Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.12

v1.c7.12

Both India and China are ancient countries in world civilisation. The Chinese have always called India Tianzhu or Shendu. Volume 118 of the *Hou Han shu* (*History of the Later Han*) says : “*Tianzhu*, also called *Shendu*, is located thousands of miles southeast of the Yuezhi. Its customs are the same as those of the Yuezhi. Its terrain is low and the weather is hot.” Much before the beginning of the Christian era, during the time of the Han Dynasty, India and China had established commercial exchanges. In the first year of Yuanshou of the Han, the Imperial Court sent Marquis Zhang Qian to Daxia (Bactria) to forge an alliance with Daxia and to stop the harassment by the Xiongnu. When Zhang Qian saw fabrics from Shu and bamboo being traded in the markets of Bactria, he asked where the goods had come from. The answer was: “They come from *Shendu* in the southeast, several thousands of miles from here. They were traded by merchants from Shu.” Volume 116 of the *Shi ji* (*Record of the Historian*) informs us that more than 2,000 years ago, there already were commercial exchanges between these two nations. The fabrics of Shu and the bamboo, seen by Zhang Qian in Bactria, were from present-day Sichuan in China and they had been sent to the Indian market and then on to Europe. But the most unique aspect of exchanges between India and China was not commercial but religious and cultural. In this respect, Buddhism played the most important role.