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 570 APPENDIX see above, p. 244; F. von Riohthofen, China, i., 1877 ; Bretschneider in Notes and Queries on China and Japan, vol. iv. ; F. Hirth, China and the Roman Orient, re- searches into their ancient and mediseval relations, as represented in old Chinese Records, 1885 ; R. von Scala, Ueber die wichtigsten Beziehungen des Orients zum Occidente, 1887. The work of Hirth is admirably done ; he gives the literal trans- lations of the Chinese texts, and explains their date and character, so that the reader knows what he is dealing with and can test Hirth's conclusions. But Hirth seems to have no acquaintance with Cosmas Indicopleustes.) The earliest certain mention of the Roman Empire in Chinese history J is in the Hou-han-shu, which, written during the fifth century, covers the period a.d. 25 to 220. Its sources were the notes made by the court chroniclers from day to day, which were carefully stored in the archives and concealed from the monarch himself, and thus supplied impartial and contemporary material to subsequent historians. We learn from this history that, in the year a.d. 97, a certain Kan-ying was sent as an ambassador to Ta-ts'in. He arrived at T'iao-chih on the coast of the great sea. But when he was going to embark the sailors said to him : " The sea is vast and great ; with favourable winds it is possible to cross within three months, but if you meet slow winds, it may also take you two years. It is for this reason that those who go to sea take on board a supply of three years' provisions. There is something in the sea whioh is apt to make man homesick, and several have thus lost their lives." Hear- ing this, Kan-ying gave up the idea of visiting Ta-ts'in (Hirth's translation, op. cit., p. 39). It has been fully shown by Hirth that Ta-ts'in does not mean the whole Roman Empire, but only the eastern part of ic, especially Syria, and that the royal city of Ta-ts'in always means Antioch. In the seventh century we first meet Fu-lin, the mediaeval name of Ta-ts'in. The appearance of this new name has been probably con- nected with the Nestorian mission in China (see below, vol. v., c. xlvii.) ; and Hirth thinks it represents BethleJiem — plausibly, if he is right in supposing that the old pronunciation was bat-lim. The episode of Kan-ying shows that the trade route between China and the west in the first century a.d. was overland to Parthia ; but thence from the city of T'iao- chih (which Hirth identifies with Hira) by river and sea round Arabia, to Aelana, the port of Petra at the head of the Red Sea, and Myos Hormos on the coast of Egypt. We also see that the carrying-trade between China and the Empire was in the hands of the Parthian merchants, whose interest it was to prevent direct communications. The kings of Ta-ts'in " always desired to send embassies to China, but the An-hsi [Parthians] wished to carry on trade with them in Chinese silks, and it is for this reason that they were cut off from communication " (Hou-han-shu). This arrangement was changed after the Parthian war of Marcus Aurelius in a.d. 166, and we now have the satisfaction of meeting the name of a Roman Em- peror, in a shape that can be easily recognized, in the Chinese Chronicles. We read in the same document this important historical notice (ib. p. 42) : " This [the indirect commerce] lasted till the ninth year of the Yen-hsi period during the Emperor Huan-ti's reign [i.e., a.d. 166], when the king of Ta-ts'in, An- tun, sent an embassy who, from the frontier of Jih-nan [Annam], offered ivory, rhino- ceros horns, and tortoise-shell. From that dates the [direct] intercourse with this country." In view of the date, the most sceptical critic can hardly refuse to recognize in Antun the name of (Marcus) Antoninus. But it is not legitimate to infer that a formal embassy was sent by the Emperor. It is more probable (as Hirth points out) that merchants went on their own account and of course used the Emperor's name. When the new direot route was established, Taprobane or Ceylon was the entrepot, where the Chinese and Roman vessels met and the goods were trans- shipped. How far the overland routeB were still used is not clear. It is supposed that the 1 Syria may be mentioned earlier in the Shih-chi (written about B.C. 91), under the name of Li-kan, which Hirth proposes to identify with Rekeni = Petra (r is regularly re- presented by I in Chinese pronunciation, at least in certain dialects). Certainly the Hou- han-shu expressly identifies Li-kan with Ta-ts'in.