A Document-based Narrative of Sino-Iranian Relations in Pahlavi Era

While Iran-China relations stretch far back in history, in the wake of the Chinese Communist Revolution in 1949 Iran suspended its relations with China as Iran feared the expansion of Communism, furthermore, the bitter memories of USSR interventions during the Second World War still rankled. Years later, as Iran and the USSR commenced amical relations cultural and economic ties expanded, as a result of which, the frightening image of a communist takeover was shattered, which, led to restrained cultural relations between Iran and China bearing fruit on 20 November 1957 with the signing of the first cultural agreement between the two countries. This agreement provided for the promoting of cultural, educational, scientific, technical, artistic and sport relations during the Pahlavi period.These relations continued well until 21 June 1978 when the Islamic revolutionary zeal climaxed and the ensuing political ambience pushed these relations into oblivion. The current article has benefited from archived documents at the National Library of Iran and has used archival-analytical research method to shed light on different aspects of Sino-Iranian cultural relations during the Pahlavi era and analyze the outcome of the relations for the two countries.