The Barbarian Sky: Chinese Knowledge and Records of Zoroastrianism Prior to the Tang Dynasty

As a terminal for the Silk Road, China is one of the largest countries affected by Zoroastrianism, a religion that once flourished across this channel. However, there are vague points on the extent of Chinese knowledge of the faith, especially before the Tang Dynasty when a specific word was invented to describe it. In historical documents, various depictions of a similar religion were shown, from which a connection can be found that links the descriptions with the Zoroastrian deity, Ahura-Mazda. This paper evaluates such evidence and concludes that the Xianbei Northern Wei dynasty, in which Zoroastrianism held a significant position in society, contributed the most to Chinese knowledge of the religion at that time. Similar depictions of Turkish tribes were then evaluated with archaeological evidence to show that Zoroastrianism did appear in Turkish nations at the time. The limitations of Chinese knowledge were also discussed, and probable reasons were given.