366 the middle east
Sung, only about 10 of the 47 missions could theoretically have come
by land.^29 While these statistics are anything but exact, it is quite
certain that the majority of the Arab missions during T’ang came by
land and during Sung by sea.^30 It is also clear that the relations were
much closer during Sung than T’ang.
Although the caliphate was a powerful state and had inflicted a
serious defeat on China in 751, the T’ang and Sung upheld the fic-
tion that it was a tributary. In 966, T’ai-tsu even had the arrogance
to summon the caliph to his court. China and the caliphate were of
course equals, but separated by a vast distance. The Chinese emperors
conferred titles on Arab envoys but not on the caliphs. They did not
bother to recognize the caliphs. They did not declare official mourn-
ing at the death of a caliph, they conferred no posthumous titles on
the caliphs, and they sent no envoys to condole. The only common
political interest of the Chinese and Arabs was to restrain the Tibetans,
but they never cooperated against them. This makes it inescapable
that the chief purpose of the Arab missions was trade.
Fu-lin.
Fu-lin is generally accepted to be Syria. It does not mean Byzan-
tium, and the term king does not stand for the Byzantine emperor.
T’ang hui-yao 99:12a-12b states that Persia and Fu-lin were taken by
the Arabs between 661 and 663.^31 Consequently, Fu-lin became an
Arab possession and was no longer a Byzantine province. Hirth and
Rockhill conclude that the term “king of Fu-lin” means the Nestorian
Patriarch of Antioch.^32
In 643, envoys from the king of Fu-lin to the T’ang court presented
glass, red and green transparent glass, malachite, gold essence etc.
T’ai-tsung reponded with a letter stamped with the imperial seal and
thin silk (Chiu T’ang shu 198:16b; Ts’e-fu yüan-kuei p.5024).
(^29) For nine of these missions, the month of reception is not known.
(^30) The significant fact should also be noted that no animals were presented
during Sung.
(^31) The text is a few years off. The important town of Antioch in Syria was over-
run by the Arabs in 633, and Persia was taken in the 640’s.
(^32) Chau Ju-kua, pp.105 note 2, 280. O.Franke, Geschichte, vol.III, p.361, maintains
that Fu-lin is Byzantium.