This rubbing reproduces the text on a stone stele erected in Xi’an in 781. At the very top is a cross set into a lotus blossom. The title reads: “Monument commemorating the propagation in China of the luminous religion from Da Qin” 大秦景教流行中國碑. The text in Chinese and Syriac (a dialect of Aramaic) describes the arrival of the Christian Church of the East in China in the 7th century. In 635, the Taizong Emperor issued an edict of tolerance for the religion. The Church of the East claimed to have Roman (Da Qin) origins to avoid association with Persia and Zoroastrianism. The stele was buried in 845 because of the persecution of foreign religions, and only rediscovered in 1625. It soon came to the attention of Jesuit missionaries in China, who were excited to find evidence of early Christianity in China.
