In my post here
a while back, I asked about whether or not Christianity had any
influence on Chinese religion, since I was reading a book by David
Marshall (True Son of Heaven) that noted parallels between the
two to argue that God was preparing the Chinese people through their own
culture to receive Jesus Christ. A commenter offered me information on
the history of Christianity in China.
On page 143 of The Cambridge History of Christianity: Constantine to c. 600, David Bundy discusses Christianity in China:
"Early
evidence about China is suggestive, but at this time the data still
remains fragmentary. Bardaisan suggested, about 180, that there were
Christians in China, a not unreasonable possibility given the activity
on the trade routes. Certainly there were political/economic embassies
between the Chinese and Roman empires during this period. By the late
sixth century (c. 578), there was an East Syrian missionary, Mar
Sergius, residing in Lint'ao. By 635, another East Syrian missionary,
A-lo-pen...arrived in China with a mandate to organise the Christians
and to represent them before the emperor. At this point there is no
indication of the nature of the communities he found there, although
permission was given to establish (and populate!) a monastery during the
reign of the Emperor T'ai-Tsung (627-49). The most important source
for the period 635-781 is the so-called 'Nestorian stele' at Xi'an,
which includes names of Syriac and Chinese Christian leaders in China,
as well as a list of Chinese Christian texts. Other early Chinese
Christian documents excavated in western China were edited with
photographic reproductions by Y. Saeki."