In this article I argue that there is little evidence of anything resembling an independent or self-conscious Pure Land tradition in medieval China. Pure Land cosmology, soteriology, and ritual were always part-and-parcel of Chinese Buddhism in general and Ch’an monasticism in particular. Accordingly, there was no need for a ‘synthesis’ of Pure Land and Ch’an. The modern conception of a Chinese Pure Land school with its own patriarchate and teachings, and the associated notion of Ch’an/Pure Land syncretism, are inordinately influenced by historical developments in Japan and the enduring legacy of sectarian polemics in contemporary Japanese scholarship.