Iran-China relations

Iran-China relations

Iran	China

Sino-Persian relations (Chinese: 中国－波斯关系, Pinyin: Zhōngguó-Buōsī guānxì, Persian: روابط ایران و چین) refers to the historic diplomatic, cultural and economic relations between the cultures of China proper and Greater Iran, dating back to ancient times, since at least 500 B.C. The Parthians and Sassanid empires (occupying much of present Iran and Central Asia) had various contacts with the Han and Tang Dynasty empires occupying what is now the People's Republic of China. The two ancient civilizations of Asia were further connected, both economically and culturally, via the Silk Road, for many centuries.

Mainly through trade on the Silk Road was it that Middle Persian words for exotic commodities were loaned into Chinese. Oddly, these loanwords are typically themselves loans from a pre-Iranian substrate, e.g. Elamite or BMAC:

The Chinese explorer Zhang Qian, who visited the neighbouring countries of Bactria and Sogdiana in 126 BCE, made the first known Chinese report on Parthia. In his accounts Parthia is named "Ānxī" (Chinese: 安息), a transliteration of "Arsacid", the name of the Parthian dynasty. Zhang Qian clearly identifies Parthia as an advanced urban civilization, which he equates to those of Dayuan (in Ferghana) and Daxia (in Bactria).

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