Halbertsma Tjalling H.F. Early Christian Remains of Inner Mongolia: Discovery, Reconstruction and Appropriation

Brill, 2008. — 356 p. — (Sinica Leidensia 88).Drawing on recent discoveries, this study reconstructs the material culture of the Christian Ongut in Inner Mongolia. As much of this material no longer survives in the field, it provides an insight into the rise and disappearance of a Christian culture in Asia.The early Christian presence in Inner Mongolia forms the subject of this book. These Nestorian remains must primarily be attributed to the Öngüt, a Turkic people closely allied to the Mongols. Writing in Syriac, Uighur and Chinese scripts and languages, the Nestorian Öngüt drew upon a variety of religions and cultures to decorate their gravestones with crosses rising from lotus flowers, dragons and Taoist imagery. This heritage also portrays designs found in the Islamic world. Taking a closer look at the discovery of this material and its significance for the study of the early Church of the East under the Mongols, the author reconstructs the Nestorian culture of the Öngüt.
The reader will find many newly discovered objects not published before. At the same time this study demonstrates how many remaining objects were appropriated and, in many cases, vanished after their discovery.