hi all, just a quick qn, does anyone know whether the roman empire knew about the chinese empire and vice versa, and if so, whether they traded, and when, and how they communicated, and stuff like that.
just curiosity… the closing ceremony got me thinking about the chinese empire, and how it’s been described elsewhere as the last surviving empire from the ancient world. thanks 
The Romans had silk, of course, which naturally came from China – though not directly, of course. Most of what Rome knew of China came through India, another oriental land that the Romans knew of only indirectly. As for China’s knowledge of Rome or imports from her, I’ve no idea.
China did indeed know of Rome, even if it was in the vaguest of terms. There have even been scholars (notable Homer Hasenpflug Dubs) who have claimed there was a Roman city in China named ‘Liqian’ formed from remnants of Crassus’ defeated army in Parthia.
I must confess I only have a limited amount of knowledge on this topic area, most of it stemming from here:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=56079&page=1
That should provide interesting reading for those of you wondering about this sort of thing
I remember reading a few years ago about a village in China where archeologists have found a few Roman ruins. The theory is that a Roman army was captured by the Parthians, used as mercenaries further east against and captured by the Persians, then used against and captured by the Chinese, and then they were finally allowed to rest.
Here is what I know (although I am too lazy to translate):
“(…) les Romains, qui voulaient à tout prix contourner l’obstacle parthe, cherchèrent à atteindre la Chine, cette fois-ci par la voie maritime. La Géographie de Ptolémée nous apprend quelles erreurs de distance faisaient les Romains en situant la Chine plus loin qu’elle n’était. De même, on ignorait tout de la fabrication de la soie. Le secret en sera gardé longtemps. Cependant, vers 120, des acrobates romains au service d’un roi birman, capables de cracher du feu et d’interchanger les têtes des vaches avec celles des chevaux, arrivent en Chine par la route de Birmanie. Toujours d’après le Heou-Han-chou, « les communications furent ouvertes pour la première fois » en l’an 166, date à laquelle « An-Toun », Antonin le Pieux, envoya un « ambassadeur », par mer, qui offrit à l’empereur des défenses d’éléphant, des cornes de rhinocéros, des écailles de tortue, ce qui, pour les Chinois, était monnaie courante et dut leur faire mal augurer d’un Empire aussi pauvre ! Il ne semble pas qu’au total des relations régulières se soient établies. De la même manière, Pan Tch’ao avait essayé en 97 d’envoyer « Kan-ying en ambassade au Ta-ts’in (Rome). À son arrivée au Tiao-tche (?) près de la grande mer, Kan-ying voulut pousser plus avant. Les capitaines des navires à la frontière occidentale du Ngan-Si (Iran) lui dirent que la mer était extrêmement étendue et que, pour effectuer le voyage aller et retour, il fallait trois mois avec vent favorable et, si le vent était faible, deux ans environ. » Les Parthes firent si bien qu’ils découragèrent Kan-ying qui repartit. Ainsi, les deux Empires extrêmes tentèrent vainement de se joindre. Ce n’est qu’au début du IIIe siècle, ou du Ve selon certains, que les Chinois nous donnent, toujours dans le Heou-Han-chou une description très déformée de l’Empire romain, les détails justes concernant la poste et les routes, l’abondance des villes et la justice impériale.”
(Michel Rouche, Les Empire universels IIe - IVe siècles).
“Tats’in”, by the way, may be translated as “The other China”.
I am sure there are many more stories, although, off the top of my head, it is the only ones I am familiar with. What is pretty sure, however, is that there always was some form of contact between East and West, even after the fall of the Roman Empire. For example, in the XIIIth century, the Pope sent an ambassador to Mongolia (his journals are a fantastic read), and when he arrived, he found that there were already many Christians in the Mongol capital. There followed about 100 years of contact before the ottomans blocked all possibility of contact.
jc
Lucan posted while I was typing!
Anyway, he’s right. Homer Hasenphlug Dubs is the name of the historian who posited a theory on the roaming roman army. Although I appear to have been mistaken on “archeologists finding ruins”.
jc
Check this site out
http://depts.washington.edu/uwch/silkroad/texts/hhshu/hou_han_shu.html#sec12
under the “Da Qin” Section there is an 445 AD Chinese account of the Roman Empire. Quite fun to read.
Ok. Now I am really done with this and will go back to work (research for the defense of tobacco companies in litigation, FYI, a mind-numbing job).
jc
I have to say that the story of Roman village in China is totally false. No evidence at all.
There are a few quite accurate descriptions of Byzantine empire
in chinese in the late 8th century(Tan dynasty).
hmmm… very, very interesting!!
But I have to wonder, with all that silk the Romans used, wouldn’t they have wondered where it all came from?
“…Finally, there is no trouble with bandits, but there are many ferocious tigers and lions on the road that obstruct and kill travellers. If the caravans don’t have more than a hundred men carrying arms, they will be devoured.” 
Continuing with the topic of Romans in China, this article might be of interest:
http://www.pip.com.au/~paceman/ROMANS%20IN%20CHINA.html
jc