Table of Contents

• CHINESE TURKESTAN vii. Manicheism in Chinese Turkestan and China

  Samuel Lieu

  Manicheism was probably introduced into Inner Asia by Sogdian (Hu) merchants, though the process of its diffusion there is entirely obscure.

• CHINESE TURKESTAN viii. Turkish-Iranian Language Contacts

  Gerhard Doerfer

  Contacts between the Iranian peoples and the Turks occurred at least as early as 552 C.E., when the Turks spread from their northern settlements and established an empire extending from the Greater Khingan mountains to the Aral Sea and Sogdians farther west.

• CHINESE-IRANIAN RELATIONS

  Multiple Authors

  This series of articles deals with Chinese-Iranian relations spanning from Pre-Islamic times to the Constitutional Revolution in Iran.

• CHINESE-IRANIAN RELATIONS i. In Pre-Islamic Times

  Edwin G. Pulleyblank

  Contact between China and Iran was initiated toward the end of the 2nd century B.C.E. by the envoy Chang Ch’ien (Zhang Qian), who searched for the Yüeh-chih (Yue-zhi), a people that had migrated from the borders of China after having been defeated by the Hsiung-nu (Xiongnu).

• CHINESE-IRANIAN RELATIONS ii. Islamic Period to the Mongols

  J. M. Rogers

  Ṣīn in Arabic sources referred not only to China but also to eastern Turkestan and the Far East as a whole, whereas Chinese texts rarely distinguished among Persian, Central Asian, and Arab Muslims. 

• CHINESE-IRANIAN RELATIONS iii. In the Mongol Period

  Liu Yingsheng and Peter Jackson

  The incorporation of Persia into a vast empire that extended as far as China, following the conquests of Čengīz (Chinggis) Khan (q.v.: 602-24/1206-27) and his grandson Hülegü (Hūlāgū; 654-63/1256-65), inaugurated an era of intense contact between Persia and China. 

• CHINESE-IRANIAN RELATIONS iv. The Safavid Period, 1501-1732

  J. M. Rogers

  In the Safavid period relations with China were, unsurprisingly, indirect. In eastern Khorasan the Uzbeks and their successors blocked the land route to northwest­ern China through Transoxania.

• CHINESE-IRANIAN RELATIONS v. Diplomatic and Commercial Relations, 1949-90

  Parviz Mohajer

  There were three distinct periods in Chinese-Persian diplomatic relations: 1328-49 Š./1949-70, 1350-57 Š./ 1971-78, and 1358-69 Š./1979-90.

• CHINESE-IRANIAN RELATIONS vi. Relations with Afghanistan in the Modern Period

  Daniel Balland

  Throughout history China and Afghanistan shared a certain amount of trade, mostly tea and fruit, via the direct caravan route from Chinese Turkestan across the high passes of the Pamirs and the Wāḵān corridor to northern Afghanistan.

• CHINESE-IRANIAN RELATIONS vii. Persian Settlements in Southeastern China during the T’ang, Sung, and Yuan Dynasties

  Chen Da-Sheng

  The ports along the southeastern coast of China had a long history of trade with Persia before the coming of Islam. In addition, there is considerable evidence for the settlement of early Muslims, including Persians, in China.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• CHINESE-IRANIAN RELATIONS viii. Persian Language and Literature in China

  EIr

  The earliest Persian inscription in China is the tombstone of the Zoroastrian Ma (Pahl. *Māhnūš), wife of General Su-liang (Pahl. Farroxzād; Humbach), inscribed in both Pahlavi and Chinese and dated 874, has been discovered at Xi-an, the capital of Shan-xi province.

• CHINESE-IRANIAN RELATIONS ix. Persian Language Teaching in Modern China

  EIr

  Persian has been taught in Muslim schools in China since the 1920s.

• CHINESE-IRANIAN RELATIONS x. China in Medieval Persian Literature

  Djalal Khaleghi-Motlagh

  In medieval writings Čīn may mean either China proper or eastern Turkestan; when it refers to the latter China proper is sometimes called Māčīn (contraction of Skt. Mahāčīna “great China”).

• CHINESE-IRANIAN RELATIONS xi. Mutual Influence of Chinese and Persian Ceramics

  Oliver Watson

  Chinese ceramics were the single most important stimulus to the development of fine pottery in the Islamic world, arriving first in the 3rd/9th century.

• CHINESE-IRANIAN RELATIONS xii. Mutual Influences in Painting

  Toh Sugimura

  In the Chinese cultural sphere Persian artistic influence was at its peak under the Tang dynasty (618-906 c.e.), contemporary with the end of the Sasanian period (30/651) and the first centuries after the Islamic conquest.

• CHINESE-IRANIAN RELATIONS xiii. Eastern Iranian Migrations to China

  Étienne de la Vaissière

  There are two different stages in the history of Eastern Iranian migrations to China: the first, still extremely obscure, is dominated by Bactrian immigrants, coming from Bactriana and the Kushan empire, and the second, from the fourth to the ninth century CE is dominated by Sogdians.

• CHINESE-IRANIAN RELATIONS xiv. The Influence of Eastern Iranian Art

  M. L. Carter

  The output of Chinese artisanship, especially in bronze, jade, ceramics, and silk textiles is unparalleled in Asia, and influences from non-Chinese sources were quickly assimilated and often transformed into an aesthetic vocabulary beyond easy recognition of their origin.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• CHINESE-IRANIAN RELATIONS xv. THE LAST SASANIANS IN CHINA

  Matteo Compareti

  Information on those Sasanians who avoided the submission to the Arabs and lived in Central Asia or at the Tang court can be found in the works of Muslim authors and in Chinese sources.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• CHINESE-IRANIAN RELATIONS xvi. Impact of the Constitutional Revolution in Iran

  Yidan Wang

  The Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1905-11 attracted the attention of the Chinese constitutionalists and revolutionaries immediately upon breaking out.

• CHINGGIS KHAN

  Cross-Reference

  See ČENGĪZ KHAN.