The Cross Temple (Chinese: 十字寺; pinyin: Shízì sì)[a] is a former place of worship in Fangshan, Beijing.

During the early 20th century, two stone blocks carved with crosses and other patterns were also discovered at the site, with one of them also bearing an inscription in Syriac.

[7] The scholar Wang Xiaojing proposed that the author of the Liao stele was mistaken, and the temple was actually built during the Later Jin dynasty (936–947).

[9] After the Council of Ephesus in 431 condemned Nestorius, patriarch of Constantinople, his followers went into the Sasanian Empire and joined the Church of the East.

The Church of the East later sent missionaries into Central Asia, Arabia, and India, and established metropolitan bishoprics along important cities along the Silk Road leading to China.

Although the emperor mainly intended to suppress Buddhism, he ordered monks of all foreign religions, including Nestorian Christianity, to return to laity.

[16] According to the scholar Qiu Shusen, most Yuan-era Nestorians were Central Asians of the Semu caste, who later assimilated into the dominant Han culture during the Ming and no longer practised their western religions.

The Japanese scholar P. Y. Saeki speculated that believers fleeing from the Tang capital of Chang'an (modern Xi'an) to Youzhou and Liaodong[c] during the 9th-century Huichang persecution began using the temple.

In addition, Tang claimed that another text written by Li Zhongxuan [zh] in 987 indicated a Nestorian presence in Youzhou.

[19] However, British sinologist Arthur Christopher Moule believed that there was insufficient evidence to show that the Church of the East in China reached Beijing before the 13th century.

[22] The Liao stele does not indicate any relationship between the site and Christianity, and it is believed that Chongsheng Yuan was a Buddhist temple.

[25] Nestorian Christianity spread throughout the area after the Mongol capture of the Jurchen Jin capital of Zhongdu (near modern Beijing) in 1215.

Wang hypothesized that a Nestorian passed by Fangshan, discovered the abandoned temple, and turned it into a monastic retreat.

[28] Rabban Sauma (c. 1220 – 1294) was a Uyghur Nestorian Christian monk born in Beijing during the Yuan,[29][30] who travelled from China to Baghdad.

[23] According to the Yuan stele, a Buddhist monk named Jingshan (淨善) initiated the reconstruction because he dreamed of a deity in his meditation, and then saw a shining cross on top of an ancient dhvaja at the temple site.

[27] During the Qing dynasty (1644–1912), in the History of Fangshan County (房山縣誌) compiled around 1664, the Cross Temple was briefly mentioned.

In October 1919, Johnston published an article about the site entitled "A Chinese Temple of the Cross", writing under the pseudonym "Christopher Irving".

[50] In the 1990s, the Beijing branches of the China Christian Council (CCC) and the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) rebuilt the site's walls.

[53][e] It is located near Chechang Village (车厂村) in the Zhoukoudian Area, Fangshan District, to the southwest of Beijing City.

[55] There is some groundwork at the north and west parts of the site, where the Main Hall and the dormitory of the Buddhist monks once stood.

[49] A replica of the Xi'an Stele was added to the site during the early 21st century, placed in front of the north wall.

[58] Scholars generally agree that while the two steles were from the Liao and Yuan dynasties respectively, their inscriptions were tampered with by Ming writers, and there are errors in their stated dates and names of individuals.

[59][60] According to Wang Xiaojing, in order to elevate the temple's status and garner more support and donations from Buddhists,[61] the Ming writers changed the inscriptions of the two steles to claim that the temple received royal charters,[62] that it had received donations from famous figures, and that it had been larger in size during the Yuan period.

[63][65] When Wu Mengling (吴梦麟) visited the site in October 1992, he found one of the broken pieces in front of the gingko trees.

[65] According to Wang, the plaque is currently stored by the Fangshan District Bureau of Cultural Artifacts,[65] though Tang and Zhang claimed it is on display at the Beijing Stone Carving Art Museum.

[67] The scholar Niu Ruiji claimed that the two stone blocks were originally connected, with the two crosses at the opposite ends.

[47][46] Johnston recorded claims by the monks that the blocks had been discovered underground in 1357, during repairs to the temple's Hall of Heavenly Kings.

Additionally, the cross is framed by an inscription in Syriac, which reads:[72] ܚܘܪܘ ܠܘܬܗ ܘ ܣܒܪܘ ܒܗ[g] Look towards him and trust in him.