The Romans were aware of China at the time. There are some theories that the decline of Rome is linked to the asymmetry of the trade with China - the Chinese on

The Romans were aware of China at the time. There are some theories that the decline of Rome is linked to the asymmetry of the trade with China - the Chinese only wanted gold and silver so the Romans ran perpetual deficits with China. The English had the same problem until they came up with the opium trade.