Through hundreds of years of research, the studies on the Greco-Roman world with China have reached a high level, and many publications can be found everywhere. This result reflects the high concern of scholars for communications between the West and the East. Nowadays, following the quick development of globalization, China is inevitably getting involved in international relations. Under these circumstances, for both Western countries and China, how to communicate with each other on an international level is a vital question that needs prompt answers.
Since there are frequent and close communications between Europe and China today, these relations constitute a prominent issue from the perspective of economy, culture, politics, and diplomacy. The relations between the Roman empire and ancient China, as an early example for communications between the West and East, play a key role in European-Chinese relations.
A better understanding of these relations in history will be of crucial importance for contemporary international relations. Therefore, based on the contributions of the previous researchers and the valuable ancient Chinese literature, this book will deal with the relations between the Roman empire and ancient China, with a focus on the study of the image of the Roman empire (Da-qin) in ancient Chinese literature.
Compared with Western sources, with the help of Chinese sources, the book will attempt to reconstruct the image, analyze the influential factors of the image's construction, and examine its significance for contemporary international relations, especially for the improvement of contemporary European-Chinese relations.
A new full, revised version as an additional analysis for the comparative study of ancient civilizations.
