After enjoying the protection of T’ai Tsung, his reign eventually came to an end. Nestorianism continued to survive in China, although it endured much hardship. In 841 leadership fell to Wu Tsang, a Taoist with little patience for Buddhism. In 845, after taking control he released a bolt stating, “Let the Buddhist monasteries be destroyed throughout the empire, and let the monks and nuns all return to the ways of common life” (Legge 49). This was a great hardship for the Buddhists and Nestorians alike. Land and money was confiscated and the Nestorians lost the grace of the Empire. Even though the edict was reversed not long afterwards, due to a change in Monarchy, the Nestorians never fully recovered; however, they did sustain themselves.
Nestorianism continued to exist in China and there are intermittent references to it throughout the history books. Marco Polo writes that he came across some Nestorians throughout his travels, but they were few and far between. Eventually the “Muslim conquest on the Nestorian church in countries lying between Persia and China [resulted in] the early blossoms of Christianity d[ying]” (Jones 6480). However, what seems most confusing is why Christianity was able to enter back into China at a later date, in a different form and survive.
In the end many have blamed the flexible, syncretic nature of the Nestorian Christians in China with their downfall. James Legge suggests that one of reasons behind the disappearance of Nestorianism is that “so far as we can judge…the Nestorian work in China was directed more to propitiate and conciliate the emperors …than to enlighten and convert the people” (Legge 53). If this is true, than the Nestorians attempt to satiate their host country resulted in them failing in their duties as missionaries.
David Bundy points out that, “the active cooperation with Buddhism and Manichaesim appear to have been closer than tolerance or mere politeness would have required” (Bundy 20). This tame or apologetic attitude, of the Nestorian missionaries is hard to guess at. It seems fair to argue that the Nestorians in China were more interested in finding a foothold in their new surroundings, rather than expanding and conquering. In their quest to move into new lands the Nestorians failed to set up a solid and accessible home base. While the Nestorian missionaries stationed themselves in China, they were still considered part of the Mesopotamian church. The distance between the two dioceses, however, did not aid in communication and the young Chinese Nestorian branch was left to fend for itself (Bundy 21).
