| Abstract: |
Research on historical documents both in China and abroad reveals that before the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) there were commercial activities running across southwest China, Myanmar, India and Middle Asia. Studies of recently-found archaeological materials confirm the existence of communication lines between southwest China, Southeast Asia and India in the Shang-Zhou Dynasties (1600-221 BC), with evidence that trade in merchandise used seashells as a medium of exchange. A large number of seashells found on archaeological sites in Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces, and of ivories at the Sanxingdui (c. 1700-1000 BC) and Jinsha (c. 1200-250 BC) sites, are not native to southwest China, but came from India and Southeast Asia. This means that at least from the second half of the second millennium BC, transportation and trade between these areas were developed, and seashells were already in use by this early date as a medium of exchange (Duan Yu 1991: 2).
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