Manichaeism is a former major world religion, founded in the 3rd century CE by the Parthian prophet Mani, in the Sasanian Empire.
Ningbo, formerly romanized as Ningpo, is a major sub-provincial city in northeast Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises six urban districts, two satellite county-level cities, and two rural counties, including several islands in Hangzhou Bay and the East China Sea. Ningbo is the southern economic center of the Yangtze Delta megalopolis. The port of Ningbo–Zhoushan, spread across several locations, is the world's busiest port by cargo tonnage and world's third-busiest container port since 2010.
Cangnan County is a county in the prefecture-level city of Wenzhou in southern Zhejiang, China. The county government is in Lingxi. Cangnan has 20 towns, 14 townships, and two nationality townships. Cangnan and Taishun are apart of the Min Dong, Eastern Min cultural region of Zhejiang province. Wenzhou dialect and Jinxiang dialect, are also spoken.
is a county-level city of Ningde prefecture level city, in northeast Fujian province, PRC, some 150 kilometres (93 mi) North of the provincial capital Fuzhou. Fuzhou and Fu'an of Ningde prefecture along with Cangnan county-level city of Wenzhou prefecture in Zhejiang province make up the Min Dong linguistic and cultural region of China. Fu'an along with Fuzhou and the Eastern Min region are the closest geographically to the nearby Matsu Islands which are an archipelago of 36 islands within the Lienchiang county of Taiwan.
Xiapu is a county in the municipal region of Ningde, Fujian, People's Republic of China, located along a stretch of East China Sea coast, with many harbours and islands. It is bordered by Fuding City and Zherong County to the north, Fu'an City and Ningde's urban area to the west, and Luoyuan County, Fuzhou and the Matsu Islands of Lienchiang County, Republic of China (Taiwan) to the south.
Luolong District is a district of the city of Luoyang, Henan province, China.
Cao'an is a temple in Jinjiang, Fujian, Luoshan Subdistrict. Originally constructed by Chinese Manichaeans, it was considered by later worshipers to be a Buddhist temple. This "Manichaean temple in Buddhist disguise" had historically been seen by modern experts on Manichaeism as "the only Manichaean building which has survived intact". However, other Manichaean buildings have survived intact, such as the Xuanzhen Temple, also in China. In 2021, Cao'an was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List along with many other sites near Quanzhou because of its unique testimony to the exchange of religious ideas and cultures in medieval China. Over 2022, the number of tourists to the location doubled and preservation efforts began.
Chinese Manichaeism, also known as Monijiao (Chinese: 摩尼教; pinyin: Móníjiào; Wade–Giles: Mo2-ni2 Chiao4; lit. 'religion of Moni') or Mingjiao (Chinese: 明教; pinyin: Míngjiào; Wade–Giles: Ming2-Chiao4; lit. 'religion of light' or 'bright religion'), is the form of Manichaeism transmitted to and currently practiced in China. Chinese Manichaeism rose to prominence during the Tang dynasty and despite frequent persecutions, it has continued long after the other forms of Manichaeism were eradicated in the West. The most complete set of surviving Manichaean writings were written in Chinese sometime before the 9th century and were found in the Mogao Caves among the Dunhuang manuscripts.
Sermon on Mani's Teaching of Salvation is a Yuan dynasty silk hanging scroll, measuring 142 × 59 centimetres and dating from the 13th century, with didactic themes: a multi-scenic narrative that depicts Mani's Teachings about the Salvation combines a sermon subscene with the depictions of soteriological teaching in the rest of the painting.
The Manichaean Painting of the Buddha Jesus (Chinese: 夷數佛幀; pinyin: Yí shù fó zhēn; Wade–Giles: I2-shu4 fo2-chên1; Japanese: キリスト聖像; rōmaji: Kirisuto Sei-zō; "Sacred Image of Christ"), is a Chinese Southern Song dynasty silk hanging scroll preserved at the Seiunji Temple in Kōshū, Yamanashi, Japan. It measures 153.5 cm in height, 58.7 cm in width, dates from the 12th to 13th centuries, and depicts a solitary nimbate figure on a dark-brown medieval Chinese silk. According to the Hungarian historian Zsuzsanna Gulácsi, this painting is one of the six documented Chinese Manichaean hanging scrolls from Zhejiang province from the early 12th century, which titled Yishu fo zhen (lit. "Silk Painting of the Buddha [Prophet] Jesus").
The three Persian religions, as a medieval Chinese concept, referred to a group of Iranian religions that spread to Tang China. They were recognized and protected under Tang rule, helping them to prosper in China at a time when Sassanid Iran was falling to the early Muslim conquests. The three religious movements identified by the term were Zoroastrianism, the Persian Church, and Manichaeism.
Icon of Mani is a silk painting hanging scroll from the Yuan or Ming period, from the coastal area of southern China, depicting Mani. The portrait of the founder Mani has been completely Sinicized.
The Xiapu Manichaean manuscripts are Chinese Manichaean manuscripts from Shangwan Village 上万村, Baiyang Township, Xiapu County, Fujian Province, China. They first became known to academia and the general public in October 2008. Today in Baiyang Township, the texts are used for rituals conducted for Lin Deng 林瞪 in the three villages of Baiyang 柏洋村, Shangwan 上万村, and Tahou 塔后村.
Fragment of Manichaean Wall Painting "MIK Ⅲ 6918" is a fragment of a Manichaean mural collected in Germany Berlin Asian Art Museum, painted around the 10th century AD, and was found by the German Turpan expedition team in the ruins of Gaochang, in Xinjiang. The fragment is 88 centimeters long and 168.5 centimeters wide. It depicts a scene of worship in a Manichae church.
The Manichaean stone sculptures of Shangwan Village refer to eight Ming-Qing slabs found in Shangwan Village, Xiapu County, Ningde City, Fujian Province in 2009. Numbers A1, A2, B, C1, C2, D1, D2, E, which have been verified by scholars as the relics of Manichaeism. These stone slabs were originally used to decorate the Three Buddha Pagodas and the Pangong Stone Pagoda. The inscriptions on the stone slabs indicate that the Three Buddhas Pagoda was built in the sixth year of Zhengde in the Ming dynasty. According to Huang Yizhao's "Tahou Village Cultural Relics", the three Buddhas The tower was originally three towers, one large and two small, which were later demolished during the Cultural Revolution.
The Cangnan Stele is the temple stele of the Yuan Dynasty Manichaean monastery Xuanzhen Temple (选真寺). It is the only Manichean stone monument found in the world so far. The stele has been listed in China as a national second-class cultural relic, now in the Cangnan County Museum, in Zhejiang Province. The monument is 150 cm high, 76 cm wide, and 10 cm thick, half on the forehead of the round stele; the inscription is inscribed in seal script, "Xuansiji". Lin Wushu called the Xuanzhen Temple according to the inscription "It was built by the church of the neighboring countries of Jiangsu, and was built before the Gai Peng family." It means that the Mingjiao of Xuanzhen Temple still inherits the tradition of Manichaeism in the Tang Dynasty, influenced by foreign religions, and is different from ordinary folk religions.
Manichaeism has a rich tradition of visual art, starting with Mani himself writing the Book of Pictures.
Chixi is a town under the jurisdiction of Cangnan County, Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province, People's Republic of China.
Mazhan is a town under the jurisdiction of Cangnan County, Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province, People's Republic of China.
In Manichaeism, Siddartha Gautama is considered one of the four prophets of the faith, along with Zoroaster, Jesus and Mani. Mani believed that the teachings of Gautama Buddha, Zoroaster, and Jesus were incomplete, and that his revelations were for the entire world, calling his teachings the "Religion of Light".
