MRI Public Forum | Syriac Christians in Tang China

event

MRI Public Forum | Syriac Christians in Tang China

04

May

The Macau Ricci Institute is hosting Public Forum: “Syriac Christians in Tang China” on 4 May, from 18:30 – 20:00, at the Faculty of Religious Studies and Philosophy.

INTRODUCTION:

In 635 CE, a Christian monk named Alopen arrived in Chang’an, the capital of the Tang Empire. The Tang emperor received him and authorized the construction of a monastery. This event marks the beginning of a documented Christian presence in China —one that would last nearly two centuries. The Christians who settled in Tang China belonged to the Church of the East, a Syriac-speaking tradition rooted in Mesopotamia and Persia. They arrived along the Silk Road, carried by networks of Persian and Sogdian merchants and clergy displaced by the Arab conquests of Persia. In China, they were known as practitioners of the “Luminous Teaching” (jingjiao 景教). What makes this history remarkable is not simply its geographic reach, but the texts these communities left behind. Seven Chinese-language Christian documents have survived, ranging from theological treatises and catechetical discourses to hymns and mystical dialogues. Rather than translating existing Syriac sources, the authors composed original works in classical Chinese, drawing on Buddhist and Daoist vocabulary to express Christian thoughts. The result is a form of Christianity shaped by Chinese intellectual culture. The conference introduces these texts and the communities behind them. It asks what it meant to be Christian in Tang China, how a minority religious community negotiated its identity within a pluralistic imperial culture, and what these distant sources can tell us about the broader history of Christianity as a global religion.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

Alexis Balmont

Alexis Balmont is a researcher at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and an associate researcher at several institutions including the Centre de Recherche sur les Civilisations d’Asie Orientale (Paris) and the Sources Chrétiennes institute (Lyon). He holds dual doctorates from the École Pratique des Hautes Études (Paris Sciences et Lettres) in Chinese Studies and from the Pontifical Oriental Institute (Rome) in Oriental Studies. His research focuses on the intersection of Syriac Christianity, classical Chinese literature, and the religious history of the Silk Road. He works across several disciplines —sinology, patristics, philology, and digital humanities— and reads ancient languages including Classical Chinese, Syriac, Sogdian, and Greek. His recent publications include a critical edition and English translation of the Chinese Christian texts (Syriac Christians in Tang China, LIT Verlag, 2025) and a parallel French edition in the Sources Chrétiennes series (Éditions du Cerf, 2025). His work was awarded the Grand Ricci Prize in Chinese Lexicography (2025) and the Bellarmine Prize (2025).

DETAILS:

Date: Monday, 4 May 2026
Time: 6.30 PM – 8.00 PM (GMT+8, Macau time)
Location: Faculty of Religious Studies and Philosophy, University of Saint Joseph (St. Joseph’s Seminary Campus), Rua do Seminário, Macau*

*Gate located at the Rua do Seminário leads to the Seminary campus, and the door on the right side of the church gives access to the Faculty of Religious Studies and Philosophy

Language: English
Cost: Free

Chair: Dr. Sonja Xia, University of Saint Joseph Macau