| A
Syrian form of Christianity likely planted in China sometime in the
sixth century. |
The beginnings of Nestorian
Christianity in China are not certainly known. A stone monument dating from
the late eighth century records that in a period of cultural openness durin
g the T'ang dynasty,
a Syrian bishop brought Nestorian Christianity to the captial of China in
635. After a brief period of peace this church was threatened by Buddhist
persecution and Muslim conquests which
isolated the Chinese Nestorians from their base in Persia. A wave of persecution
in the ninth century and the fall of the T'ang dynasty in 907 caused public
Christianity to vanish for a time in China. Nestorianism appeared again
in the Middle Kingdom in 1260 in the wake of Mongol invasions and a regime
more favorable to travel, trade, and a Christian presence.
| A map of China during the medieval reign of the
Mongol empire. |
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