Re:Chinese origins of an Armenian noble family

["S. L . Lee" <sllee@asiawind.com>]

Frank,

Thanks for your interesting citation of the Armenian record. Persia in
China's history was called Da Shi ("Big Eat" in transliteration). Ban Chao
as you mentioned was a great explorer/adventurer in his days. China was
called Cathay by the western countries. Only very recently, the name Cathay
was still used for an airline in Hong Kong. Another name Kitan is frequently
seen. I think this is a mistaken name for China. Kitan was a nation north of
"China" but to the remote western countries, when they reached Kitan, they
thought they were in China.
I am not sure if Mamikonian can be associated with Man Gun. It would be best
just left as names.

This seem to be a year of Silk Road.
Dunhuang is having an important exhibit. There are some important sites
about Dunhuang:
http://idp.bl.uk/
http://www.textile-art.com/dun1.html
http://www.chinavista.com/travel/dunhuang/main.html

Even Yo Yo Ma is producing a CD about Silk Road.
http://www.sonyclassical.com/artists/ma/bio.html

SL Lee