On June 3, Dr. Xie Dingjian, a postdoctoral researcher at Fudan University, delivered a special lecture on Christian theology and ritual in Tang China, revealing how Christianity arrived in China more than a millennium before European missionaries and left behind archaeological evidence that challenges conventional narratives about East-West religious exchange.
This lecture was hosted at the invitation of Professor Naomi Thurston, as part of the Chinese Christianity Summer Term Course at the Divinity School of Chung Chi College, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Overview of the Church of the East
Dr. Xie first drew his audience's attention away from the familiar Western-centered view of early Christianity. The story began not in Rome, but in the Persian Empire, where the Church of the East developed its own distinct Christian tradition. Unlike Western Christianity, this eastern branch used Syriac as its liturgical language and followed theological traditions that predated many familiar Christian doctrines. The church flourished under various Persian dynasties and later Islamic caliphates, with its headquarters eventually moving to Baghdad (today's Iraq) in 762 AD.
From this Persian base, Christianity's journey to China followed the ancient Silk Road, carried by monks and merchants from Central Asia. Dr. Xie explained how the Sogdians, a trading people who served as cultural intermediaries between Persia and China, played a crucial role in this transmission. These communities practiced multiple religions simultaneously, including Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and Manichaeism, creating a diverse religious landscape along the trade routes. Archaeological evidence from Central Asia, including monastery remains and stone inscriptions, documents Christian presence as early as the second and third centuries.
The Church of the East's Missions to the Far East
Building on this background, Dr. Xie traced how the Christian presence in Tang China began in 635 AD when a monk named Alopen arrived in the capital Chang'an. Emperor Taizong received him favorably, marking the official beginning of what the Chinese called "Jingjiao" or the "Luminous Religion." This tolerant reception reflected the cosmopolitan nature of Tang society, which already accommodated Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, and various foreign religions.
For nearly 150 years, Christian communities existed within the Tang Empire, primarily composed of Central Asian migrants rather than ethnic Chinese converts. Dr. Xie noted that while scholars debate whether any ethnic Chinese actually converted, the communities clearly served the immigrant populations along the Silk Road. The religion reached its peak influence before suffering severe persecution in 845 AD, when Taoist Emperor Wuzong issued edicts against foreign religions. This marked the end of Tang Christianity's visible presence in Chinese society.
The story of Tang Christianity remained unknown to the modern world until 1625, when workers accidentally unearthed a stone monument near Xi'an. This discovery surprised Catholic missionaries of the time, who learned that Christianity had reached China a millennium before their own arrival. The stone tablet, known as the "Nestorian Stele," became the primary source for understanding this lost Christian community.
Dr. Xie detailed how further archaeological discoveries in the 20th century expanded knowledge of Tang Christianity. French scholar Paul Pelliot identified Christian manuscripts in the Dunhuang caves, a hidden library sealed for centuries. Additional documents emerged from the same site, and in 2006, archaeologists discovered another Christian stone pillar in Luoyang. These findings span three major Tang cities: Xi'an, Dunhuang, and Luoyang.
Dr. Xie's research has organized these scattered materials into two distinct collections: the "Alopen Corpus" contains the earliest texts, dating to around 630-640 AD and attributed to the founding monk, while the "Jingjing Corpus" represents later developments, including the stone monument erected in 781 AD by a Christian leader named Jingjing, also known as Adam.
Jingjiao in Tang China: History, Relics, Theology, and Ritual
The theological content of these texts reveals attempts to translate Christian concepts into Chinese cultural frameworks. The Christians adopted Chinese philosophical terminology, particularly from Daoist traditions, to explain creation and divine nature. They described God using concepts of emptiness and stillness familiar to Chinese readers, while maintaining core Christian beliefs about the Trinity. Dr. Xie showed his audience specific examples of how the opening lines of the Xi'an monument echo both Genesis and the Tao Te Ching.
Tang Christians translated the Christian Trinity using the Buddhist concept of "three bodies" (trikaya). Instead of the standard Chinese term "位wèi" (position) for divine persons, they used "shēn" (body), borrowing from Buddhist theology about Buddha's multiple manifestations. This created a synthesis where "three persons, one substance" became "three bodies, one nature" in their Chinese formulation.
The adaptation extended beyond theology to encompass literary and material forms. Dr. Xie demonstrated how Christians adopted Chinese literary conventions. Christian scriptures were labeled "jǐng" (classics), the same term used for Confucian and Buddhist sacred texts. Hymns became "zàn" (eulogies), following established Chinese poetic forms. One surviving Christian hymn represents a Chinese version of "Gloria in Excelsis Deo," showing how traditional Christian worship was transformed through Chinese linguistic and cultural filters.
The physical artifacts tell stories of cultural synthesis. Christian texts appeared both as paper manuscripts hidden in Buddhist cave libraries and as stone inscriptions resembling contemporary Buddhist monuments. The same Christian text might exist as a Dunhuang manuscript and as carved text on a Luoyang stone pillar, showing how Christians adopted multiple Chinese methods of preserving and displaying sacred writings.
Dr. Xie concluded with observations about how the Tang Christian community adapted to Chinese cultural forms while maintaining its theological identity. Though this community disappeared after the Great Anti-Buddhist Persecution in 845 AD, the rediscovered materials continue to reshape understanding of both Chinese religious history and the global reach of early Christianity.
