The Monument Exists Intact, And Has
Been Visited By The Rev.
Mr. Williamson, Baron Richthofen, and other
recent travellers.
[The Rev. Moir Duncan wrote from Shen si regarding
the present state of the stone. (London and China Telegraph, 5th
June, 1893) "Of the covering rebuilt so recently, not a trace remains
save the pedestals for the pillars and atoms of the tiling. In answer
to a question as to when and how the covering was destroyed, the old
priest replied, with a twinkle in his eye as if his conscience pinched,
'There came a rushing wind and blew it down.' He could not say when,
for he paid no attention to such mundane affairs. More than one
outsider however, said it had been deliberately destroyed, because the
priests are jealous of the interest manifested in it. The stone has
evidently been recently tampered with, several characters are effaced
and there are other signs of malicious hands." - H.C.] Pauthier's works
on the subject are - De l'Authenticite de l'Inscription Nestorienne,
etc., B. Duprat, 1857, and l'Inscription Syro Chinoise de Si ngan
fou, etc., Firmin Didot, 1858. (See also Kircher, China Illustrata,
and article by Mr. Wylie in J. Am. Or. Soc., V. 278.) [Father Havret,
S.J., of Zi ka wei, near Shang hai, has undertaken to write a large
work on this inscription with the title of La Stele Chretienne de Si
ngan fou, the first part giving the inscription in full size, and the
second containing the history of the monument, have been published at
Shang-hai in 1895 and 1897; the author died last year (29th September,
1901), and the translation which was to form a third part has not yet
appeared. The Rev. Dr. J. Legge has given a translation and the Chinese
text of the monument, in 1888. - H.C.]
Stone monuments of character strictly analogous are frequent in the
precincts of Buddhist sanctuaries, and probably the idea of this one
was taken from the Buddhists. It is reasonably supposed by Pauthier
that the monument may have been buried in 845, when the Emperor
Wu-Tsung issued an edict, still extant, against the vast multiplication
of Buddhist convents, and ordering their destruction. A clause in the
edict also orders the foreign bonzes of Ta-T'sin and Mubupa
(Christian and Mobed or Magian?) to return to secular life.
[A] [M. Grenard, who reproduces (III. p. 152) a good facsimile of
the inscription, gives to the slab the following dimensions:
high 2m. 36, wide 0m. 86, thick 0m. 25. - H.C.]
[B] [Dr. F. Hirth (China and the Roman Orient, p. 323) writes:
"O-LO-PEN = Ruben, Rupen?" He adds (Jour. China Br. R. As.
Soc. XXI. 1886, pp. 214-215): "Initial r is also quite
commonly represented by initial l. I am in doubt whether the
two characters o-lo in the Chinese name for Russia
(O-lo-ssu) stand for foreign ru or ro alone. This word
would bear comparison with a Chinese transcription of the
Sanskrit word for silver, rupya which in the Pen ts ao kang
mu (ch.
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