Tang Two Jinghu Temple Study

The Tang Dynasty is the most prosperous time in Chinese feudalism, and everything was in good order, including the society, the economy and esp. the religion. Chang' an and Luoyang were two distinguished international metropolis, and the capitals of politics, economy and culture as well. Lots of foreigners lived so happy there that they didn't go back. And lots of foreign temples were built during this time, such as Zoroastrian temple etc. This paper is to research the temples mentioned above in the city of Chang' an and Luoyang.Chapter one is about the conditions of the foreign temples in Chang' an and Luoyang. These temples were built by foreign believers in Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism and Nestorianism, on the Silk Road, their were influenced by Sogdian and Turkic religiously and culturally. And they also mixed something from Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, after their arriving at Tang. Chang' an and Luoyang's stable society, flourishing economy, convenient transportation and great amount of foreigners mean a lot to those foreign religions.Chapter two focus on the types and the distributions of those foreign temples. Firstly, there were three types of temples in Chang' an and Luoyang, for instance. Zoroastrian temple. They were build according to the condition of transportation, and three features were obvious: near to rode/streets, close to doors and not far away from markets.Chapter Three explores the basic characters of those foreign temples. And this study is determined by the number of the followers, the organizations, the arrangement and the functions of the temples. Compared with Buddhist temples and Taoist temples, those foreign religions didn't have so much followers and so much temples, but they had their own special ceremonies. Some functions of their temples could not find in Buddhist temples and Taoist temples, too.Chapter Four analyze the relations for the foreign temples' declination. Some external factors such as the environment of transmitting, the conditions of transportation, the policy mode by Tang's government and the conflicts among religion sects, were important factors, but the key reason was their own problems.This article has four inventions in all. First of all, nobody has researched the foreign temples in Chang' an and Luoyang totally before. Second. 1 point out the key condition of the foreign temples was transportation. Thirdly, the part four analyze the reasons of their declination in terms of the mixture and conflict of religions. Last but not least is the comparison with Buddhist temples andTaoist temples, so that the characters of the foreign temples are better to understand.