Leopold Leeb
Abstract
This article compares the situation of different representatives of a monotheistic faith in Mongol China, especially in Beijing, around the year 1300. The description centers around the Syrian Isa, most probably a Nestorian Christian, who served in high offices in Beijing after 1270, Shams al-Dinh (died in 1279), the famous Muslim general and administrator from Bukhara, and the Italian missionary Giovanni Montecorvino (1246-1328), who lived in Beijing for three decades in the early fourteenth century. For the three monotheist communities the rule of the Mongols in Northern China brought great opportunities, and the period around 1300 became a time of the establishment of Nestorian, Catholic, and Muslim communities in Beijing. The author tries to describe and compare the approaches and contexts of three representatives of the three traditions and elucidates the factors which were decisive for the relative success or failure of the religious traditions in Beijing.
Mongol rule began with Genghis Khan (1162-1226) who unified the tribes in the northern regions of China and led his armies to central Asia and occupied the northern part of China. The great Khan also began a policy of religious tolerance. The religious tradition of the Mongols were a mixture of Shamanism and the worship of Heaven (Tenggri), but some of the Mongol tribes had adopted the faith of the Syriac Christians, perhaps already several centuries earlier. One of these Christian tribes was the tribe of the Keraits. Tolui, the youngest son of Genghis Khan, was married to a woman of the Keraits, and the name of this princess was Sorghaghtani (or “Sorkaktani”). This aristocratic lady was not only a Christian but also a keen political player. She knew how to arrange a power position for her four sons. These four sons were Möngke (he was in power 1251-1259), Hulagu (he ruled the Ilkhanate in Persia from 1258 to 1265), Ariq Boke (he triggered a civil war but had to cede power to Khublai), and Khublai, who ruled China from 1260 to 1294 and decided to move the capital to Beijing (Khambaliq) around 1271. Sorghaghtani was widely praised for her wisdom, since she also cooperated with Muslims. According to Persian records she generously funded the erection of a Madrasa (Muslim college) in Bukhara.
Since the 1220s the Mongolian riders quickly expanded their control in Central and West Asia, and they established four Khanates, namely the “Golden Horde” (the regions north of the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea), the Ilkhanate (Persia), the Chagatai Khanate (Central Asia) and the Mongol Dynasty in China. The Mongol rulers gradually accepted the Islamic faith. The first was Berke, the younger brother of Batu. He ruled the Golden Horde from 1257 to 1267 and attempted to strike an alliance with the Sultan of Egypt in order to attack the Ilkhanate. For this reason he accepted Islam. Around 1340 almost all Mongol rulers in the western regions had accepted Islam.
In 1258 Hulagu conquered Baghdad, the center of the Abbasids. He established the Ilkhanate. A later Mongol Ilkhanate leader, Arghun (in power 1284-1291), planned to ally with the Franks to attack Islam, but his son Ghazan (in power 1295-1304) formally accepted Islam.
Godan, the leader of the Chagatai Khanate, set up his throne in Liangzhou (Wuwei) in today’s Province of Gansu. He adopted Lamaism, but in the 1330s the Mongol leader of the Chagatai Khanate converted to Islam for good. This implied that not only “high official positions were staffed with Muslims”, but also the “imperial family and the subjects converted to Islam”.[1] In other words, the Mongols did not curb the spread of Islam, and this was contrary to what the Europeans had hoped for.
In 1271 Khublai Khan proclaimed his rule as the Yuan Dynasty, and he transferred the capital from Karakorum (near modern Ulan Bataar) to Beijing. Khublai respected Confucianist scholarship, and he wanted to rule China with the help of native traditions. He welcomed scholars and talents from Central Asia or Europe. Among these were Isa, Shams al-Din, and the Italian missionary Montecorvino.
A special type of scholarly missionary who served in China for a long period (more than 50 years!) was Isa (in Arabic ‘Îsa, in Chinese Aixue爱薛, 1227-1308), who began his services at the Mongol court around 1247. He moved to Beijing around 1270 and died there. His name Isa means “Jesus”, and he has been called an “Arab Nestorian”.[2] According to the Chinese sources Isa came from “Fulin”, and this vague expression may mean “Syria” in this case, although some state that his birthplace was “probably around the Caucasus region”, which means present-day Azerbaijan or Armenia.[3] Isa came to Karakorum around 1246. There he entered the services of the Khan. Having easy access also to Sorghaghtani’s court, and to her sons Möngke and Khublai, Isa married Hushinisha, a court lady from the Keraits, the tribe of Sorghaghtani. The Christian name of his wife was “Sarah”, and their six children had typical names of the Syrian Christians in China, they were named Elijah, Dan, Hosea, Georgius, Luka, and Jona.[4] Isa became a translator in the service of the Mongol court and obtained a place in the imperial guard (keshig). Möngke and Khublai respected and trusted Isa who had become their relative by marriage.
In 1262, soon after Khublai ascended to the throne, Isa dared to suggest to the Khan to cancel the celebration of Buddha’s birthday. Also on other occasions Isa suggested to Khublai not to commit too much time to certain ceremonies: “Isa wrote this petition: ‘As it is now, Korea has recently been conquered, but the regions of south China are not yet under Mongol rule. The people are tired, thus one should not waste resources in these useless things, thus I suggest not to hold the sacrifice to the god of the land and the god of grain (Sheji社稷). The emperor accepted this suggestion...”[5]
His first government office was the appointment to the Office of Medicine and Pharmacy (Yiyaoyuan医约院) in 1263. In 1273 the Office of Medicine and Pharmacy which Isa helped to established in Beijing was renamed Guanghui si (广惠司), and he continued to direct it. Affiliated to this office was a hospice where handicapped and poor people received medical treatment. Isa even “established the Muslim Pharmacy Bureau (回回医药院), which was directed by his wife Sarah.”[6] Also in 1263 Isa held a position at the Office of Western Astronomy (Xiyu xingli si西域星历司), and after the new observatory in Beijing (sitian tai司天台) had been established in Beijing in 1271, he helped the famous Muslim astronomer Jamal al-Din (died c. 1289) to introduce the Muslim calendar to China.
According to the records of Xin Yuanshi (新元史, New Mongol History), whenever Isa disliked something, he frankly admonished the emperor. In the year 1279 some Muslims caused trouble, because they demanded that no other meat should be eaten besides their mutton. Responding to these quarrels Khublai prohibited Muslims to slaughter lambs in their homes and severely punished offenders against this decree. Khublai’s anti-Muslim laws of 1280 are recorded in Chinese, Persian, and European sources, and the Persian author Rashid al-Din (died 1318) notes that Isa urged an even stricter edict, but it is doubtful if Isa was involved in these prohibitions.[7]
Isa grew up in a multi-lingual environment, and he was known as an “interpreter” (kelemechi in Mongol language). In 1283, he and his son Asutai accompanied the famous minister Bolod Aqa to the Ilkhanate, where Isa met Arghun Khan in the following year. In 1285 Arghun wrote a letter to the Pope in Rome in order to ask his cooperation in the campaign against the Muslims in Egypt. Isa was ordered to accompany Ilkhan Arghun’s mission to Pope Honorius IV. From Rome the mission soon returned to Persia. In 1286 Isa was sent back to Beijing. In 1287 Isa was appointed head of the Imperial Library Directorate. In 1289 the Mongol ruler established the institution of the “Bureau of Religions” (Chongfu si崇福司, also translated as “Office for Christian Clergy”), and this bureau was in charge of religious worship, including the “Cross Pagodas” (Shizi si十字寺, i. e. Christian churches). Isa headed this bureau, directing or controlling the worship ceremonies of the bishops (Mar hash马儿哈昔) and of the priests (rabban列班) of the Syrian Christians in their churches (shizi si).[8] After Isa his son Elijah (Yeliya也里牙) served as second director of the bureau. According to the records, Mar Moses (Ma Mouhuozhe马某火者), the last director of the bureau, retired in the year 1358. Besides members of the Syrian Church in China, also Muslims served in the bureau, and up to nineteen assistants were assigned to serve in that unique institution.[9]
Isa died in Beijing in 1308, and his “family retained its hold on positions in the central government, especially posts related to ‘Isa’s accomplishments, including the Office for Christian Clergy, offices related to medicine, and offices related to documents and translations, such as the Imperial Library Directorate and the Hanlin Academy.”[10]
Being also an expert in astronomy, Isa cooperated with the famous astronomer and geographer Zhamaluding (Jamāl al-Dīn, c. 1235-1289), the first director of the Islamic Astronomical Bureau in Beijing, who introduced the Islamic calendar to China. Because of this, some Chinese Muslims have listed Isa as a “Muslim Scholar”, but according to most historians he “was almost certainly a Nestorian, not a Muslim”.[11] His career “is an example for the often-overlooked contribution of Western migrants to the intellectual life of Yuan China.”[12]
One of Isa’s Muslim contemporaries was Sayyid Shams al-Din (Saidianchi zhansiding赛典赤·赡思丁, 1211-1279). His Arabic name means “Mister Sun of Religion”. The word shams (sun) may remind a Jew or Christian of the “Mister Sun” in the Old Testament, namely the hero fighter Samson, whose name comes from the Hebrew word for “sun” (shemesh).
Like Jamāl al-Dīn, also Shams al-Din came from Bukhara in central Asia (today in Uzbekistan). He was appointed guardian of Genghis Khan and later of Ogodai Khan. From 1230 to 1250 the young Shams al-Din was appointed governor of several regions, including Datong in Shanxi Province, Hohot in Inner Mongolia, and later he was put in control of Taiyuan and the southern districts of Shanxi. Under Möngke Khan (1251-1259) he served as governor of the area around Beijing, known as Yanjing lu, and in 1261 he was involved in the finance administration of the central government. When he held office, the Mongol government for the first time issued regular paper money. In 1264 Shams al-Din was Central Manager of Governmental Affairs (Zhongshu sheng Pingzhang Zhengshi平章政事) in charge of Shenxi and Sichuan, because the Mongol armies had wrested these provinces from the control of the Song ruler. Shams al-Din spent his last years in Yunnan, because in 1274 he was appointed governor of Yunnan.
His first duty was to follow the demands of the Mongol rulers who were pressing on with their conquest of the southern regions of China. Shams was known as a tolerant governor.[13] One of the results of Mongol rule was that transportation across long distances became much more efficient, and Shams al-Din improved the connections between north China and Yunnan by establishing courier stations.[14] He also cared for agriculture, education, and medical supply by establishing the Land Survey Office (Cejing suo侧景所) and the Charity Pharmacy (Huimin yaoju惠民药局). In 1277 he founded a school in Wuhuashan (五华山) near Kunming.
When Shams al-Din entered Yunnan, also large groups of his Muslim followers settled in that province, and thus until today Yunnan has a small population of Muslims with a tradition dating back to the Mongol era.[15] In religious matters Shams al-Din was very committed; his title “Sayyid” suggests that he was a descendant of Muḥammad himself. According to historical records, he established twelve mosques in Dali.
Shams al-Dinh had five sons. The oldest son Nasraddin (Nasulading纳速剌丁) became governor of Yunnan (Pingzhang zhengshi平章政事), and in his itinerary Marco Polo mentioned Nasraddin.[16] The other sons of Shams al-Din also made contributions to the development of Islam in Yunnan.
Inscriptions in Shams al-Din’s honor have been preserved, and “at least two tombs” and several tombstones are commemorating him.[17] A number of Chinese and non-Chinese historians have told the story of his life. In the year 1911 the French scholar d’Ollone published his Recherches sur les Musulmans chinois in Paris, a study of 471 pages, which contains a description of the Muslims in Yunnan, documents concerning Shams al-Din, and related inscriptions of steles in Arabic and Chinese.[18]
Seen from his “efficiency as missionary”, Shams al-Din could be seen as having successfully implanted Islam in the soil of Yunnan, and even until today Yunnan is one of the important centers of Muslim culture and scholarship in China. Similar to Shams al-Din, there was a successful Catholic missionary active in China in the Mongol era. His name was Giovanni Montecorvino.
Through the contacts with Rabban Sauma, who in 1287 visited Rome, the Curia of the Catholic Church was aware that the Mongol Khan actually welcomed missionaries at his court, and thus Pope Nicholas IV decided to send Montecorvino to the East. This Franciscan friar was born in Italy in 1247, thus when he set out on his long journey in May 1289 he was already over forty years old. He was accompanied by the Dominican Nicolas de Pistorio and the Venetian merchant Pietro de Lucalongo. They traveled first to Persia, then they stayed in India for thirteen months, and Nicholas died there. At the end of 1293 the remaining travelers reached Quanzhou, and continued their journey to Beijing on the Great Canal.[19]
There were only a few Europeans living in Beijing then. Montecorvino’s letter from 1306 only mentions two: one Italian physician who had settled down in Beijing in 1303, and one German Franciscan friar from Cologne, who had arrived in Beijing in 1306.
In 1294 or 1295 Montecorvino reached Beijing, and since he was an envoy from the Pope, the Great Khan Temur, (reigned 1295 to 1307), received him honorably. Montecorvino submitted the letters from the Pope to the Khan and invited the Khan to accept the Christian faith. Temur Khan did not embrace the faith, but he allowed Montecorvino to rather freely move around in his empire, and soon the Italian missionary came to know Kuolijisi阔里吉斯 (Prince George), the leader of the tribe of the Onguts. Like the Keraits also the Onguts belonged to the Jingjiao Christians (Nestorians).The Onguts lived in the regions north of Shenxi, in what is Inner Mongolia today. Their capital was at Olon-sume敖伦苏木, of which only ruins have remained. In the years 1938 and 1941 the Japanese scholar Namio Egami discovered the remnants of the church which Montecorvino built in the former capital of the tribe of the Onguts in Olon-sume (today known as relics of Aolun sumu 敖伦苏木in Inner Mongolia). However, there are no relics with inscriptions from that site.[20] From 1295 to 1298 Montecorvino lived there and learned the Mongol language and script. He also began to translate the New Testament and the Psalms into that language, and he arranged for the celebration of the Latin Mass in the local language. He attempted to convert this Nestorian tribe to the traditions of Roman Catholicism. Although he encountered some opposition, he continued with his efforts until the year 1298, when his most crucial supporter, Prince George, died in battle. After that the relatives of the prince effected that the tribe returned to their former Jingjiao customs.
Montecorvino came to Beijing in 1298, and in the capital he erected two churches so as to attract some of the inhabitants in the city. According to his letters, he built a bell tower with three bells in one of the churches. The second church had a large red cross on the roof. The two churches in Beijing became the centers of two communities of believers, and in one of them he established a kind of monastery or convent.[21] In this convent a group of people cultivated religious practices and learning. Montecorvino trained around forty boys or young men in the convent. He taught them Latin songs and prayers, and in this way he was able to perform some solemn and attractive liturgies.
In the year 1313, a messenger from the Curia in Rome consecrated Montecorvino bishop, and he was given the title Archbishop of Khanbaliq (Beijing). Although Bishop Montecorvino possibly baptized several thousand people in the capital, these Christians belonged mainly to the “foreign tribes” (semu ren色目人) and not to the Han-Chinese. The fact that he was a Roman Catholic and thus did not identify with the Jingjiao Christians (Nestorians) also led to conflicts with the Jingjiao people, and in his letters he mentions these conflicts.
Even though the Catholic communities which this Archbishop developed in Beijing did not enjoy a prosperous and lasting development, Montecorvino can count as an important pioneer in several respects. He was the first to translate parts of the Bible into Mongol language; he built the first Catholic church in Beijing; he was the first to teach Latin language and Latin songs, and he used Christian art to attract believers. In his churches he hung up some religious paintings and added inscriptions in three languages (Latin, Mongolian, and Persian) to explain the meaning of the pictures. In the fields of translation and religious education he was a pioneer.
Compared to Isa and Shams al-Din, Montecorvino faced much greater challenges, and, speaking in human terms, he was the least successful missionary. Unlike the Muslims and the Jingjiao Christians he could not build upon the traditions of already existing groups of believers but had to start from zero with converting people. He did not found any institution officially recognized by the Mongol rulers. He held no office, and thus his name is not mentioned in any records in China. His tomb and his churches have not been preserved. He did not have sons who may have continued his work. Only his connections to the international Catholic Church and especially his links to Rome ensured that his labors were honored and continued in some way. Neither the Muslims nor the Nestorian Christians had congregations of celibate friars who were ready to dedicate their lives to mission work abroad, and this factor was to determine much of the development of Catholic missions in China up to 1950.
[1]Fu Tongxian, 45.
[2]See Standaert, 68.
[3]Kim, 255, 256.
[4]See Fu Tongxian, 59. See also Xin Yuanshi新元史, Biographies, 96: “六子：也里牙，光禄大夫、秦国公、崇福院使，领司天台事，以与文宗逆谋，惠宗时诏暴其罪；腆哈，翰林学士承旨、兼修国史；黑厮，光禄卿；阔里吉思，同知泉府院事；鲁哈，广惠司提举；咬难，宿卫兴圣宫。” However, some of the origins of the names are hard to ascertain: 也里牙Elijah、腆哈Dan, Denha?、黑厮Hosea?、阔里吉思Georgius、鲁哈Luka、咬难Jona?
[5]See Fu Tongxian, 59. Xin Yuanshi新元史, Biographies, 96.
[6]Chinese Encyclopedia of Islam, 60.
[7]Kim, 258.
[8]Standaert, 85.
[9]Ibid., 85.
[10]Kim, 265.
[11]Leslie, 155.
[12]Kim, 265.
[13]Quoted in Fu Tongxian, 49.
[14]Chinese Encyclopedia of Islam, 478.
[15]Today the 590 thousand Muslims in Yunnan constitute more than one percent of the population of the province (47 million).
[16]Leslie, 153. “Nasr-a-dinh” means “supporter of the faith”.
[17]Ibid., 153.
[18]See Leslie, 204-205.
[19]Standaert, 74.
[20]Standaert, 60; see also Malek, Jingjiao, 540.
[21]Standaert, 89.
Leopold Leeb, Renmin University of China.
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