Polos' missionary activity 1274/1275- Christian China ?

[Melvin Loh]

Hope this topic hasn't been posted on yet...

Apparently, when the Polos 1st went to the court of Kublai Khan in China in the late 13th C, he urged them to bring back 100 missionaries in order to preach Christianity thruout the country. The Khan himself was tolerant of all faiths and sympathetic to Christianity, with many of his own family and advisors being Nestorians. On their 2nd trip, the Polos were however unable to accede to the Khan's request. But WI they had been able to facilitate some relatively largescale missionary activity in the Khan's court ? Would Christianity have been able to take a larger and more accepted place in China, and could China have possibly developed into another Christian power ?

 

[Duncan]

Surely anything backed by the Khans is going to be anathema to the Chinese, especially the educated classes, and any ground Christianity gains will be lost when the Mongols are kicked out?

 

[carlton_bach]

Good point about Mongol fashions...

also, China already has an overarching religious edifice, they just don't call it that. So I could see flourishing Christian communitioes in China (as they had and have Buddhist and Muslim ones, and some, though OTL relatively small, Christian ones), but a total conversion is highly unlikely. I mean, how well would Kublai Khan take to the idea God had given the power to confirm or depose him to the bishop of Rome

Remember, this is the headay of Innocentian madness...