Did China have a tradition of travelers writing about Europe in the way that Marco Polo and others wrote about China? Who were the most notable writers, and were there any weird misconceptions that arose from these travelogues that persisted well after better information came through? (I can't think of a Chinese example at the moment, but something similar to how harems are still thought of in the west as licentious pleasure dens when reality was not nearly as titillating.)
Of course, the first Chinese Travellers to explore and write of the West obviously were still travelling in what you would colloquially refer to as the East, but due to the Silk Road Chinese Explorers were well aware of places like Rome and other notable European Civilisations and several tried to collate tales of them from travellers or even to visit themselves, though notably the first to extensively travel Europe and share first hand accounts did not do so until 1287 so sadly no Chinese Explorer or Ambassador ever made it from their home all the way to the Roman Senate as far as I can tell though several made it all the way to places such as Syria, Egypt or Turkey and never crossed the Mediterranean sea from there. Or there were people like Yu Huan, who was a 3rd Century Three Kingdoms Period Historian who never left China personally but extensively questioned Sailors and Silk Road Merchants about faroff Western Lands and compiled this information, being of course particularly interested in Rome.
There are lots of cool stories of the attempts to make contact between Ancient China and Ancient Rome in both directions and the tales that were shared by travellers and noted down, a fairly comprehensive collection of them and East-West travel and cultural exchange in general is collected within this book. Which is the main source of my own information in that area.
The explorer in 1287 was named Rabban Bar Sawma and was a Monk from around the Beijing area who was sent as a Mongol Ambassador and was very concerned with enquiring about and recording everything they could about the Catholic Church and Christianity in the West.
As for misconceptions, Yu Huan in particular wrote that the Romans initially fled from China and founded Rome when they reached Italy. It is unknown why this was said, a possible explanation is the Roman myth that Rome was founded by Aeneas fleeing from Asia Minor (Turkey) after the fall of Troy and founding Rome. It could be easy to see how a misinterpretation of this Story using more vague terms such as Asia and the East could cause a misunderstanding.
A particularly important misconception that was once held, though not one originated by tales from Chinese Explorers was that Rome cultivated Silkworms and made their own Silk. This it appears was a lie told to the Chinese by the Parthians, had the Chinese known at the time that they held an exclusive Monopoly on this Silk they would have sold it to the Parthians at much higher prices and it would have been harder for the Parthians to profit by buying Chinese Silk in the East and selling it to the Romans in the West. The Parthians had a vested interest in telling Tales of Rome to the Chinese but not being too helpful in allowing them to meet. An explorer named Gan Ying described themselves making it all the way to a vast sea which was probably the Persian Gulf, before being discouraged by Sailors explaining to him how vast the Sea was and how long the Journey to Rome would take and how dangerous it was, while neglecting to mention the overland route that was much faster and safer.
Honestly, it wasn't just Silk. Most of the accounts of early Chinese travellers or scholars collecting tales from foreign travellers were primarily interested in explaining Western Cloths and Fabrics in great detail. Those who were not describing Fabrics or other trade goods such as Glass, Dyes and Precious Stones were probably describing Christianity.
The aforementioned Yu Huan poetically described his exploration of tales of far off lands by saying that it is said that a Fish in a pond lives its entire life never knowing the vastness of the ocean and that in the great wide world he living in the place of his birth is like a fish swimming in the miniscule puddle left by the hoofprint of an Ox in a rice field.
Another thing Yu Huan noted was that 1 Roman Gold Coin was worth 10 Roman Silver Coins, which it wasn't 25 Silver Coins was the equivalent of a Gold Coin in Ancient Rome, so the only possible explanation for this mistake is that Yu Huan must have been playing Dungeons and Dragons.