Nestorian Stele
The Church of the East is perhaps best known nowadays for its missionary work in China during the Tang Dynasty. The first recorded Christian mission to China was led by a Nestorian Christian with the Chinese name Alopen, who arrived in the Chinese capital Chang'an in 635. In 781 a tablet (commonly known as the Nestorian Stele) was erected in the grounds of a Christian monastery in the Chinese capital Chang'an by the city's Christian community, displaying a long inscription in Chinese with occasional glosses in Syriac. The inscription described the eventful progress of the Nestorian mission in China since Alopen's arrival.