Peking to Lhasa : vol.1 / Page 60 (Color Image)

0060	Peking to Lhasa : vol.1

30 PEKING TO LHASA

was erected in A.D. 787 in honour of the bishop,

Izadbuzid of Walk. It is the earliest monu-

ment of Christianity in China, and dates back

to the second year of Hsüan Chung of the T'ang

dynasty. It is an oblong black piece of stone,

shining like polished marble, 6 to 7 feet high

and 31 feet wide. It stands on a tortoise, and

is surmounted by a top piece 3 feet high, on

which are carved two intertwined dragons. The

monument is said to have been dug up early in

1625 near Chow Chih. Pereira was the first

European after the Boxer Rising to visit it. It

then stood in the open outside the west gate.

Later a foreigner had the stone copied, and tried

to carry off the original. But his plans were

prevented, and for greater safety and better

preservation the tablet has been removed to the

old Confucian temple in the city, near the south

wall. This building is now known as the Peilin

or " Forest of Tablets ", and contains 424 tablets,

mostly of the T'ang dynasty, but some are of the

Sung dynasty.

One hundred and twenty-two tablets of the

T'ang period (A.D. 618 to 907) are inscribed with

the five classics, both sides of each stone being

used. The tablets are chiefly taken up with

writing, but some have poor pictures. One is of

the Goddess of Mercy (Kuan-yin) of the T'ang

period. Another is of the first Manchu emperor.

Others represent the outlines of the Hwa Shan

and Tai-pai Shan, the two sacred mountains of

the Province.

A seven-storied pagoda, the Ta-yen Ta, of the

T'ang period stands about 2 miles to the south

National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books