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The capital of the Tang Empire Chang'an is always full of people and cultural relics from all directions and for various reasons. Therefore, both scenery and people give people an extraordinary feeling.
1, Zodiac and Sogdian
Since the late Northern dynasty , Western religions have begun to be introduced to China. In Chang'an City, buildings such as "Persian Hu Temple", "Persian Mansion", "Hu Zodiac (xiān) Temple", and "Zodiac Temple" stand on the streets in a row.
" Persian " is transliterated from "Persia", which is what we now call Iran. Since the activity range of the northwestern nomads called "Hu" is too wide, this word can also be specifically used to refer to the Sogdians in a narrow sense.
Foreign ethnic groups from the West brought religion into China. They are not subject to any restrictions or obstacles in the matter of religious freedom.
Although there were two destruction of Buddhism during the Northern Wei Dynasty and Northern Zhou Emperor Wu of during the Northern Dynasty, the reason was actually limited to political and economic issues, not racial prejudice.
While Buddhism was popular, Western religions were also introduced. , which proposes the dualistic doctrines such as light and darkness, the opposition between good and evil, and the opposition between good and evil, has been spread to the people since it was introduced to China in the late stage of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, it has begun to spread to the people with the "Persian residence", the residence of the Iranians, as the center.
The temple of the Zoroastrian Church was established in the area of the west city of Chang'an. At the same time, it also established an official position in charge of temples and sacrifices, which can only be held by foreign tribes - Sabao Mansion.
Sabao is an official of the fifth grade of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the
These official positions not only appeared in , in the Tang Dynasty, but also dated back to the Sui Dynasty, and even , the Northern Qi Dynasty,
, but compared with previous dynasties, the official qualities of these official positions were not only higher in the Tang Dynasty, but also more complete officials, indicating that foreign tribes were more valued in the Tang Dynasty.
In Chinese history, it is difficult to find a precedent such as foreigners are specifically responsible for or foreigners are heads. From this perspective, we should give a very high evaluation of the official positions called Sabao or the emergence of official offices like Sabao Mansion.
Sabao originally meant the merchant owner or the captain of the caravan. Sabao in the Tang Dynasty was not just a simple priest, that is, Sabao was not just a purely religious official position, but a commander of the Hu people group who believed in the Zoroastrianism. At the same time, he could also be seen as a civil and criminal power person. Such characteristics can be said to be the legacy of the Sassanian Dynasty.
From the Northern Dynasties to the prosperous Tang Dynasty, in order to manage the Sogdians, the government specially set up official positions such as Sabao in the capital and in the states with many residents. This matter even logged into the official rank order; among the many foreign tribes who have communicated with China, this situation is indeed worth paying attention.
Kaiyuan for 25 years, if registered as "visual product", it means holding a position related to Sabao.
The so-called visual qualities are different from those directly under the emperor's internal and external qualities. They originally refer to the officials who are under the royal court, that is, the rank of officials who have entered the category of "accompaniment officials".
Although there were many such visual qualities in the early Tang Dynasty, as recorded in the "Old Book of Tang: Official Records", all Han people's accompanying ministers were abolished in the early Kaiyuan period, leaving only the Hu people Sabao.
Although this is a phenomenon caused by the "unification" of the official organization directly under the emperor, in the process, only the foreign tribe's Sabao Mansion was specially preserved as an exception. The continued existence of this unprecedented "Sabao Mansion" echoes the great contribution made by the Sogdians to the East-West trade from the Northern Dynasties to , Sui and Tang .
It is precisely because of this that this institution occupied a solid position in the bureaucratic system of the Tang Empire. to to in the late Tang Dynasty, with the coming and going of Islamic merchants at sea, there were also "fanchang" and "Sabao" specializing in managing foreign-owned residence areas in Guangzhou and other places. These official positions closely linked to foreign countries or dependent states occupy a formal seat in the Chinese bureaucracy; the emergence of such special official positions is a model for the Tang Dynasty to present the characteristics of the world imperial characteristics.
2, Nest Buddhism and Daqin
In addition, there is also an alien religion belonging to the Christian branch and is called Nestuynia (also known as Nestuynia).
According to records, this religion was introduced to the Tang Dynasty by a missionary group led by a missionary group from the 9th year of Zhenguan (635th year) of the Qin Dynasty.
After the Nestuynia was introduced, it was also called Persianism or Mishiheism. During the period of the Xuanzong , it was determined to be called "Nestianism", which means "a religion like a huge sun".
Starting from the fourth year of Xuanzong Tianbao (745), the church, which was called " Persian Temple " in the past was renamed " Daqin Temple "; in the second year of Jianzhong (781), the " Daqin Nestorian Popular Chinese Monument " was erected in Yiningfang, Chang'an.
Yiningfang is similar to the gathering place of Western Regions products, and is an area where Central Asia and West Asians gather and live.
Since the introduction of Nestuynia in 19635, until the inscription was engraved in 19781, this stone tablet is almost the only information that can tell us the status of Christianity in China. The inscription records that when Emperor Gaozong ruled, it was the most popular time for Nestorianism. Nestorian temples were established every week and spread across the country under the protection of the court, even to the extent that there were churches in every city (the temples were over 100 cities).
During the Martial Arts period, under political purposes, although Nestorianism gradually shrank with the official promotion of Buddhism, it reached its revival again during the Xuanzong period, and the Suzong and Daizong periods were also protected by the court.
Nestry Buddhism combines the two traditional Chinese schools (Confucian , Taoist ) with Buddhist doctrines, and expands its power through close relationship with the Tang royal family. Due to the suppression of Buddhism by Wuzong in the fifth year of Huichang (845) ( Huichang destroyed Buddhism and the subsequent suppression of the so-called "Three Barbarians" (Nestinism, Manichaeism, , Zoroastrianism), Nestorianism began to decline.
Some people also advocated suppressing at that time, there were at least more than 40,000 Nestorians in the Tang Empire. Nestorianism, which left many footprints from to the end of the eighth century, would not have become popular without the premise of the openness of the Tang Empire.
3, Manichaeism and Uighurs
In addition, the Manichaeism, which was founded by the Persians in the third century, was also passed through Tochar and was introduced to China until the end of the Martial Arts period. If we guess from the records of "reproaching Buddhism" or "reproaching Li Yuan", we can see that after Manichaeism was introduced to China, it gained a lot of believers through its use of existing Buddhism, and expanded its unique doctrine and power, which brought great impact to the Tang Dynasty and society at that time. As a result, it was banned only 38 years after its introduction.
It is rare for the Tang government to show such a strong rebound attitude towards foreign religions. Some people argue that the reason why Manichaeism is explicitly banned is because its development is too rapid and too blatant.
In any case, although the measures to suppress Manichaeism that began in the Kaiyuan period were implemented for a long time, they were not so cruel, and the fact that the Hu people believed in Manichaeism did not seem to have suffered too much suppression.
In the international relations between the middle and late Tang Empire, Manichaeism was closely related to the Uighur forces that emerged within the Tang Dynasty and occupied a huge proportion. In other words, it can even be described as "the rise and fall of the Uighurs is equal to the rise and fall of the Manichaeism of the Tang Dynasty."
In the third year of Dali (768th year) of Emperor Daizong of Tang Dynasty, at the request of the Uighurs, the Mani Temple was established in Chang'an City; in the second year of Yuanhe (807), the Mani Temple was built in Jingzhou, Hongzhou, Yangzhou, Yuezhou, Henan Prefecture, Taiyuan Prefecture, and other places in the Yangtze River basin.
We can find the record of Manichaeism gaining the faith of the Uighurs in 19762 as a state religion. Manichaeism (especially Sogdians) traded with neighboring countries including China, and the benefits they obtained played a particularly important role in the economic foundation of the Khan.
In addition, just like the "Huichang Destruction of Buddha" that the Tang Dynasty resolutely carried out in 19845 also happened after the collapse of the Uighurs, the suppression of Manichaeism is also closely related to the decline and demise of the Uighurs.
In addition, among the factors behind the Tang Dynasty's suppression of Manichaeism, some of them began with the negative behavior of Manichaeists in the arbitrary plunder of silk horse trade with the Tang Dynasty; however, the religious suppression in the fifth year of Huichang (845) was not only targeted by Manichaeism, so the decline of Manichaeism cannot be regarded as necessarily related to the recession of Uighurs, but at that time, xenophobia policy emerged due to the economic drawbacks brought by foreign religions such as Buddhism.
The introduction of Buddhism into China was not something that happened suddenly, nor could it be regarded as a religion of foreign races. The emergence of the theories such as Han Yu "The Reminder of the Buddha's Bones" was also due to the huge economic burden caused by the investment in Buddhist activities in the palace, which led to subsequent problems.
As mentioned above, although there are some twists and turns, almost all the religions founded at that time were introduced to the Tang Empire through all parts of the world.
Before "Huichang destroyed Buddha", not only foreigners, but even the Tang people could choose and believe in any religion; not only in Chang'an, but also in local cities, there were several religious facilities coexisting.
According to the emperor's preferences, although the religious policies of the Tang Empire were slightly changed such as "the Tao first and then the Buddha" or "the Buddha first and then the Tao", they did not interfere excessively which religion the people should choose to believe in, because they guaranteed the freedom of religion, especially the fact that foreigners believe in their inherent religions, did not interfere before suppressing the "Three Nobles Sects".
At that time, the Tang Empire was regarded as a "land full of opportunities" by people around the world. Just as the Six-headed Silla came to the Tang Dynasty to realize their dreams that they could not realize in their homeland. After the so-called "desperate religions" such as Nestorians and Manichaeism were persecuted and expelled from their original country, they were treated as VIP-level treatment in Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Empire.
As we all know, the Nestorians who were sentenced to be "heretic" during the 1931 Grand Council fled to Persia. After more than two hundred years of wandering, they finally arrived in Chang'an safely; on the other hand, religious disputes continued to emerge on the land outside the Tang Empire.
In Persia, Zoroastrianism expelled Nestorians, and later Islam expelled Zoroastrianism; but in Chang'an, these religions were each in peace and coexist peacefully. These "desperate religions" were alongside Buddhism and Islam, along with the inherent Confucianism and Taoism. Such things would never have happened if it were not in the Tang Empire.
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