This article aims to update the academic community’s understanding of the translation of science and technology in the late Ming Dynasty. Matteo Ricci only translated the first six volumes of the Elements, not entirely out of missionary pragmatism, but because he wanted to introduce a system of mathematical argumentation while taking into account his own limited mathematical skills. The missionaries did not deliberately conceal the book On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres due to their opposition to science; in fact, the book had already been translated in the late Ming Dynasty, but it was only used as a reference material for compiling calendars.