Daqin

• 1. The Great Qin Name

  ›

  In 221 BC, the ruler of the State of Qin unified China's Warring States and became its first emperor. Chinese historians later used his dynasty name to label a distant empire they barely knew. They called this western power Daqin, which literally means "Great Qin". The prefix da or great signified that the Roman Empire stood on par with the might of the Qin dynasty. This title did not seem to derive from Latin Roma or Greek Romaikē. Instead, the same character for Qin was used by Han period Chinese to transcribe foreign words ending in an r sound. Historian John Foster defined it as the Roman Empire, or rather that part of it known to the Chinese, Syria. The term appeared in texts starting from the Han dynasty, which lasted from 202 BC until 220 AD.

• 2. Embassies By Sea And Land

  ›

  Chinese histories record the first embassy arriving by sea in 166 AD. These envoys came via Jiaozhou, later known as Annam in northern Vietnam. Their members claimed to be representatives of the Daqin ruler named Andun. This name likely referred to either Antoninus Pius or Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. They offered gifts to the court of Emperor Huan of Han. Later embassies arrived sporadically afterwards. The Book of Liang mentions a Daqin embassy to Sun Quan of Eastern Wu in 226. The Book of Jin records another embassy to Emperor Wu of Jin in 284. Starting in the Tang dynasty, new names emerged for the Eastern Roman Empire. An embassy from Fulin arrived at the court of Emperor Taizong of Tang in 643. This group claimed to represent their king Bo duoli, possibly Constans II. Several other Fulin embassies during the Tang dynasty are mentioned for the years 667, 701, and 719. During the Yuan dynasty, an unprecedented number of Europeans started to visit and live in China.

• 3. Silk Road Glass And Coins

  ›

  Archaeological evidence shows Roman glassware found in tombs dating from the Eastern Han dynasty between 25 and 220 AD. Green Roman glass cups have been unearthed in Guangxi, China. Although ancient Romans imported Han Chinese silk, early assumptions held that no Roman coins were found in China. Warwick Ball noted the discovery of sixteen Roman coins at Xi'an, the site of the Han capital Chang'an. These coins were minted during the reign of various emperors from Tiberius to Aurelian. The earliest gold solidus coins from the Eastern Roman Empire found in China date to the reign of Byzantine emperor Theodosius II. Only forty-eight of these gold coins have been found compared to thirteen hundred silver coins. Roman golden medallions from the reign of Antoninus Pius have also been discovered at Óc Eo in southern Vietnam. This region bordered the Chinese province of Jiaozhi where historical texts claim Romans first landed before venturing further into China.

• 4. Byzantine Missions In Tang Times

  ›

  The Old Book of Tang and New Book of Tang identified Daqin and Fulin as the same countries. They noted a different capital city with walls of enormous height besieged by the commander Móyì. Friedrich Hirth identifies this commander as Mu'awiyah I, who became caliph and founder of the Umayyad Caliphate. During the Song dynasty, the Byzantine emperor Michael VII Parapinakēs Caesar sent an embassy that arrived in 1081. This occurred during the reign of Emperor Shenzong of Song. Later, the History of Ming explains how the Hongwu Emperor sent a merchant named Nieh-ku-lun back to his home country with a letter announcing the founding of a new dynasty. Contacts between China and Fulin ceased thereafter until the 16th century. An envoy of the great western sea did not arrive again until Matteo Ricci came as an Italian Jesuit missionary. The History of Yuan recounts how a man of Fulin named Ai-sie was well-versed in Western languages and had expertise in medicine and astronomy.

• 5. Nestorian Faith And Stele

  ›

  Starting in AD 550, Syriac Christians settled along the Silk Road and founded mission churches. Daqin or Tai-Ch'in is also used to refer to these Christian populations rather than Rome itself. When the Taoist Emperor Wuzong of Tang closed Christian monasteries in the mid-9th century, imperial edicts commanded their closure. The Nestorian Stele erected in 781 in the Tang capital Chang'an contains an inscription summarizing knowledge about Daqin. It notes how only the luminous religion practiced there. The Daqin Pagoda allegedly once formed part of a Nestorian church. Chinese histories describe forms of punishment carried out in Daqin and Fulin. They made a distinction between minor and major offenses with 200 strikes from a bamboo rod reserved for major crimes. Their form of capital punishment involved stuffing the guilty person into a feather bag and throwing them into the sea. This corresponds with the Romano-Byzantine punishment of poena cullei where those who committed parricide were sewn into a sack.