Editing Alopen (section)

{{Short description|First Assyrian Christian missionary to China}}
{{Infobox Chinese|image=Alopen in the Xian Nestorian Stele.jpg|caption=The name "Alopen" (阿羅本) in the [[Xi'an Stele]].|t={{Linktext|阿|羅|本}}|s={{Linktext|阿|罗|本}}|p= Āluóběn|mi={{IPAc-cmn|a|1|.|l|uo|2|.|b|en|3}}|mc=alapuən<sup>X</sup>}}
'''Alopen''' ({{zh|t=阿羅本}}, {{floruit|AD 635}}; also "Aleben", "Aluoben", "Olopen," "Olopan," or "Olopuen") is the first recorded Assyrian [[Christianity|Christian]] [[missionary]] to have reached [[China]], during the [[Tang dynasty]]. He was a missionary from the [[Church of the East]] (also known as the "Nestorian Church"),<ref name="Moffett">{{cite book|last=Anderson|first=Gerald H.|title=Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oQ8BFk9K0ToC&pg=PA14|year=1999|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|isbn=978-0-8028-4680-8|page=14}}</ref> and probably a [[Syriac language|Syriac speaker]] from the [[Sasanian Empire]] or from [[Roman Syria#Syria in the Byzantine Empire|Byzantine Syria]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Yeung |first1=Daniel H. N. |editor1-last=Huang |editor1-first=Paul Z. |title=Yearbook of Chinese Theology 2018 |date=2018 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-38497-2 |page=39 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HIR1DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA39 |language=en |chapter=The Multiple Identities of the Nestorian Monk Mar Alopen: A Discussion on Diplomacy and Politics}}</ref> He is known exclusively from the [[Xi'an Stele]], which describes his arrival in the Tang capital of [[Chang'an]] in 635 and his acceptance by [[Emperor Taizong of Tang]]. His is the earliest known name that can be attached to the history of the [[Church of the East in China]].