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.

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