Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c14.14

v2.c14.14

During the reign of Emperor Wu, intercourse between India and China was made by land and water. By sea, it reached Kanchi in the south of India (present-day Kanchipuram of Tamil Nadu), and by land, it could lead to Alexandria (present-day in Pakistan) and Kophen (present-day Kashmir) in northwest India. *Han Shu* (*Book of Han Dynasty*) recorded in the section of *Geography*, “There is a kingdom called Kanci, which has similar customs with Zhu Ya (present-day in the north of Hainan Island). It is extensive, populous and filled with exotic things, and has offered gifts since the reign of the Emperor Wu”. This indicates that envoys from southern India had been to China many times. In spite of the remote distance and inconvenient route, ‘few envoys rather than none have been sent to Alexandria Bucephalous’. As a result, the Chinese already had considerable knowledge of local customs and products. There were also frequent diplomatic missions to and from Kophen. In the early 1^st century BCE, Wen Zhong and Zhao De were the Chinese envoys to Kophen whose names were recorded, and in the late 1^st century BCE, Kophen sent envoys to China “once in several years”. At first, the Han government would escort the envoys back from Kophen, but these escorts had to risk their lives. Later on, Han officials found that some merchants pretended to be envoys, and so the special escort was stopped, and genuine envoys were only accompanied to Guma (present-day Guma of Xinjiang).