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Staatsbibliothek Zu Berlin/Berlin-Brandenberg Academy of Sciences/CH/U 6377

Manichaeism preserved. Archaeological excavations in China have uncovered thousands of Manichaean texts, including this calendrical fragment, written in Chinese on one side and Uighur (an Old Turkish script) on the other, and found in Turfan, China. Due to persecution by Christians, Zoroastrians and Muslims, Manichaeism was eventually eradicated in the West. But Manichaean refugees were able to find safe havens in the distant provinces of central Asia, Tibet and China, where Manichaean communities survived as late as the 16th or 17th century.