Iranians in China

Iranian people have lived in China throughout various periods in Chinese history.

History

The Parthian Iranians, An Shigao and An Xuan, introduced Buddhism to China.

A village dating back 600 years in Yungju in Jiangsu province, China, has inhabitants descended from Iranians. It has 27,000 people and contains Iranian places names like Fars and Parsian.[1]

Prominent Iranian families

Many Iranians took the Chinese name Li to use as their last name when they moved to China. One prominent family included Li Xian (Li Hsien) and Li Xun (Li Hsün). Sources say that either one of them was responsible for writing the "Hai Yao Ben Cao" (Hai yao pen ts'ao), translating to "Pharmacopoeia of foreign drugs".[2] Li Xun was interested in foreign drugs and his book, The Haiyao Bencao, was all about foreign drugs. His family sold drugs for a living.[3][4]

Li Hsien (Li Xian) had an older sister, Li Shun-Hsien (Li Shunxian), who was known for being beautiful, and a brother older than both of them named Li Hsün (Li Xun). They lived at the court of the royal family of Former Shu in Chengdu (modern day Sichuan). Li Shun-hsien also was a poet. Their family had come to China in 880 and were a wealthy merchant family. Li Hsien dealt with Daoist alchemy, perfumes and drugs.[5]

The Huang Chao rebellion had earlier made their family flee. Li Su-sha, an Iranian who dealt in the incense trade, is speculated to be the grandfather of the three siblings.[6]

Lo Hsiang- Lin wrote a biography of the three siblings. The family were Nestorian Christians. The two brothers then became Daoist. Li Hsün was also a poet who wrote in the manner of Chinese Song poetry. Li Hsien used urine to concoct "steroid sex hormones".[7]

Iranians dominated the drug trade in China. In 824 Li Susha presented to Emperor Jingzong, the Chen xiang ting zi, a type of drug.[8]

Li Hsün (Li Xun) wrote poems in the tz'u style and was one of its masters. He and his brother Li Hsien (Li Xian) traded in the drug business. The family lived in Sichuan.[9]

Li Hsün (Li Xun) was known for his poetry . He was the author of Hai Yao Pen Tshao. He and his brother Li Hsien (Li Xian) were well known perfume merchants who lived in the 900s AD. They lived at the state of Shu's court.[10][11]

Li Hsün (Li Xun) and Li Hsien (Li Xian) were two brothers from an Iranian family who lived in Shu in Sichuan. the author of the Hai Yao Pen Tshao was Li Xun while the "alchemist" "naturalist" and "chess master" Li Xian wrote poetry like his brother.[12]

Iranian women

From the tenth to twelfth century, Persian women were to be found in Guangzhou (Canton), some of them in the tenth century like Mei Zhu in the harem of the Emperor Liu Chang, and in the twelfth century large numbers of Persian women lived there, noted for wearing multiple earrings and "quarrelsome dispositions".[13][14] It was recorded that "The Po- ssu-fu at Kuang-chou make holes all round their ears. There are some who wear more than twenty ear-rings."[15] Descriptions of the sexual activities between Liu Chang and the Persian woman in the Song dynasty book the "Ch'ing-i-lu" by T'ao Ku were so graphic that the "Memoirs of the Research Department of the Toyo Bunko (the Oriental Library), Issue 2" refused to provide any quotes from it while discussing the subject.[16] Liu had free time with the Persian women by delegating the task of governing to others.[17] Multiple women originating from the Persian Gulf lived in Guangzhou's foreign quarter, they were all called "Persian women" (波斯婦 Po-ssu-fu or Bosifu).[18]

Some scholars did not differentiate between Persian and Arab, and some say that the Chinese called all women coming from the Persian Gulf "Persian Women".[19]

The young Chinese Emperor Liu Chang of the Southern Han dynasty had a harem, including one Persian girl he nicknamed Mei Zhu, which means "Beautiful Sow"(美豬). Liu liked the Persian girl (Mei Zhu) because of her brown skin color, described in French as "peau mate" (olive or light brown skinned). He and the Persian girl also liked to forced young couples to go naked and played with them in the palace.[20][21] and he favored her by "doting" on her. During the first year of his reign, he was not over sixteen years old when he had a taste for intercourse with Persian girls.[22] The Persian girl was called a "princess".[23]

Descriptions of the sexual activities between Liu Chang and the Persian woman in the Song dynasty book the "Ch'ing-i-lu" by T'ao Ku were so graphic that the "Memoirs of the Research Department of the Toyo Bunko (the Oriental Library), Issue 2" refused to provide any quotes from it while discussing the subject.[16] Liu had free time with the Persian women by delegating the task of governing to others.[17]

The Wu Tai Shï says that 'Liu Ch'ang [劉鋹], Emperor of the Southern Han dynasty reigning at Canton, about A.D. 970. "was dallying with his palace girls and Persian [波斯] women in the inner apartments, and left the government of his state to the ministers."[24] The History of the Five Dynasties (Wu Tai Shih) stated that- "Liu Chang then with his court- ladies and Po-ssu woman, indulged in amorous affiurs in the harem".[25]

Of the Chinese Li family in Quanzhou, Li Nu, the son of Li Lu, visited Hormuz in Persia in 1376, married a Persian or an Arab girl, and brought her back to Quanzhou. Li Nu was the ancestor of the Ming Dynasty reformer Li Chih.[26][27]

20th century

A prominent parsi community existed in Hong Kong, and dominated the opium trade.[28]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "In China, a 600-year-old Village Continues Iranian Tradition". The Circle of Ancient Iranian Studies (CAIS). 23 July 2003.
  2. ↑ Yarshater (1993). William Bayne Fisher; Yarshater, Ilya Gershevitch, eds. The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 3 (reprint ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 553. ISBN 0-521-20092-X. Retrieved January 4, 2012. Probably by the 7th century Persians had joined with Arabs to create the foreign emporium on the Grand Canal at Yangchou mentioned by the New T'ang History. The same source records a disturbance there in 760 in which a thousand of the merchants were killed.. . .Some Persian families residing at the Chinese capital had adopted the surname Li. Their riches were proverbial, so that the idea of a "poor Persian" could be listed as a paradox.. .As late as the 10th century Li Hsien, the descendant of a Persian family which had settled in China under the Sui, composed a "Pharmacopoeia of foreign drugs" (Hai yao pen ts'ao) and was known as a Taoist adept with special skill in arsenical medicines.
  3. ↑ Carla Suzan Nappi (2009). The monkey and the inkpot: natural history and its transformations in early modern China (illustrated ed.). Harvard University Press. p. 30. ISBN 0-674-03529-1. Retrieved January 4, 2012. The Haiyao bencao [Bencao of overseas drugs], compiled by Li Xun (fl. 923), survives only in reconstructions from later texts in which it was cited.90 Li Xun's compendium was apparently devoted entirely to drugs imported from India and Persia, a focus that is reflected in the few surviving drug descriptions from the texts. Li Xun's Persian ancestry and the fact that his family ran a business selling aromatic drugs probably stirred his interest in foreign materia medica.91 The text itself is notable not simply for its treatments of the medicinal uses of exotica.
  4. ↑ Carla Suzan Nappi (2009). The monkey and the inkpot: natural history and its transformations in early modern China (illustrated ed.). Harvard University Press. p. 114. ISBN 0-674-03529-1. Retrieved January 4, 2012. One of the sources of such names, widely cited in the discussion of animals because many of the shellfish in the Bencao hailed from the "South Seas" and other foreign contexts, was Li Xun, the Chinese-born Persian discussed earlier whose family made a living by selling fragrant herbs. His Haiyao bencao recorded many drugs of foreign origin. These objects were of particular import to Li Shizhen, as drugs from remote regions were considered especially valuable in the Ming medical marketplace.
  5. ↑ Joseph Needham (1986). Joseph Needham, ed. Science and civilisation in China: Biology and biological technology. Botany. Volume 6, Part 1 of Science and Civilisation in China. Cambridge University Press. p. 276. ISBN 0-521-08731-7. Retrieved January 4, 2012. In the Former Shu State, in the capital of Chhengtu, between the years +919 and +925, one could have met at the court of the reigning house of Wang a remarkable girl named Li Shun-Hsien3, ornamenting the age by her poetic talent no less than her beauty. Together with her two brothers, the younger Li Hsien4 and the elder Li Hsiin5, she came of a family of Persian origin which had settled in West China about + 88o,b acquiring wealth and renown as ship-owners and merchants in the spice trade. c Li Hsien was a student of perfumes and their distilled attars as well as a merchant,d but he also worked on Taoist alchemy and investigated the actions of inorganic medicaments. e The one who took up the brush was Li Hsiin, for about +923 he produced his Hai Tao Pen Tshao6 (Materia Medico of the Countries beyond the Seas )/ study of 12 1 plants and animals and their products, nearly all foreign, with at least 15 completely new introductions.8 His work as a naturalist was highly regarded by subsequent scholars, and often quoted in the later pandects.11 Li Hsiin was interested in all 'overseas' drugs, whether of the Arabic and Persian culture-areas or of East Indian and Malayo-Indonesian origin.
  6. ↑ Joseph Needham (1986). Joseph Needham, ed. Science and civilisation in China: Biology and biological technology. Botany. Volume 6, Part 1 of Science and Civilisation in China. Cambridge University Press. p. 276. ISBN 0-521-08731-7. Retrieved January 4, 2012. The family was fleeing from the rebellion of Huang Chhao in +878, cf. Vol. i, p. 216. Their grandfather may well have been the Persian incense merchant Li Su-Sha', whose dates would be between +820 and +840.
  7. ↑ Joseph Needham (1986). Joseph Needham, ed. Science and civilisation in China: Biology and biological technology. Botany. Volume 6, Part 1 of Science and Civilisation in China. Cambridge University Press. p. 276. ISBN 0-521-08731-7. Retrieved January 4, 2012. The best biography of Li Hsiin and his brother and sister is that by Lo Hsiang- Lin (4, 5). From some of the entries in his book, one can see that Li Hsiin, although by origin a Nestorian Christian, acquired a very Taoist belief in medicines which would promote longevity and material immortality. He wrote much poetry in the Northern Sung style. His brother, Li Hsien, was even more Taoist, and had much regard as an adept, engaging in the preparation ofc/ ihiu s/tih' (steroid sex hormones from urine, cf. Vol. 5, pt 5, pp. 311 ff.).
  8. ↑ Fuwei Shen; Jingshu Wu (1996). Cultural flow between China and outside world throughout history (illustrated ed.). Foreign Languages Press. p. 120. ISBN 7-119-00431-X. Retrieved January 4, 2012. The drug and herb traders consisted mainly of Persian merchants. One of them was a naturalized Chinese merchant of Persian origin called Li Susha, who was known for his wealth and his offering of the valuable aromatic drug chen xiang ting zi to Emperor Jingzong of the Tang Dynasty in 824. Later, in the turbulent era of the Five Dynasties, more people became known for their dealings in drugs or
  9. ↑ The Vermilion Bird. University of California Press. 1967. p. 83. Retrieved January 4, 2012. Outstanding among these innovators were two poets of tenth-century Szechwan, composers of tz'u-poems of irregular meter made to fit popular airs. Their names were Ou-yang Chiung and Li Hsiin. . . The story of Li Hsiin is more complicated.His ancestors were Persian. His younger brother Li Hsiian sold aromatic drugs for a living in Szechwan.28 Most important for reconstructing his biography : was he the same person as the Li Hsiin who wrote an important treatise on imported drugs called The Basic Herbal of Overseas Drugs?
  10. ↑ Joseph Needham; Ling Wang; Gwei-djen Lu (1974). Science and civilisation in China, Volume 5, Part 2. Cambridge University Press. p. 136. ISBN 0-521-08571-3. Retrieved January 4, 2012. The +10th-century writings just mentioned were only a little later than the period of activity of two of the most remarkable perfume-merchants in Chinese history, Li Hsiin3 and his younger brother Li Hsien.4 Of a family originally Persian and resident at the court of Shu, independent Szechuan, the elder was a notable poet and naturalist, the writer of the Hai Yao Pen Tshao5 (Pharmaccutical Natural History of Overseas Drugs and Sea Products) often afterwards quoted. The youngerOriginal from the University of California
  11. ↑ Joseph Needham; Gwei-Djen Lu (1974). Chemistry and chemical technology, Volume 5. Cambridge University Press. p. 136. ISBN 0-521-08571-3. Retrieved January 4, 2012. The +10th-century writings just mentioned were only a little later than the period of activity of two of the most remarkable perfume-merchants in Chinese history, Li Hsiin3 and his younger brother Li Hsien.4 Of a family originally Persian and resident at the court of Shu, independent Szechuan, the elder was a notable poet and naturalist, the writer of the Hai Yao Pen Tshao5 (Pharmaccutical Natural History of Overseas Drugs and Sea Products) often afterwards quoted. The younger was an alchemist and herbalist, known for his expertise in perfumes and probably their distillation
  12. ↑ Joseph Needham; Ho Ping-Yü; Gwei-Djen Lu; Nathan Sivin (1980). Joseph Needham, ed. Science and civilisation in China: apparatus, theories and gifts. Chemistry and chemical technology. Spagyrical discovery and invention, Volume 5, Part 4 (illustrated, reprint ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 159. ISBN 0-521-08573-X. Retrieved January 4, 2012. Thao himself had probably seen this masterpiece, the constituents of which were said to have come in part from the conquered State of Shu in Szechuan. This reminds us that during the first thirty years of the century Shu had been the home of two outstanding experts on perfumes and aromatic drugs, Li Hsiin,4 the writer of the Hai Yao Pen Tshao* (Natural History of the Southern Countries beyond the Seas), and his younger brother Li Hsien,6 alchemist, naturalist, chess master and like Li Hsiin a poet.c The family was of Persian origin, and it is hard to believe that they were ignorant of the distillation of essential oils. Peppermint oil (po ho yu7) is said to be mentioned in the I Hsin Fang (Ishinho8) of +982, which would imply steam distillation.,
  13. ↑ Walter Joseph Fischel (1951). Walter Joseph Fischel, ed. Semitic and Oriental studies: a volume presented to William Popper, professor of Semitic languages, emeritus, on the occasion of his seventy-fifth birthday, October 29, 1949. Volume 11 of University of California publications in Semitic philology. University of California Press. p. 407. Retrieved January 4, 2012. At least from the tenth to the twelfth century, Persian women were to be found in Canton, in the former period observed among the inmates of the harem of Liu Ch'ang, Emperor of Southern Han,'2 and in the latter seen as typically wearing great numbers of earrings and cursed with quarrelsome dispositions.
  14. ↑ Walter Joseph Fischel, ed. (1951). Semitic and Oriental studies: a volume presented to William Popper, professor of Semitic languages, emeritus, on the occasion of his seventy-fifth birthday, October 29, 1949. Volume 11 of University of California publications in Semitic philology. University of California Press. p. 407. Retrieved January 4, 2012. At least from the tenth to the twelfth century, Persian women were to be found in Canton, in the former period observed among the inmates of the harem of Liu Ch'ang, Emperor of Southern Han,'2 and in the latter seen as typically wearing great numbers of earrings and cursed with quarrelsome dispositions.
  15. ↑ Tōyō Bunko (Japan). Kenkyūbu (1928). Memoirs of the Research Department of the Toyo Bunko (the Oriental Library), Issue 2. The Toyo Bunko. p. 52. Retrieved January 4, 2012. 17) Concerning the Po-sm-fu $L $f M, ie. the Persian women, Chttang Ch'o 3£$# towards the beginning of the South Sung, in his Chi-lei-pien WM, says: "The Po- ssu-fu at Kuang-chou make holes all round their ears. There are some who wear more than twenty ear-rings." M jW Hfc Sf £w. ... The ear-rings were much in fashion among the Persians in the reign of Sasan ( Spiegee, Erani^e/ie Alterthumskunde, Bd. Ill, s. 659), and after the conquest of the Saracens, the Moslem ladies had a still stronger passion for them (Hughes, Dictionary of Islam, p. 102).Original from the University of Michigan ()
  16. 1 2 Tōyō Bunko (Japan). Kenkyūbu (1928). Memoirs of the Research Department of the Toyo Bunko (the Oriental Library), Issue 2. The Toyo Bunko. p. 55. Retrieved January 4, 2012. and did not came out to see governmental business." [IF1] §§71#il5i$S£$l?;£c 3£ (2L« jfe3B,«/S+ a, SiaitB:*). In the Ch'ing-i-lu m »»(ed. of ttl&fFSSO attributed to T'AO Ku ft ft towards the beginning of the North Sung era, we have a minute description of Liu Chang's licentious conduct with the Po-ssu woman, but decency would forbid as to give quotations from the book.Original from the University of Michigan ()
  17. 1 2 Herbert Franke, ed. (1976). Sung biographies, Volume 2. Steiner. p. 620. ISBN 3-515-02412-3. Retrieved January 4, 2012. During his reign the number of castrati at the palace increased to about 5 000. Great power was also given to a palace beauty named Liu Ch'iung- hsien JäP) 3^ iA* , and especially to a female shaman Fan Hu-tzu ^ fcfi 3~ , who claimed to. . .But Liu was free to spend his days with the Persian girls in his harem, and to oversee the decoration of his splendid new palaces with costly substances. It is said that he used 3 000 taels of silver in making a single column of the ceremonial hall named Wan-cheng tien
  18. ↑ https://books.google.com/books?ei=wwr6TrmhAcW30AHYtMGeAg&id=rBIUAQAAMAAJ&dq=63+At+the+foreign+quarter%2C+there+lived+of+course+many+foreign+women%2C+and+they+were+called+by+the+Chinese+Po-ssu-fu+M+%24f+jgf+%28lit.+Persian+women%29%2C1%273+perhaps+because+most+of+them+came+from+near+the+Persian+Gulf.18%29+During+the+Five+Dynasties+3%C2%A3+ft+%28907-959%29%2C+Liu+Chang+H%2C+king+of+the+Nan-han+Wi+Wh%2C+had+in+his+harem+a+young+Persian+woman%2C+whom+he+doted+upon+so+much&q=young+persian+woman. Retrieved January 4, 2012. 63 At the foreign quarter, there lived of course many foreign women, and they were called by the Chinese Po-ssu-fu M $f jgf (lit. Persian women),1'3 perhaps because most of them came from near the Persian Gulf.18) During the Five Dynasties 3£ ft (907-959), Liu Chang H, king of the Nan-han Wi Wh, had in his harem a young Persian woman, whom he doted upon so much Missing or empty |title= (help)Original from the University of Michigan (63 At the foreign quarter, there lived of course many foreign women, and they were called by the Chinese Po-ssu-fu 波斯婦 (lit. Persian women),1'3 perhaps because most of them came from near the Persian Gulf.18) During the Five Dynasties 五代 (907-959), Liu Chang 劉鋹, king of the Nan-han 南漢, had in his harem a young Persian woman, whom he doted upon so much|title=Memoirs of the Research Department of the Toyo Bunko (the Oriental Library), Issue 2|year=1928|volume=|author=Tōyō Bunko (Japan). Kenkyūbu|editor=|edition=|location= |publisher=The Toyo Bunko |page=34|isbn=|Original from the University of Michigan ()
  19. ↑ History of Science Society, Académie internationale d'histoire des sciences (1939). Isis, Volume 30. Publication and Editorial Office, Dept. of History and Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania. p. 120. Retrieved February 9, 2011.
  20. ↑ Roger Darrobers (1998). Opéra de Pékin: théâtre et société à la fin de l'empire sino-mandchou. Bleu de Chine. p. 31. ISBN 2-910884-19-8. Retrieved January 4, 2012. L'expression trouvait son origine sous le règne de Liu Chang (958-971), ultime souverain des Han du sud (917-971), un des États apparus dans la Chine du nord après la chute des Tang, avant que les Song ne réalisent pour leur propre... Liu Chang se rallia au nouveau pouvoir qui lui conféra le titre de Marquis de la Bienveillante Amnistie 17. Son règne a laissé le souvenir de ses nombreuses dépravations. S'en remettant aux eunuques pour gouverner, il prenait plaisir à assister aux ébats de jeunes personnes entièrement dévêtues. Il avait pour favorite une Persane de seize ans, à la peau mate et aux formes opulentes, d'une extrême sensualité qu'il avait lui-même surnommée « Meizhu » (« Jolie Truie »). Il déambulait en sa compagnie parmi les couples s'ébattant dans les jardins du palais, spectacle baptisé « corps en duo », on rapporte qu'il aimait voir la Persanne livrée à d'autres partenaires 18.Original from the University of Michigan
  21. ↑ Xiu Ouyang; Richard L. Davis (2004). Historical records of the five dynasties (illustrated, annotated ed.). Columbia University Press. p. 544. ISBN 0-231-12826-6. Retrieved January 4, 2012. Liu Chang, originally named Jixing, had been invested Prince of Wei. . .Because court affairs were monopolized by Gong Chengshu and cohort, Liu Chang in the inner palace could play his debauched games with female attendants, including a Persian. He never again emerged to inquire of state affairs
  22. ↑ 文人誤會：宋真宗寫錯了一個字（5）
  23. ↑ HONG KONG BEFORE THE CHINESE THE FRAME, THE PUZZLE AND THE MISSING PIECES A lecture delivered on 18trh November 1963 by K. M. A. Barnett
  24. ↑ Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. North China Branch, Shanghai, China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. China Branch, Shanghai Literary and Scientific Society (1890). Journal of the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Volume 24. SHANGHAI: Kelly & Walsh. p. 299. Retrieved January 4, 2012.
  25. ↑ Tōyō Bunko (Japan). Kenkyūbu (1928). Memoirs of the Research Department of the Toyo Bunko (the Oriental Library), Issue 2. The Toyo Bunko. p. 54. Retrieved January 4, 2012. 22) In the Wu-tai-shih-cM 2.^ jfc,12, we read, "Liu Chang then with his court- ladies and Po-ssu woman, indulged in amorous affiurs in the harem The names of Po-li i£ >f Il ( = P'o-li JSiflJ) andOriginal from the University of Michigan ()
  26. ↑ Association for Asian studies (Ann Arbor;Michigan) (1976), A-L, Volumes 1-2, Columbia University Press, p. 817, ISBN 0-231-03801-1, retrieved 2010-06-29
  27. ↑ Chen, Da-Sheng. "CHINESE-IRANIAN RELATIONS vii. Persian Settlements in Southeastern China during the T'ang, Sung, and Yuan Dynasties". Encyclopedia Iranica. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  28. ↑ http://world.time.com/2013/07/17/in-hong-kong-a-once-prominent-parsi-community-faces-demise/
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