PERSIANS, ARABS in T'ANG CHINA
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it was the fashion to copy the foreigners. Art, music, drama, dress and personal adornment were all full of foreign elements. It must be pointed out, however, that not every Chinese was in complete accord with these innovations. Yüan Chen lamented with patriotic emotion:
Ever since the Western horsemen began raising dirt and dust, Fur and fleece, rank and rancid, have filled Hsien and Lo. Women make themselves Western matrons by the study of Western make-up, Entertainers present Western tunes, in their devotion to Western music,32
It was also a fashion to learn a foreign language or languages. A Turkish-Chinese dictionary was made available for serious students.33 Never before had a dynasty been so fond of 'foreign things' as the T'ang, and never again was this kind of epidemic to spread in China.
III
Foreigners in Tang China made tremendous contributions towards Chinese artistic, medical, literary and political activities. The following shows how these foreigners had contributed their versatile talents to T'ang China:
Yü-chih Po-chih-na and Yü-chih I-seng
Yü-chih Po-chih-na and his son Yü-chih I-seng were the most eminent painters of Buddhist icons in early T'ang period.34 Artists in early T'ang period were fond of showing the gods or goddesses of foreign lands either in painting or in sculpture. The Yü-chihs were from Khoten, a Central Asian state that had long been closely related to China. According to Li-tai ming-hua chi by Chang Yen-yüan of the late T’ang period, in chapters 8 and 9, records the background of these two painters as follows:
Yü-chih Po-chih-na, foreigner, excels himself in painting Buddhist icons. (He) was very popular at that time and is now known as Ta Yü-chih.
Yü-chih I-seng was a man from Khoten. His father Po-chih-na was mentioned in the previous chapter.... (I-seng) was a great master in painting Buddhist icons. Contemporaries call him Hsiao Yü-chih, and his father Ta Yü-chih.