ABSTRACT
China’s Belt and Road Initiative, building on the nostalgia associated with the ancient Silk Road, which ran across the Asian landmass, has rekindled interest in Eurasian connectivities of centuries past. Unlike pre-modern China’s irregular contact with Europe, its contacts with the Middle East were extensive during the early-Imperial era. Glassware was an important Iranian export into China from the Han era on. While sponsoring Muslims in high office, the Mongol rulers of China did not convert to Islam, unlike the Mongol rulers in much of the rest of the Mongol empire. It was during the Yuan era that Chinese Muslims in China were specifically referred to as Chinese Muslims for the first time, whereas previously they were known as either Arabs or Persian expatriates. The relationships which leaders today point to, between China and its West Asian neighbours, can be traced back to thousands of years of contact.
