Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c5.s1.10

v1.c5.s1.10

The Chinese work *Hou Han Shu* (History of the Later Han Dynasty), in the *Biography of the Western Regions*, recorded the products of India, including elephants, rhinoceros, the hawksbill sea turtle, gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, tin, etc. It also mentioned percale, woollens, spice, jaggery (unrefined w), pepper, ginger, black salt, etc. This indicates that all these Indian products had been familiar to China during the 1ˢᵗ and 2ⁿᵈ century CE. Because China at that time lacked the technology to produce glass, Indian glass was even more famous in China, and there are mysterious references to “the treasury mirror of Shendu (ancient India)” in Chinese historical records.