Chinese people in Iran

Ethnic group

Chinese-Iranians/Chinese-PersiansTotal population

5,000 - 9,000
Regions with significant populations
Tehran and other major cities
Languages
Chinese; Persian (not widely spoken)
Religion
Christianity * Buddhism * Islam * non-provocative Atheism * Other
Related ethnic groups
Overseas Chinese

Chinese people in Iran form one of the smaller groups of overseas Chinese; Iran's total Chinese population is estimated at between 2,000 and 3,000 people.[1]

## History

[edit]

Han Chinese general Guo Baoyu campaigned with Genghis in Central Asia against the Khwarezmian empire and his grandson Guo Kan campaigned under Hulagu at the Nizari fortresess of Maymundiz and Alamut as well as at Baghdad in 1258 in Iraq. They were direct descendants of Guo Ziyi.[2][3]

Khitan and Han Chinese administrators were sent to Bukhara and Samarqand to govern by the Mongols in the 1220s and this was witnessed by Qiu Chuji on his way to meet Genghis Khan in Afghanistan.[4] Chinese siege engineers were deployed in Iran and Iraq by the Ilkhanate.[5][6] The Khitan Yelü Chucai was sent by the Mongols to Central Asia[7][8]

The war between Qaidu and Kublai wrecked the economy of Uighuria (Qocho) and stopped trade between China and West Asia and Europe.[9] During the war between Kublai Khan and Kaidu the Uyghurs of Qocho fled Qaidu's assaults into Gansu under Yuan control from Turfan, in 1283 placing Yongchang as their capital and between 1270-1275 making Gansu's city of Qamil their capital. Uyghur subjects fled along with the royal court.[10] The Mongols sent new people to repopulate the Jaxartes river (lower Syr Darya) based city of Yangikent (Iamkint or Sakint) after deporting and killing the natives. The upper Yenisei region of Qianqianzhou received many Han Chinese artisans and the western Mongolia based military base and granary city of Chinqai received many Han Chinese artisans put there by Mongols as heard in 1221-1222 by Li Zhichang who was going to Central Asia. Kublai khan sent southern Han Chinese farmers from the Southern Song repeatedly to the Siberian Kyrgyz region of Yenisei in 1272 and before that year as well. He also sent them farming equipment and oxen. Tanguts, Khitans and Han Chinese were sent to take care of gardens and fields in the depopulated and sacked city of Samarkand where only 25% of the original 100,000 households survived the Mongol sacking and Han Chinese artisans were "everywhere" in the ruined city as witnessed on 3 December 1221. They managed to rehabilitate and reconstruct the city since Samarqand was praised as a productive flourishing area before at least 1225 when the Khitan Yelu Chucai came there. Mongke send Chang De to Hulagu in 1259. He went across Central Asia. He said "numerous Chinese growing wheat, barley, millet and [other] grains" lived around Lake Qizilbash and the Ulungur river in north Dzungaria and the cities of Almaliq and Tiermuer Chancha had many Han Chinese from Shaanxi in the Ili river valley. He said "the Muslim populace [there] has become mixed with the Chinese and over time their customs have gradually come to resemble those of the Middle Kingdom."[11] During Mongke's rule in the 1250s in Iran in the 13th century, Iran received thousands of Han Chinese farmers. Han Chinese were the plurality in the Iranian Azerbaijan city of Khoy as of 1340 as testified by Mustawfi. Han Chinese in Khoy and Tabriz in Iranian Azerbaijan were originally sent to Marv by the Mongols before being sent to the Iranian Azerbaijani cities as recorded by Rashid al-Din.[12]

Rashid al-din said that the Chinese millet grain known as tuki was brought by Han Chinese first to Marv in Turkmenistan and then to Iranian Azerbaijan in Khoy and Tabriz. Later Han Chinese were reported to be the most significant ethnicity generations later in Khoi around 1340 when Mustawfi wrote about them.[13] Rashid al-din wrote it in 1310. And local Muslims in Almalik lived with Han Chinese and Han Chinese were employed as guards and millet, barley and wheat farmers around Beshbalik and worked in Samarkand as seen in 1259 by Liu Yu. Wheat and hemp were grown next to mud huts near the Kerulun river by Han Chinese farmers in 1247 near Karakorum as seen by Zhang Dehui. Han Chinese made up 70% of herders in Mongolia as seen by Xuting and Peng Daya. Siberia's Upper Yeniesei area, Samarkand and western Mongolia all had Han Chinese craftsmen as seen by Li Zhichang in 1221-1222. He visited Balkh, Samarkand, Tashkent when he went to Central Asia and Mongolia form Shandong.[14][15][16][17]

The Tabriz based Rob'-e Rashidi and the Maraghe observatory in Ilkhanid Iran had scientists and scholars of Chinese origin. The "Book of Precious Presents or the Medicine of the Chinese People" (Tansuq-name ya tebb-e ahl-e Kheta) was translated by people working under RAshid-al-Din Fazl-Allah to Persian from Chinese and it was about Chinese medicine.[18]

Rashid al-Din wrote about Chinese culture and history.[19][20] Oljeitu's birth was witnessed by Rashid al-Din.[21] The Sunni convert Jew Rashid al-Din was executed after the Ilkhanate became Shia.[22]

Han Chinese were sent to the Upper Yenisei valley as weavers, into Samarkand and Outer Mongolia as craftsmen as noticed by Ch'ang-ch'un in 1221-22 when he travelled to Kabul from Beijing and they moved to Russia and Iran. The Euphrates and Tigris basins were irrigated by Chinese hydraulic engineers and in 1258 at the siege of Baghdad one of Hulagu Khan's generals was Han Chinese. Because of the Mongols, Chinese influenced architecture, music, ceramics and Persian miniatures in the Golden Horde and Il-khan. Han Chinese, Mongols, Uighurs, Venetians and Geonese all lived in Tabriz were paper money was introduced and movable type printing and wood engraving as well as paper money, printed fabrics and playing cards spread from china to Europe due to the Mongols. wood engraving which was Chinese was mentioned in the 1313 book "Treasure of the Il-khan on the Sciences of Cathay" which was about Chinese medicine and translated by Rashid al-Din.[23] The Mongols brought the Chinese idea of paper currency to Iran in 1294 where the name of the currency, chaw, was taken from the Chinese word Chao.[24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33]

During the Safavid dynasty, Abbas I (reigned 1587-1629) brought 300 Chinese potters to Iran to enhance local production of Chinese-style ceramics.[34] From E. Sykes's "Persia and Its People": "Early in the seventeenth century, Shah Abbas imported Chinese workmen into his country to teach his subjects the art of making porcelain, and the Chinese influence is very strong in the designs on this ware. Chinese marks are also copied, so that to scratch an article is sometimes the only means of proving it to be of Persian manufacture, for the Chinese glaze, hard as iron, will take no mark."[35][36]

Of the Chinese Li family in Quanzhou, Li Nu, the son of Li Lu, visited Hormuz in Persia in 1376, converted to Islam, married a Persian or an Arab woman, and brought her back to Quanzhou. Li Nu was the ancestor of the Ming Dynasty reformer Li Chih.[37][38]

In 1756, the Dutch reported that 80 Chinese families lived in Kharg Island, where they worked as farmers.[39][40][41][42]

The numbers of expatriates from the People's Republic of China began to increase noticeably between 2002 and 2005.[43]

## Business and employment

[edit]

Most modern Chinese expatriates work on construction or other engineering projects; a few run import/export companies or other small businesses. Large-scale investment projects are also becoming more common; businessmen from Zhejiang began building Iran's first Chinese trade complex in 2006. The 330,000 square-metre site in the south of the country, located five kilometres from Khorramshahr and twenty kilometres from the Iraqi border, is expected to contain 1,500 businesses and cost RMB600 million to complete.[1][44]

## Cultural integration

[edit]

One People's Daily reporter described Chinese people in Iran often have trouble adapting to local life. They live in a separate sphere from Iranians. Most cannot speak much Persian. Because the number of Chinese in the country is so small, Chinese people are typically taken to be Koreans or Japanese people instead, unlike in other countries where the opposite mistake is more common. Chinese cuisine is largely unavailable.[43][45] Aside from Chinese people married to Iranians, international students are the group of Chinese in Iran best integrated into mainstream society, in terms of lifestyle and language. Their total number is estimated at 100; unlike other Chinese residents, most live outside of Tehran, because the number of scholarships offered by universities in the capital has been decreasing.[1] There is a small Chinatown in Iran built on a Chinese theme, known as Mahale Chiniha.

## See also

[edit]

* China portal
* Iran portal

* China–Iran relations
* Chinese diaspora
* Immigration to Iran
* Iranians in China
* Koreans in Iran

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c "伊朗国内局势稳定 人们不太相信会爆发战争" [Iran's domestic situation stable; people don't really think war will break out], Xinhua News, 2007-02-08, archived from the original on October 24, 2012, retrieved 2009-04-27
2. ^ 宋first=濂. "卷149#郭寶玉〈〔德海_侃〕〉[8]". 元史.
3. ^ 宋first=濂 (1920). "卷146 (卷一百四十六 列傳第四十三)". 元新元史. 柯劭忞.
4. ^ Buell, Paul D. "Sino-Khitan Administration in Mongol Bukhara." Journal of Asian History, vol. 13, no. 2, 1979, pp. 121–51. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41930343. Accessed 28 Jul. 2022.
5. ^ Raphael, Kate. “Mongol Siege Warfare on the Banks of the Euphrates and the Question of Gunpowder (1260-1312).” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 19, no. 3, 2009, pp. 355–70. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/27756073. Accessed 28 Jul. 2022.
6. ^ Li, Chi Ch'ang (1888). The Travels of Ch'ang Ch'un to the West, 1220-1223 recorded by his disciple Li Chi Ch'ang. Translated by E. Bretschneider.
7. ^ Schivatcheva, Tina (2017-12-13). ""Impressions of Early 13th century Central Asia as seen in the poetry of Yelü Chucai": a guest lecture by Dr. Sally Church with Prof. Qiu Jiangning". Joined-up History.
8. ^ Ye-lü, Ch'u ts'ai (1888). Account of a Journey to the West (Si Yu Lu), 1219-1224. Translated by E. Bretschneider.
9. ^ Biran, Michal (2013). Qaidu and the Rise of the Independent Mongol State In Central Asia. Central Asia Research Forum. Routledge. p. 57\. ISBN 978-1136800375.
10. ^ Allen, Thomas T. (2014). "Six : Population Movements in Mongol Eurasia". In Amitai, Reuven; Biran, Michal (eds.). Nomads as Agents of Cultural Change: The Mongols and Their Eurasian Predecessors. Perspectives on the Global Past (illustrated ed.). University of Hawaii Press. p. 129\. ISBN 978-0824847890.
11. ^ Allen, Thomas T. (2014). "Six : Population Movements in Mongol Eurasia". In Amitai, Reuven; Biran, Michal (eds.). Nomads as Agents of Cultural Change: The Mongols and Their Eurasian Predecessors. Perspectives on the Global Past (illustrated ed.). University of Hawaii Press. p. 130\. ISBN 978-0824847890.
12. ^ Allen, Thomas T. (2014). "Six : Population Movements in Mongol Eurasia". In Amitai, Reuven; Biran, Michal (eds.). Nomads as Agents of Cultural Change: The Mongols and Their Eurasian Predecessors. Perspectives on the Global Past (illustrated ed.). University of Hawaii Press. p. 131\. ISBN 978-0824847890.
13. ^ Allsen, Thomas T. (2004). Culture and Conquest in Mongol Eurasia. Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization (illustrated, reprint, revised ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 121\. ISBN 052160270X.
14. ^ Ebrey, Patricia Buckley (2016). "9 State-Forced Relocations in China, 900-1300". In Ebrey, Patricia Buckley; Smith, Paul Jakov (eds.). State Power in China, 900-1325 (illustrated ed.). University of Washington Press. p. 324\. ISBN 978-0295998480.
15. ^ LAMBTON, A.K.S (2021). "The Athwar Wa Ahya' of Rashid Al-Din Fadl Allah Hamadani and His Contribution As an Agronomist, Arboriculturist and Horiculturist". In Morgan, Reuven Amitai-Preiss (ed.). The Mongol Empire and its Legacy. Islamic History and Civilization. Brill. p. 148\. ISBN 978-9004492738.
16. ^ Biran, Michal (2005). The Empire of the Qara Khitai in Eurasian History: Between China and the Islamic World (illustrated, reprint ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 96\. ISBN 0521842263.
17. ^ Biran, Michal (2001). JSAI., Volume 25. Magnes Press, The Hebrew University. p. 54.
18. ^ Vesel, Ziva; Brentjes, Sonja (2021). "Chapter 4 Science in Persian". In Utas, Bo (ed.). Persian Prose: A History of Persian Literature, Vol V. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 255\. ISBN 978-0755617814.
19. ^ Boyd, Kelly, ed. (1999). Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing, Volume 1. Taylor & Francis. p. 1466\. ISBN 1884964338.
20. ^ National Union Catalog: A Cumulative Author List Representing Library of Congress Printed Cards and Titles Reported by Other American Libraries. Library of Congress catalogs. Contributor Library of Congress. Processing Department. Library of Congress. 1979.`{{cite book}}`: CS1 maint: others (link)
21. ^ Kamola, Stefan (2019). "3 Beyond History: Rashid Al-Din and Iranian Kingship". In Babaie, Sussan (ed.). Iran After the Mongols. The Idea of Iran. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 66\. ISBN 978-1786736017.
22. ^ Gettleman, Marvin E.; Schaar, Stuart, eds. (2012). The Middle East and Islamic World Reader (revised ed.). Open Road + Grove/Atlantic. ISBN 978-0802194527.
23. ^ Gernet, Jacques (1996). Cambridge University Press (ed.). A History of Chinese Civilization. Translated by J. R. Foster, Charles Hartman (illustrated, reprint, revised ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 377\. ISBN 0521497817.
24. ^ Millard's Review of the Far East, Volume 3. China Monthly Review. 1917. p. 256.
25. ^ Millard's Review, Volumes 3-4. Millard Publishing Company. 1918. p. 256.
26. ^ Millard's Review of the Far East, Volume 3. Millard Publishing Company. 1917. p. 256.
27. ^ Spalding, William Frederick (1920). Eastern Exchange, Currency and Finance (3 ed.). Sir I. Pitman & Sons. p. 226.
28. ^ "Eastern exchange, currency and finance". 1917.
29. ^ The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Volume 2. Brill. 1965. p. 14.
30. ^ Bibliography : K. Jahn, Das iranische Papier- geld, ArO, x (1938), 308-340; B. Spuler, Die Mongolen in Iran^, 1955, 88-89, 301-302, and the sources and publications listed in these two works. (K. Jahn)
31. ^ "The CaOy made of the bark of the mulberry-tree, was oblong in shape and, in addition to some Chinese signs, bore the ^hdda. Underneath this was the name ..."
32. ^ "The Cao, made of the bark of the mulberry- tree, was oblong in shape and, in addition to some Chinese signs, bore the shahdda. Underneath this was the name ..."
33. ^ Jabbari, Alexander. "In 1294, the Mongols introduced the first paper currency in the Islamic world to Iran: چاو chāw (from Chinese 鈔 chāo). It turned out to be a disaster, throwing the capital Tabriz into chaos and threatening the downfall of the empire".
34. ^ Newman, Andrew J. (2006), "Monumental Challenge and Monumental Responses: the reign of Abbas I (1587-1629)", Safavid Iran: rebirth of a Persian empire, I. B. Tauris, p. 69, ISBN 978-1-86064-667-6
35. ^ Francis Barrow Pearce (1920). Zanzibar: the island metropolis of eastern Africa. Great Britain: Dutton. p. 359. Retrieved March 12, 2012. "interest to quote the following extract from E. Sykes's Persia and Its People: "Early in the seventeenth century, Shah Abbas imported Chinese workmen into his country to teach his subjects the art of making porcelain, and the Chinese influence is very strong in the designs on this ware. Chinese marks are also copied, so that to scratch an article is sometimes the only means of proving it to be of Persian manufacture, for the Chinese glaze, hard as iron, will take no mark.""
36. ^ Francis Barrow Pearce (1920). Zanzibar: the island metropolis of eastern Africa. Great Britain: Dutton. p. 430. Retrieved March 12, 2012. "Shah Abbas, 202; his name mentioned on bronze guns at Zanzibar, 200; imports Chinese artisans to teach the art of pottery-making, 350"
37. ^ Association for Asian studies (1976), A-L, Volumes 1-2, Ann Arbor, Michigan: Columbia University Press, p. 817, ISBN 0-231-03801-1, retrieved 2010-06-29
38. ^ 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.
39. ^ W. G. Clarence-Smith (1989), The Economics of the Indian Ocean slave trade in the nineteenth century, Psychology Press, p. 69, ISBN 0-7146-3359-3, retrieved 2010-08-29
40. ^ Maghan Keita (2002), Conceptualizing/re-conceptualizing Africa: the construction of African historical identity, Brill, p. 82, ISBN 90-04-12420-9, retrieved 2010-08-29
41. ^ Patrick Manning (1996), Slave trades, 1500-1800: globalization of forced labour, Variorum, p. 288, ISBN 0-86078-512-2, retrieved 2010-08-29
42. ^ Taylor & Francis (1988), Slavery & abolition, Volume 9; Volume 9, F. Cass, p. 69, retrieved 2010-08-29
43. ^ a b "伊朗印象/Impressions of Iran", China Central Television, 2005-06-08, archived from the original on 2013-01-19, retrieved 2007-09-06
44. ^ "浙商投6億在伊朗建"中國商貿城" 同時針對伊拉克" [Zhejiang businessmen spend RMB600 million to build Iranian "Chinese commerce city"; take aim at Iraq at the same time], 东方早报/Oriental Daily, 2006-06-06, retrieved 2007-09-06
45. ^ 刘守望/Liu Shouwang (2006-08-07), "伊朗华人过得挺安逸" [Iran's Chinese live quite comfortably], People's Daily, archived from the original on 2011-07-16, retrieved 2007-09-06

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Immigration to Iran

By country|

* Afghans
* Chinese
* Indians
* Iraqis
* Lebanese
* Kazakhs
* Koreans
* Russians
* Pakistanis
* Poles

See also|

* Demographics of Iran
* Ethnicities in Iran
* Human trafficking in Iran
* Iranian citizens abroad

* v
* t
* e

Ethnic groups in Iran

Locals|

* Persians 53%
* Azerbaijanis 16%
* Kurds 10%
* Gilaks 4%
* Mazandaranis 4%
* Lurs 6%
* Arabs 2%
* Balochs 2%
* Turkmens and other Turkic people 2%
* Others 1%
* Talysh
* Tats
* Armenians
* Georgians
* Assyrians
* Circassians
* Jews
* Afro-Iranians
* Zagari

Immigrants and expatriates|

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* e

Immigration to Iran

By country|

* Afghans
* Chinese
* Indians
* Iraqis
* Lebanese
* Kazakhs
* Koreans
* Russians
* Pakistanis
* Poles

See also|

* Demographics of Iran
* Ethnicities in Iran
* Human trafficking in Iran
* Iranian citizens abroad

* v
* t
* e

Overseas Chinese

Africa|

| North|

* Algeria
* Egypt
* Libya
* Morocco

|

West|

* Cape Verde
* Ghana
* Mali
* Nigeria
* Senegal

East|

* Ethiopia
* Kenya
* Tanzania
* Uganda

Central|

* Cameroon
* Democratic Republic of Congo
* Republic of Congo

Southern|

* Angola
* Botswana
* Lesotho
* Madagascar
* Malawi
* Mauritius
* Mozambique
* Namibia
* Réunion1
* Seychelles
* South Africa
* Zambia
* Zimbabwe

Americas|

| Caribbean|

* Belize
* Cuba
* Dominican Republic
* Guyana
* Haiti
* Jamaica
* Puerto Rico
* Suriname
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|

North|

* Canada
* from Hong Kong
* from Taiwan
* British Columbia (Vancouver)
* Toronto
* Mexico
* United States
* from Hong Kong
* from Taiwan
* by city and state

Central|

* Costa Rica
* Nicaragua
* Panama

South|

* Argentina
* Brazil
* Chile
* Guyana
* Peru
* Suriname
* Uruguay
* Venezuela

Asia|

| Central|

* Kazakhstan
* Kyrgyzstan

|

East|

* Japan
* Korea
* Mongolia

Southeast|

* Brunei
* Cambodia
* Hokkien
* East Timor
* Indonesia
* Benteng Chinese
* Peranakan Chinese
* Bangka-Belitung
* Laos
* Malaysia
* Peranakan / Baba Nyonya / Straits Chinese
* Sino-Native
* Myanmar
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* Philippines
* Sangley
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* Thailand
* Chin Haw
* Phuket Baba
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* Ngái
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* San Diu

South|

* Bangladesh
* India
* Pakistan
* Sri Lanka

West|

* Iran
* Israel
* Turkey
* United Arab Emirates

Europe|

| Northern|

* Denmark
* Finland
* Sweden

|

Western|

* Belgium
* France
* Paris
* Germany
* Ireland
* Netherlands
* United Kingdom
* from Hong Kong
* London

Southern|

* Italy
* Portugal
* Spain

Eastern|

* Bulgaria
* Czech Republic
* Romania
* Russia
* Serbia
* Turkey

Oceania|

* Australia (from Hong Kong)
* Fiji
* Hawaii
* Palau
* New Zealand
* Papua New Guinea
* Samoa
* Tonga

1 An overseas department of France in the western Indian Ocean. See also: Hong Kong Diaspora

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