Sources

The Buddhist Conquest of China: The Spread and Adaptation of Buddhism in Early Medieval China

Citation Formats

General Reference

Divinity Atlas. "The Buddhist Conquest of China: The Spread and Adaptation of Buddhism in Early Medieval China." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/sources/the-buddhist-conquest-of-china-the-spread-and-adaptation-of-buddhism-in-early-medieval-china.

APA Style

Divinity Atlas. (n.d.). The Buddhist Conquest of China: The Spread and Adaptation of Buddhism in Early Medieval China. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/sources/the-buddhist-conquest-of-china-the-spread-and-adaptation-of-buddhism-in-early-medieval-china

BibTeX

@misc{divinityatlas-the-buddhist-conquest-of-china-the-sprea,
  author = {Divinity Atlas},
  title = {The Buddhist Conquest of China: The Spread and Adaptation of Buddhism in Early Medieval China},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/sources/the-buddhist-conquest-of-china-the-spread-and-adaptation-of-buddhism-in-early-medieval-china},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

Erik Zurcher was a sinologist and Buddhologist, and this E. J. Brill book is his foundational scholarly history of how Buddhism spread and adapted within early medieval China, distinct from the historian Erik Jan Zurcher, who separately wrote a history of modern Turkey. Its strength is that it remains a standard foundational reference in Chinese Buddhist studies decades after publication, tracing the specific processes of translation, adaptation and gentry patronage through which a foreign religion became genuinely Chinese. Its limit is its age, published in 1959, so a claim needing the most current archaeological or manuscript evidence on early Chinese Buddhism, discoveries made since Zurcher wrote, should be checked against more recent scholarship alongside this still foundational study.

Facts

Citation

Author

Erik Zurcher

Publisher

E. J. Brill

Publication Year

1959

URL

https://archive.org/details/buddhistconquest0000zrch

Source Type

book

Assessment

Reliability Tier

Erik Zurcher's The Buddhist Conquest of China, the sinologist's standard study of the spread and adaptation of Buddhism in early medieval China.

Notes

Erik Zurcher the sinologist and Buddhologist. Not to be confused with Erik Jan Zurcher, author of Turkey: A Modern History, which is a separate row in this table.

Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

China

This source names China directly: "and adapted within early medieval China, distinct from the historian Erik Jan Zurcher, who separately wrote a history of modern Turkey."

Source The Buddhist Conquest of China: The Spread and Adaptation of Buddhism in Early Medieval ChinaErik Zurcher

Turkey

This source names Turkey directly: "separately wrote a history of modern Turkey."

Source The Buddhist Conquest of China: The Spread and Adaptation of Buddhism in Early Medieval ChinaErik Zurcher

Claims Backed By This Source (52 claims)

This source backs 52 claims across the atlas. As facts: 28 well-attested, 2 scholarly debate. As cited relationships: 12 holds, 1 connected. Plus 9 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.

Disposition By Topic

Articles, 11 claims: 9 well-attested, 1 connected, 1 general references.
Figures, 10 claims: 4 well-attested, 1 scholarly debate, 3 holds, 2 general references.
Sources, 10 claims: 8 well-attested, 2 holds.
Bodies of Water, 8 claims: 3 well-attested, 4 holds, 1 general references.
Spread Events, 8 claims: 3 well-attested, 1 scholarly debate, 3 holds, 1 general references.
Deities, 2 claims: 1 well-attested, 1 general references.
Empires & Polities, 1 claims: 1 general references.
Historical Periods, 1 claims: 1 general references.
Regions, 1 claims: 1 general references.