What do jasmine, the pipa musical instrument, Louis Cha's martial arts classics and admiral Zheng He have in common? The answer is their link to Persia - present-day Iran.
Today, when the mention of Iran brings images of terror, it is hard to remember that the region for the most part of its long history has been a well of inspiration and ideas. Chinese culture has benefited tremendously from the exchanges between the two ancient civilisations.
This is the potent message brought here by Bruce Wannell - an Oxford-educated expert on Persia and modern Iran. Wannell was visiting Hong Kong and mainland China for the first time and gave talks here and in Beijing over the past week.
Drawing from years of study, research and travel, Wannell painted a vivid picture of exchanges between Persia and China - starting from early in the Han dynasty (206BC-AD220), reaching a peak in the golden age of the Tang dynasty (618-907) and continuing until the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), when China clammed up.
The exchange involved mostly trade - on camel caravans on the Silk Road or merchant ships braving the Indian Ocean. From China, traders brought silk, porcelain and handicrafts and from Persia came warhorses, musical instruments and worked metal. The trade was sometimes carried out via a third country - often in Central Asia - and was frequently disrupted by war, natural disaster or politics. But the traffic of goods and ideas always resumed and flowed both ways for centuries.
Official contacts also started early. Chinese emperors since the Han regularly dispatched envoys to Persia. And in return, the Parthian and Sassanid empires sent envoys to China. Some Persian scholars were even employed in the Chinese court.
'In many aspects of Chinese arts and culture we can find the traces of Persian influences,' Wannell said. 'Just as we can find strong Chinese influences the other way round