Iranians in China

Iranian people in China 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 It contains Iranian places names like Fars and Parsian.

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". 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.

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.

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.

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".

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

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.

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.

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. There is a famous Tencent qq for Iranians in china Group name also is "Iranians in china" Group id is 237329365 Welcome all iraninas

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". 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." 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. Liu had free time with the Persian women by delegating the task of governing to others. 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).

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".

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. 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. The Persian girl was called a "princess".

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. Liu had free time with the Persian women by delegating the task of governing to others.

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." 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".

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.

20th century

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

See also

• Tajiks of Xinjiang

External links

• Chinese of Arab and Persian descent