Indo-Pacific Glass Beads Reveal the Communication between China and Southeast Asia

YANG Yimin

Trade in Indo-Pacific glass beads between China’s mainland and external regions flourished since the mid-1st millennium BCE to the 1st millennium CE, evolving through three stages. Firstly, during the Warring States Period, m-K and potential m-Na-Al beads entered Xinjiang via land routes and then spread further into the interior of China, and the m-Na-Al beads may be used as one of raw materials in lead-barium glass production. Second, the Han Dynasty marked a shift toward South China, with various compositional types indicating South/Southeast Asian origins via the emerging Maritime Silk Road and inland river transportation. Concurrently, Xinjiang maintained overland trade of m-K glass with South/Southeast Asia, while receiving v-Na-Al beads from Central Asia/northern South Asia. Third, in the mid-to-late first millennium, maritime trade sustained m-Na-Al bead supplies to South China, while the Northwest accumulated v-Na-Ca beads from West Asia via the Land Silk Road. Compositional divergence reveals distinct networks: the dominance of v-Na-Ca beads in the Northwest and their absence east of Shaanxi, where m-Na-Al beads predominated, precludes selective overland transmission to Central China. Despite active Sogdian-led commerce in the North with Central/West Asia, the southward shift of China’s economic core and the efficiency of waterways suggest that m-Na-Al beads were bulk transferred from South to Central China. These transitions offer critical insights into the evolving geopolitical dynamics and foreign trade networks of early Imperial China.