ABSTRACT The Sumeru‐pedestal tombs of Abrahamic religions in Quanzhou organically connect the Chinese denominations of ancient Islam and ancient Christianity. People pass through the three to five layers of a Sumeru‐pedestal tomb or the three rings of an ecclesiastical building in a rotating and ascending manner; that is, the symbolic act of baptism on the altar indicates the completion of the purification that accompanies the ritual from death to resurrection or the heaven‐worshiping ritual. Ultimately, they can cross the secular world and reach the sacred. The hollow design of tombs and the open altar provide an effective guarantee for this. Human aspiration and pursuit for existence in the other world were reflected in human piety and angels' fervor. The belief in worshiping heavenly deities, the vision of continuing life, the nostalgia of returning to heaven, and the aspiration of guiding people to goodness made the religions of the East and the West briefly put aside differences between the worldviews of polytheism and monotheism to achieve interaction and exchange in Quanzhou in the Song and Yuan dynasties.
Wu et al. (2026) studied this question.