reverend Raphael Meldola, I have seen in the care of his son, my friend, the Reverend D. (David) Meldola.”

Professor Benjamin Kennicott (1718–1783) was a renowned scholar in divinity and Hebrew at Exeter College, Oxford University. In 1764, he was made a fellow at The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, the United Kingdom’s national academy of sciences and the oldest national scientific institution in the world.

Professor Kennicott wanted to focus on literary and Biblical texts created early enough not to have been tampered with by the Talmudists. His goal was to identify and eliminate errors and restore integrity to the words of God.

Professor Kennicott was exceptionally keen in obtaining a copy of the Kaifeng Scripture, since many scholars believed they had entered China before the birth of Christ, during the Zhou or Han Dynasties; and since they were unaware of the Christian movement, there was no reason for their Torah to be tampered.

Professor Kennicott’s project to collect ancient Old Testaments was completed by 1780. The textual integrity of the Bible was inconclusive.

In 1783, Professor Kennicott passed away and was buried in the Christ Church Cathedral at Oxford University.

Professor Olav Gerhard Tychsen (蒂希森, 1734–1815) was a Danish-born German Orientalist and Hebraist.

He wrote to the Kaifeng Jews in 1777 and again in 1799. Both letters were sent to friends in Jakarta, who would then relay them to China. Unfortunately, these letters probably never reached the Chinese kehillah; no replies were received.

In 1788, Jean-Baptiste Grosier (1743–1823), a French abbe, published his book, General Description of China (中国通纪).

The book concerned itself chiefly with the presence of Jews in China, mainly regarding information extracted from the reports of the early Jesuits who had visited the kehillah.

A Jewish family residing in New York purchased Abbe Grosier’s book. They were intrigued by their co-religionists in China, resulting in the Hirsch-Simson letter dated 21st January 1795.

Alexander Hirsch (希尔施) and Solomon Joseph Simson (西姆松) wrote a letter, entirely in Hebrew, to the Kaifeng Jews, asking about their history, religious practices, Holy Books, and current situation.

They shared that they also wrote a similar letter to the Jews of Malabar (马拉巴尔, southwestern coast of India) and received a reply.

Captain Howell (豪厄尔), sailing to China from New York, was tasked with delivering the letter to the Kaifeng Jews. Unfortunately, the letter never actually reached the Kaifeng congregation. It was returned, unopened, with "Captain Howell could not discover them (豪厄尔船主未能找到)” written on the envelope.

Reverend Robert Morrison (1782–1834) arrived in Guangzhou on 6th September 1807 as the first Protestant missionary in China. He was sent by the London Missionary Society (英国伦敦传教士会). He spent 27 years in China and was considered the Father of Anglo-Chinese Literature. In 1819, he translated the entire Bible into the Chinese language.

During his time, missionaries were only allowed in Guangzhou and Macau; the focus of their work was, thus, to distribute literature to merchants who passed by these port cities, hoping to produce impact when they travelled inland.

Around 1814, Reverend Morrison baptised Liang Fa (梁发, 1789–1855), the second Chinese Protestant convert and the first Chinese Protestant pastor. Around 1836, Hong Xiu-quan (洪秀全, 1814–1864) received Liang’s evangelical pamphlet, Good Words to Admonish the Age (勸世良言); around late 1840, Hong read Morrison’s Chinese Bible. Hong later became the leader of Taiping Rebellion (太平天国之乱, 1850–1864) where he told his followers that Christianity had been the religion of ancient China until Confucius and his disciples drove it out, and that he was the son of God and younger brother of Jesus Christ.

Reverend Morrison then entrusted the letter to a travelling bookseller, originally from Henan Province, who was on his way to Kaifeng.