Quote:
Originally Posted by Officer of Engineers
Now I remember. The tests were positive but that really did not mean anything. We know that Roman traders had reached China and vice versa. All that this really means is that some Romans reached China.
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Chinese historians called the Roman Empire
Ta-ts'in, and the Roman emperor was called
An-tun (Marcus Aurelius Antoninus).
Quote:
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In the ninth year of the Yen-hsi period of Huan-ti of the Han dynasty [166 C.E.] the king of Ta-ts'in, An-tun [Marcus Aurelius Antoninus], sent an embassy with tribute from the frontier of Jih-nan [Annam]; during the Han period they have only once communicated with Zhongguo. The merchants of this country frequently visit Fu-nan [Siam] Jih-nan [Annam] and Chiao-chih [Cochin China]; but few of the inhabitants of these southern frontier states have come to Ta-ts'in. During the fifth year of the Huang-wu period of the reign of Sun-ch'uan [226 C.E.] a merchant of Ta-ts'in, whose name was Ts'in-lun, came to Chiao-chih [Cochin China]; the prefect [t'ai-shou] of Chiao-chih, Wu Miao, sent him to Sun-ch'uan [the Wu emperor], who asked him for a report on his native country and its people. Ts'in-lun prepared a statement, and replied. At the time Chu-ko K'o [Nephew to Chu-ko Liang, alias K'ung-ming] chastised Tan-yang [or Kiang-nan] and they had caught blackish colored dwarfs. When Ts'in-lun saw them he said that in Ta-ts'in these men are rarely seen. Sun-ch'uan then sent male and female dwarfs, ten of each, in charge of an officer, Liu Hsien of Hui-chi [a district in Chekiang], to accompany Ts'in-lun. Liu Hsien died on the road, whereupon Ts'in-lun returned direct to his native country.
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East Asian History Sourcebook: Chinese Accounts of Rome, Byzantium and the Middle East, c. 91 B.C.E. - 1643 C.E.