Daqin

Daqing (Chinese大秦, Pinyin Daqing, W.-G. Ta - ch'in, also Ta - Ch'in ) is the ancient Chinese name for the Roman Empire and the Middle East. Literally it means " Great Qin ", where Qin is the name of the founder of dynasty of the Chinese Empire.

Since the opening of the Silk Road in the 2nd century AD, the Chinese kept the Roman Empire for a civilized counterpart to the Chinese Empire. The Romans were the one end of the trade route and the Chinese the other, hence the " mirror image " name.

Apparently it never made it China, to Rome in ancient times directly, although 97 AD General Ban Chao led an expedition of 70,000 soldiers to the Caspian Sea. Ban chaos envoy, Gan Ying to Rome approached even further, he came to the coast of the Black Sea. Gan Ying left a detailed account of the Roman Empire, but probably should have relied on second-hand information in general.

The name of Daqing Rome was used on Chinese maps as the Sihai - Huayi Zongtu card until the 16th century.