After this comes a
description of Ta T'sin (here apparently implying Syria), and then some
account of the fortunes of the Church in China. Kao Tsung (650-683 the
devout patron also of the Buddhist traveller and Dr. Hiuen Tsang)
continued to favour it. In the end of the century, Buddhism gets the
upper hand, but under HIUAN TSUNG (713-755) the Church recovers its
prestige, and KIHO, a new missionary, arrives. Under TE TSUNG (780-783)
the monument was erected, and this part ends with the eulogy of ISSE,
a statesman and benefactor of the Church. 3rd. There follows a
recapitulation of the purport in octosyllabic verse.
The Chinese inscription concludes with the date of erection, viz. the
second year Kienchung of the Great T'ang Dynasty, the seventh day of
the month Tait su, the feast of the great Yaosan. This
corresponds, according to Gaubil, to 4th February, 781, and Yaosan
is supposed to stand for Hosanna (i.e. Palm Sunday, but this
apparently does not fit, see infra). There are added the name chief
of the law, NINGCHU (presumed to be the Chinese name of the
Metropolitan), the name of the writer, and the official sanction.
