Christianity popular in Tang Dynasty

http://www.china.org.cn/culture/2008-02/27...nt_10914706.htm
A latest research on a tombstone dating back to the ninth century showed Christianity had most probably been popular among Tang Dynasty (618-907) civilians, Chinese archaeologists said.

The incomplete damaged eight-surface tombstone, unearthed in Luoyang City, central Henan Province, in 2006, had scriptures of the Jingjiao, or Nestorian Church, and pictures of crosses, according to Luo Zhao, a Chinese Academy of Social Sciences religious researcher.


"To be exact, the Christian text was a China-proper ontological thesis about the Christian theology written by a prelate who had been long living in China in the late eighth century."


Luo said it was the first time to discover such tombstones engraved with Jingjiao scriptures. Tombstones engraved with Buddhist texts were common in the Tang Dynasty.


The significance of the finding is believed by Chinese archaeologists to be nothing less than that of the Jingjiao stone tablet unearthed in 1623 in the Tang capital Xi'an. The tablet, engraved in 781, revealed for the first time the spreading of the religion in half a century after it came to China via the Silk Road, a trade route linking China with Asian and European nations.


"Who would imagine that Chinese Christians had already engraved the lections onto the tombstones in funeral rituals to bless the soul of the dead? " asked Lin Wushu, a Guangzhou-based Sun Yat-sen University professor who has devoted himself to the Jingjiao studies.


Apart from the religious activities of the An family, the tombstone also revealed such important information as the churches and groups of believers at that time, according to the academic.

I love the fact that slowly people are becoming believers!!!

Believers in Christianity or believers in the idea that there were Christians living in the Tang empire? The latter is hardly news. China was fairly cosmopolitan in that dynasty, and many foreigners came in bringing their religions, including Christianity.

Everyone believes in something.

In Christian terminology, 'believers' refers to 'believers in Christ'. Perhaps grandprincess mistakenly assumed the majority of members here are Christians like herself.



I think it's more accurate to say that the twin capitals of Chang'an and Luoyang, as well as the trading centers at Yangzhou and Guangzhou, were very cosmopolitan in the Tang period. The other cities of the empire were much less so. It's significant that evidence of Christianity or Islam in the Tang period has not been found outside these four major cities.

Okay...so from one tombstone we can gather that Christianity was POPULAR?

That would depend on what the tombstone actually says about "churches and groups of believers at that time" (as the article puts it). I have found some information online about the relevant part of the inscription:

关于景教在华的信徒，经幢含有非常重要的提示。此经幢是不完全规整的八棱面石柱。第一面雕刻“祝曰”和“清净阿罗诃 清净大威力 清净（下残）”两行文字；第二至第四面及第五面第１行雕刻《大秦景教宣元至本经》（以下简称《宣元至本经》）；第５面第２行至第八面雕刻《大秦景教宣元至本经幢记》（简称《经幢记》），《经幢记》中提到景僧清素弟兄与从兄少诚、舅氏安少连及义叔上都左龙武军散将某某等人，于元和九年(８１４年)十二月八日于洛阳县感德乡买地，为其亡妣“安国安氏太夫人”修建茔墓。与此同时，又于墓所神道旁侧树此幢石。并记载了主持并参与、见证此事的景教神职人员：“大秦寺寺主法和玄应——俗姓米”氏、“威仪大德玄庆——俗姓米”氏、“九阶大德志通——俗姓康”氏。由于自东汉至唐朝的惯例，中亚、西亚的来华胡人，均以本国汉字国名的第一个字为姓。罗炤先生认为，我们可以知道“法和玄应与玄庆本人或祖籍是米国人，志通本人或祖籍是康国人。”从历史上来看，康、安、米、曹、石、何等国是粟特人早在南北朝时期就建立的城邦。荣新江教授补充道：“长安的景教徒基本上是以粟特人为主。”“洛阳的景教徒们为什么一定要把景教教士的俗姓一一刻在具有神圣意义的经幢上？西安的《景教碑》上也有众多景僧的题名，但没有一位标注他的俗姓。为什么会出现这样的差别？”罗炤先生提出来的疑问目前还没有答案。
Source: http://www.china.com.cn/international/txt/...t_8519190_5.htm

The surnames of the Christians mentioned in the inscription - An, Kang, and Mi - indicate that they were all Sogdians who had settled in Luoyang. So we still have no direct evidence of native Tang subjects converting to Christianity, although it is of course possible that it did happen. Much less can we say that the inscription shows Christianity had become popular among the general population.

Then why is Christianity Popular in Tang Dynasty the headline, as if the fact is "set in stone" (excuse the pun).

My take on it is that this is a common trap Chinese archaeologists fall into - overstating the significance of their discoveries, in order to get more media exposure and more official funding. I wouldn't see it as a result of pro-Christian bias, since these are almost certainly non-Christian archaeologists.

I find that hard to believe. What about the anti-foreign sentiment of the time. The book Early Christianity in Asia says Zoroastrianism and Christianity were looked at as heretical forms of Buddhism. Buddhism was heavily persecuted during the Tang.

I thought that the persecution only started with Emperor Wuzong.

I believe so. But a single stone does not prove Christianity was spreading like wild fire at that point. And, as Yun noted, it's about Sogdians, not Chinese. Anyway, whatever the number of adherents, let's just say Christianity became very unpopular about 65 years after the stone was etched. The topic name is a bit misleading then. Christianity was not popular the Tang over.

It kind of reminds me of that created by the Chinese Jews:

I don't think we'll fully understand the extent of how widely practiced the Christian faith was in Tang China (my guess would be it was extremely marginal), but we do know that it had largely died out until the 13th century, when some of the invading Mongols revived it. From what I understand, Islam was by far a greater influence in the urban areas mentioned by Yun, and the small pockets of Jewish communities have been well known. One shouldn't overstate the importance of any 3 of these Abrahamic, monotheistic faiths in China, though, unless we're talking about a much larger group of adherents in modern China. Even then, they are managed by the CCP and pale in comparison to the number of registered Buddhists and Taoists.

Eric (En Rui)

That is essentially correct, although I would credit not just Mongols but also Central Asians with the 13th/14th-century revival. We know that there were many Eastern ('Nestorian') Christians in the Kara-Khitai empire and in some of the Mongol and Turkic tribes that had close contact with that empire, especially the Naiman. It seems that this branch of Christianity did not die out in Central Asia until the region became predominantly Muslim under the Chagatai Khanate in the 14th century. Eastern Christian tombstones from the Yuan period discovered in the great southern port city of Quanzhou also suggest that Naiman, Khitan, Mongol, Turkish, and probably also Persian Eastern Christians were able to trade and settle there because of favourable policies towards them. They may even have done so to escape pressure and discrimination from the Muslim majority in Central Asia and Persia - the Arab Muslim community in Quanzhou was large, but comparatively tolerant.

Speaking of the arab communities, weren't many mosques constructed during the Tang?

The major religion during the Tang dynasty was buddhism.

Just because a few people believed in christianity and of course islam doesn't mean that it is popular.

Even now, the number of buddhists still outnumber the christians.