Taizong
Tang emperor who received the monk Aluoben at Chang’an in 635 and in 638 issued the edict that allowed the teaching of the Church of the East to be practised in China.
Taizong was an emperor of the Tang dynasty; his reign is the Zhenguan era by which both the Xi’an Stele and the court records date these events. The stele says that he sent a minister to welcome Aluoben in 635, had the Christian books translated in the palace library and examined the teaching himself (Xi’an Stele, Chinese text, on the year 635).
His edict of the seventh month of 638 judged the teaching beneficial and ordered a monastery built in the capital with twenty-one monks. It survives both on the stele and in the Tang collection of state documents (Tang Huiyao 49, Da Qin monasteries).
In the timeline
- AD 635, estimated dateThe Church of the East Reaches China
A monk named Aluoben (Alopen) brings Christian scriptures to the Tang capital Chang’an. In 638 the emperor Taizong licenses the teaching and has a monastery built. A stele of 781 tells the story.
Primary sources
The Xi’an Stele
- Xi’an Stele, Chinese text, on the year 635sourcebooks.fordham.edu