Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c4.s2.9

v1.c4.s2.9

According to *Shi Ji* (Record of History), Zhang Qian (unknown～114 BCE) started for the Western Regions in 135 BCE on a diplomatic mission and came back 13 years later. In Bactria (now Iran and Afghanistan), he found cloth produced in Sichuan and rods made of Qionglai bamboo. Local people said such articles were from merchants who came from Sichuan and were doing business in India. When the Emperor Wu of Han (Liu Che, 156 BCE～87 BCE) learned of this, he sent envoys time and again to southwestern China to look for the passage to India, but was obstructed by local people. They all returned without accomplishing anything.