(C) Embroidery of “I AM,” Chinese Simplified language — “I AM” Kelly Jadon, 2025
In 130 BC, the Han Dynasty of China opened the Silk Road connection to the West; this trade route remained until 1453 AD. (History) The routes were located in the north, the south and there was also a maritime means of trade. Various nomadic peoples facilitated the Road. (Smithsonian)
The way was prepared by God for the transmission of the Gospel. (James 1:17) Jesus said told His disciples, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” (Mark 16:15)
The Silk Road ran from China through Persia. After Pentecost, the Apostle Thomas took the Good News to Persia, modern day Iran, where he established churches.
India was also a part of the Southern Silk Road. (Peninsula Foundation)
Christian Indians have written their oral history, in which they have recorded their earliest meetings with Christ via the Apostle Thomas. This includes Thomas’ trip to China with the Gospel and then returning to India where he was martyred. (Fr. Dr. THOMSON ROBI, “HISTORICAL STUDY OF THE ARRIVAL OF APOSTLE ST. THOMAS IN KERALA AND ITS INFLUENCE ON THE LIFE OF THE ST.THOMAS CHRISTIANS,” BASELIUS COLLEGE, India, 2013.)
These Indian believers are an apostolic church, originating in 52 AD with the Apostle Thomas. They are both physical and spiritual descendants of the early Indian church. What they say has deep meaning and has been doggedly preserved for 2,000 years. It is very probable that the Chinese early church is apostolic as well.
In the fourth century, Christian Berber apologist Arnobius recorded that the Gospel had already reached Serica, which is the Roman word for North China, where silk came from. (China Silk Museum)
The Gospel continued to be taken along the Silk Road by the Persian Church of the East into countries farther east, even into China.
The common language of the Church of the East was Syriac, which is a dialect of Aramaic. It was used to unite the church in Persia. Syriac was used in China by the Persian missionaries.
China’s first recorded Christian communities date to 635 AD with the documentation of a stele from the era of the Tang Dynasty. Meant to last, the stele is a nine-foot two-inch tall limestone block inscribed on two sides in both Chinese and Syriac; it demonstrates that the Chinese were a part of the early Christian church.
In 781 AD, the stele was erected.
A Church of the East monk named “Adam” composed the words for the marker. It states that a missionary known as Alopen came from the Eastern Roman Empire with other Syriac missionaries in 635 AD. They brought with them the Gospel of Jesus. The stele also acknowledges several Christian Chinese communities in the area. Acceptance of these Christians was given by Emperor Taizong allowing for the building of monasteries and churches. Christianity in China was legal. (Australian Museum)
God had prepared a leader, Emperor Taizong, who would welcome the faith.
Christian monasteries existed in Chang’an, perhaps there was one in Luoyang, and some near Ningxia among others. (Matteo Nicolini-Zani, “Monastic Mission in Dialogue. The Missionary Paradigm of East Syrian Christianity in China: A Historical Perspective,” Urbaniana University Press, Città del Vaticano, 2022, pp. 151-181.)
The stele also records the names of church bishops.
In 845, Emperor Wuzong banned Christianity.
The stele was most likely buried during a persecution of believers in 845 AD, but was discovered in Xian, China during the Ming Dynasty, (1623-1625) by Jesuit missionaries. Today, the monument is housed in the Beilin Museum (Stele Forest).
In China, the faith was known as Jingjiao, 景教, meaning “luminous teaching/religion.” (Dingjian Xie. (2021). Christianity in Tang China. Database of Religious History, Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia.)
With the knowledge of Jesus came the Light.
Jesus stated, “I am the Light of the world; the one who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” (John 8:12)
There are deep caves in China which once housed ancient writings from the early church. Mogao Caves in Dunhuang has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Sight. The area called Dunhuang was a crossroads of civilizations on the Silk Road. Several languages are represented in the cave documents. (University of Chicago) A Hebrew prayer with quotes from Psalms and the Prophets, the Old Testament of the Bible, are included. (Forward)
Jewish traders passed along the Silk Road. The Apostle Thomas and many early believers were of Jewish descent.
Discovered in 1990, Cave 17 of the 492 preserved caves held a treasure trove of Chinese Christian writings in the Syriac language from the Church of the East. They are known as the Jingjiao Documents 景教經典 . These works date from 635 AD to 1000 AD. It is believed that they were sealed in the cave in 1000 AD at a time of persecution.
An important writing is called “Sutra of Hearing the Messiah.” It was written in Chinese and outlines the tenets of Christianity, including the virgin birth of Jesus. Today the artifact is housed in Kyōu Shooku library, Osaka, Japan.
Jesus is the Anointed One, the Messiah, the One promised over and over again in the Hebrew Old Testament Scriptures, even in the Psalms, even in the Prophets. He came to give life to all people.
“For God so loved the world, He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) This is the message carried along the Silk Road and into Asia.
Jesus is the Life. He died and rose from the grave, never to die again. Hundreds witnessed this. The Scriptures testify to this event.
God used the Silk Road to bring the Gospel to China. He also uses major crossroads of culture and language to spread the Gospel.
During ten dynasties, including the Han and Tang Dynasties, the capital of China was Chang’an. This ancient city is modern day Xi’an where the Nestorian Stele was located. A city center and the terminus for the Silk Road, Chang’an was visited by many peoples—some came to stay and live in the city. During the 8th Century AD, perhaps 3 million people inhabited the area. (UNESCO)
Immigrants and visitors spoke Persian, Japanese, Korean, and various Indian and Chinese dialects. Christian missionaries spoke Syriac (Aramaic). Traders spoke Sogdian, the lingua franca of the Road. Some of the multi-lingual Sogdians were Christian. They helped carry the Gospel to China. (Judith A. Lerner and Thomas Wide, “Who Were the Sogdians?” National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian)
Many of the Christian Sogdians settled in Turfan/Turpan, China, home to the Han Chinese. It was another Silk Road trade center.
A Nestorian (Church of the East) monastery existed in Turpan, China. Many archaeological artifacts have been found there, signifying that these Chinese were members of the early church. (Xinhua)
The early church in China was a mixture of various peoples. The Chinese language and their faith in Jesus united them.
Chinese is indeed an early church language.
The early church was global, not Western. Beginning in the Middle East, it reached Europe, Africa, Asia and the Far East. It is the same today. The modern church belongs to no nation, but to the Lord, for the church is His. (Ephesians 1:22)
Today in China, there are millions of Christians. 44 million are registered as believers in Jesus with the government of the People’s Republic of China. They are the spiritual and physical descendants of the early church.
To honor the Lord and the witness of the Chinese Church for Jesus in China for 2,000 years, I have embroidered in Chinese Simplified language 我 就 是, meaning “I AM” from John 18:5 into this artwork titled “I AM.”
Listen to the Lord’s prayer in Mandarin Chinese: