sentences:  The first church in Nanjing was established by the Italian Jesuit and one of the first missionaries to China, Matteo Ricci, in 1599, on one of the three occasions that he came to Nanjing.He bought up a private residence on the west side of the city at a place called Luosi Zhuanwan (罗寺转湾 or later written 螺丝转湾), and with some minor modifications it was soon a centre of religious activities.It was not to last long however, for in 1618 there was an imperial decree banning the practice of Catholicism and the church was torn down.