Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c5.s2.t15.1

v1.c5.s2.t15.1

Xibu is the Chinese term for a particularly fine cloth produced in India in ancient times. The characters for this in ancient China included sui (緌) and zhu (纻) etc. The *Analytical Dictionary of Characters* writes that sui (緌) refers to fine white kapok cloth from Sichuan. If the cloth is fine and thin, it is called "xibu". Also, hu (𦈌) is fine cloth.” Sichuan cloth was transported to eastern India via Yunnan and Myanmar and then re-transported to other areas in India and to Daxia (Bactria) in the early Western Han period. When Zhang Qian visited the Western Regions, he saw articles such as Sichuan cloth and Qiong bamboo transported from north India in Daxia.