Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c13.14

v2.c13.14

The Yunnan-Burma (Dian-Mian) Route: During the 1950s and 1960s, Chinese archaeologists carried out several rounds of excavation at Shizhai mountain, Jinning, in Yunnan Province. Among several ancient tombs dating back to the Warring States Period (5^th century-3^rd century BCE), they discovered large quantities of sea shells or cowries. This was the contemporary currency used for trade between Yunnan (Dian guo) and India as well as other Southeast Asian countries. Scholars agree that as late as the end of the 4^th century BCE, a route linking the southwest of China with India had already been opened up. During the 1980s, the archaeological excavations at the Sanxing mounds at Guanghan in Sichuan Province proved to be even more astonishing. Most of the cowrie shells were products from the Bay of Bengal that were more than 3,400 years old. This illustrates the fact that during those times, direct and non-direct trade between India and Sichuan existed.