Chinese origins of an Armenian noble family

["Frank Wong" <fmwong99@hotmail.com>]

I did some interesting research on the alleged Chinese origin of an Armenian 
noble family (Mamikonians).  Armenia is a former Soviet republic located 
between Iran and Turkey.  Its culture is heavily Middle Eastern.  In the 
past, it was a territory of Iran.

Anyways, here is the website article:

http://www.virtualscape.com/rbedrosian/china.htm

At first, I thought this article was a joke.  But, when I read it over there 
were some points of irony.  The story dealt with the rebellion of 2 Chinese 
brothers (who were princes) against the Chinese emperor during the 200 
A.D.s.  The brothers, Mamik and Konak, fought against the Chinese emperor 
(Chenbakur) and lost.  They fled to the land of the Kushans, and sought the 
refuge of the Iranian king.  The Chinese emperor demanded that the rebels be 
returned to China, or Iran would face war with the Chinese.  The Iranian 
king, not wanting to kill the brothers, but also wanting to avoid conflict 
with the Chinese emperor--instead sent the 2 brothers to Armenia in the 
west.  And, then there was peace between China and Iran again.  In Armenia, 
these 2 brothers (Mamik and Konak) now served the Armenian king who was the 
younger brother of the Iranian king.  From these 2 brothers, the Mamikonian 
clan emerged in Armenia.  They, along with their followers were given a 
domain to settle (modern-day Turkey) and guarded the Armenian frontiers from 
Romans.  They later became so powerful that their position was only second 
to that of the Armenian king.  They held the highest military post of that 
nation for many centuries until the Arabic Muslim invasion crippled their 
power and wealth.  This family still exists.  I happened to meet a couple.  
They look Middle Eastern, although Armenian people in general have straight 
jet black hair color which Chinese also do.

Points of irony:

1) The Mamikonian name itself.  Armenians today don't know the actual
   meaning of the family name.  I came up with the term "Man-Gun,"
   which in Cantonese means "people's army."  Cantonese is said to be
   very close to Han Dynasty pronunciation compared to Mandarin.  So,
   the Mamikonians ancestors may have been rebels or involved in a
   civil war against the Han Dynasty emperors of the 200 A.D.s  There
   were indeed a lot of rebellions in China during that time period.

2) They initially fled to the "land of the Kushans."  Where is this
   place?  I know that Kushani people did lived in territories
   immediately west of China (Tajikistan and Afghanistan).  It was at
   that time still under the control of Iranian kings.  I happened to
   have visited Tajikistan.  Chinese refugees and exiles did travel
   there a long time ago.  Look at these cave mural drawings left by
   some of them.  They have aristocratic garb:

http://weecheng.simplenet.com/silk/tajik/frescoe1.gif

3) Iran and China did have close and intimate relations during the Han
   Dynasty.  It was not unusual for Han aristocrats to have
   acquaintances with Iranian kings.

4) The Armenian term for Chinese king: "Chenbakur."  I found out that
   Chen (China) + Bakur (Bag Pour in Iranian) meant "son of the god."
   This may have corresponded to the legitimate title of Chinese
   emperors, Tianji or "son of the heavens?"

I already talked many times with the author of this website and he 
appreciated the valuable information I gave him.  We cannot entirely rule 
out the possibilities despite the long distance between our countries.  
There are just too many ironies in the story to ignore.  If any of you can 
come up with more info., feel free to e-mail me?  Remember, that around 100 
A.D.s, the envoy Gan Ying accompanied Gen. Ban Chao to these regions.  So, 
it is not impossible for it to be true.  By the way, Armenian people today 
still live in constant fear of attack by its Muslim neighbors.  We should 
not abandon our Armenian brothers and sisters.

Regards,
Frank
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