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Nestorian Tablet

The Nestorian Tablet Located at the Chongren Monastery, a mile west of the old Xi’an city walls. This tablet is an important relic of medieval religion and of early East-West contacts. It was erected by Nestorian Christians in 718 AD near Changan (present day Xi’an), which was then the cosmopolitan capital of the great Tang Dynasty (618-907). Nestorian missionaries had arrived in China in 635. The inscription summarizes Nestorian doctrine and gives an account of the sect in China. The tablet disappeared, probably during religious persecutions in 845. It was unearthed eight hundred years later, in 1625. This discovery caused a sensation among Jesuit missionaries, who just then were active in China, and among their Chinese converts. It has remained well known to scholars since that time. In 1907 the stone was removed to the Forest of Steles in Xi’an where it can be seen today.