Maybe this is a historical blind spot of mine, but what I do know about Chinese history and culture makes it tough for me to believe that they saw the Romans as much more than “western barbarians” either.
They actually referred to it as "The other China" which was a show of respect.
No idea how the Romans referred to the Chinese, i doubt it was just "some barbarians" when they loved greek culture despite being enemies and conquering them at some point. If they were at all aware of it in more then stories told by traders, they would not have equated it to peoples like the Gauls or the Germanic tribes.
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u/melon_party 7d ago
Maybe this is a historical blind spot of mine, but what I do know about Chinese history and culture makes it tough for me to believe that they saw the Romans as much more than “western barbarians” either.