PERSIAN INFLUENCE ON CHINA

Female Polo Player

WHICH CAME FIRST? Persian Influence on China

by Lois Metcalf

The ongoing warfare in the Tigris and Euphrates valley has called our attention to the area often called the cradle of civilization. It is interesting to note that not only was this area (Iraq and Kuwait) a highly civilized land itself, but it also influenced Chinese culture and art.

During the T'ang Dynasty (618-907 AD), China enjoyed a truly golden age of exploration and expansion.  New palaces, new ideas, new cultures and new chattel were eagerly sought.  China looked west to India and further west to Persia for fresh influences.

Out of India, Buddhism was embraced and became an enduring political power, changing to meet Chinese needs and ideas.  Out of Persia came the working dog—used for hunting and carrying loads—and fine Arabian horse stock coupled with the "sport of kings," polo.  Whole strings of ponies were brought to China along with the sport of polo itself.  We know about the dog, the horse and polo because of the funerary art that has been and still is being uncovered in China.

During the T'ang Dynasty, important people were buried with clay figures—sometimes thousands of them—representing the good life they had led, and hoped to lead again, in the after-life.  Horse (73.22), MAG's polo player on her pony, is one of these figures.

Court Lady

In 667 AD an imperial edict restricting the riding of horses to the aristocracy was passed in China.  Riding became very popular at Court, and soon aristocratic women enjoyed it, too.  Over time, as women became more proficient at riding and began playing polo, they began to wear men's clothing.  That is why we are not positive that our polo player is either (1) playing  polo or (2) a woman.  We think so, though; and remember that nobody is ever 100 percent sure about anything in history.

Chinese hairstyles and clothing were also influenced by the Persian court.  The Court Lady (49.1) has an elaborate, spoked-wheel coiffure, the style of which was most likely excitedly brought home from a trip to Persia.  Her gracefully and artfully draped robes were probably Persian in their lines, and her turned-up toes are a puffier variation of the turned-up slippers of the Arabian nights.