Sino-Foreign Communication in Southwestern China via the Southern Silk Road during the Pre-Qin/Han Dynasty period

Sino-foreign communication through southwestern China during the pre-Qin/Han dynasty period has been well documented in ancient literature both in China and abroad.The seemingly strange records of the Oriental Seres and long-lived people in ancient Greek and Roman works are not completely baseless fantasies;they may have a foundation in ancient Chinese historical records and legends about remote antiquity in the southwestern part of the country.These are probably stories ancient Greek and Roman writers heard when they travelled to central Asia and India.The fact itself suggests that there were routes connecting southwestern China with India and Central Asia at the time.Related Chinese records of this period attest to early foreign interaction in southwestern China,while the finding of and research on cultural elements from India and the Near East from the Sanxingdui and Jinsha sites on the Chengdu Plain provide archaeological evidence for foreign interaction with southwestern China during the Shang and Zhou dynasties.