Revisiting China and Iran in the First Millennium CE

Since the publication of Sino-Iranica by Berthold Laufer (1874–1934) in 1919, research on the relationship between Iran and China in late antiquity has been largely overlooked in favor of China’s connections with India and Central Asia. The field of the “Silk Road Studies” has not given Parthia and Sasanian Iran much attention. Similarly, Iranology and early Islamic Studies have generally not critically consulted contemporary Chinese sources. This talk will first highlight the importance of Iran to the evolution of Chinese civilization (religious, material, scientific, and social cultures). We will then examine the value of Chinese historical accounts of West Asia in the formative seventh century, pointing out that the records offer a notable but sometimes challenging interpretation of the events that lead to the downfall of the Sasanian state and the rise of the Arabs.