Editing Foreign relations of China (section)

=====Medieval Era=====
During the [[Tang dynasty]], when relations with Arabs were first established, the Chinese called Arabs "Dàshí" ({{Lang|zh|大食}}).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Altera/dashi.html|title=Chinese History – Dashi 大食|author=Ulrich Theobald|access-date=19 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171029020558/http://chinaknowledge.de/History/Altera/dashi.html|archive-date=29 October 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=http://asiecentrale.revues.org/index623.html|title=A century of Chinese research on Islamic Central Asian history in retrospect|journal=Cahiers d'Asie Centrale|issue=9|pages=115–129|author=Yingsheng, Liu|access-date=19 February 2015|date=July 2001|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727215118/http://asiecentrale.revues.org/index623.html|archive-date=27 July 2011}}</ref> In modern Chinese, Dashi means Great Food. The modern term for Arab is "Ālābó" ({{Lang|zh|阿拉伯}}).<ref>{{Cite web|title=English translation of 阿拉伯半岛 ( Alabo Bandao / Ālābó Bàndăo ) – Arabia in Chinese|url=https://dictionary.hantrainerpro.com/chinese-english/translation-alabobandao_arabia.htm|access-date=24 March 2023|website=dictionary.hantrainerpro.com}}</ref>

The Arab Islamic [[Caliph]] [[Uthman Ibn Affan]] (r. 644–656) sent an embassy to the Tang court at Chang'an.<ref>{{citation|last=Twitchett|first=Denis|editor-last=van de Ven|editor-first=Hans|chapter=Tibet in Tang's Grand Strategy|title=Warfare in Chinese History|year=2000|publisher=Koninklijke Brill|location=Leiden|isbn=978-90-04-11774-7|pages=106–179 [125]}}</ref>

Although the Tang Dynasty and the [[Abbasid Caliphate]] had [[Battle of Talas|fought at Talas]], on 11 June 758, an [[Abbasid]] embassy arrived at Chang'an simultaneously with the Uyghurs in order to pay tribute.<ref>{{citation|last=Schafer|first=Edward H.|edition=1st paperback|title=The Golden Peaches of Samarkand: A study of T'ang Exotics|orig-date=1963|year=1985|publisher=University of California Press|page=26|location=Berkeley and Los Angeles|isbn=978-0-520-05462-2}}</ref>

The Caliphate was called "Dàshíguó" ({{Lang|zh|大食國}}).<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/onknowledgeposs00bretgoog|quote=realm caliphs call ta shi kuo.|title=On the knowledge possessed by the ancient Chinese of the Arabs and Arabian colonies: and other western countries, mentioned in Chinese books|author=E. Bretschneider|year=1871|publisher=Trübner & co.|location=London|page=[https://archive.org/details/onknowledgeposs00bretgoog/page/n12 6]|access-date=28 June 2010}}(Original from Harvard University)</ref>

An Arab envoy presented horses and a girdle to the Chinese in 713, but he refused to pay homage to the Emperor, said, he said "In my country we only bow to God never to a Prince". The first thing the court was going to do was to murder the envoy, however, a minister intervened, saying "a difference in the court etiquette of foreign countries ought not to be considered a crime." A second Arab envoy performed the required rituals and paid homage to the Emperor in 726 A.D. He was gifted with a "purple robe and a girdle".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/onknowledgeposs00bretgoog|quote=713 envoy appeared from ta shi.|title=On the knowledge possessed by the ancient Chinese of the Arabs and Arabian colonies: and other western countries, mentioned in Chinese books|author=E. Bretschneider|year=1871|publisher=Trübner & co.|location=LONDON|page=[https://archive.org/details/onknowledgeposs00bretgoog/page/n14 8]|access-date=28 June 2010}}(Original from Harvard University)</ref>

There was a controversy between the Arab ambassadors and [[Uyghur Khaganate]] ambassadors over who should go first into the Chinese court, they were then guided by the Master of Ceremonies into two different entrances. Three Da shi ambassadors arrived at the Tang court in 198 A.D. A war which was raging between the Arabs and Tibetans from 785 to 804 benefited the Chinese.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/onknowledgeposs00bretgoog|quote=hui ho ambassadors 798 three ta shi ambassadors came.|title=On the knowledge possessed by the ancient Chinese of the Arabs and Arabian colonies: and other western countries, mentioned in Chinese books|author=E. Bretschneider|year=1871|publisher=Trübner & co.|location=LONDON|page=[https://archive.org/details/onknowledgeposs00bretgoog/page/n16 10]|access-date=28 June 2010}}(Original from Harvard University)</ref>

According to Professor Samy S. Swayd, [[Fatimid]] missionaries made their [[Dawah]] in China during the reign of [[Al-Aziz Billah]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Historical dictionary of the Druzes|author=Samy S. Swayd|edition=illustrated|volume=3 of Historical dictionaries of people and cultures|year=2006|isbn=978-0-8108-5332-4|access-date=4 April 2012|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TlCHg5EblxEC&q=druze+china&pg=PR41|publisher=Scarecrow Press|quote=The fifth caliph, al-'Aziz bi-Allah (r.975-996). . . In his time, the Fatimi "Call" or "Mission" (Da'wa) reached as far east as India and northern China.|page=xli}}</ref>