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CHINA AND AFRICA are geographically far away from each other, separated by immense land mass with huge mountains and stretching deserts, as well as by vast Oceans. The distance covers several tens of thousands of miles either on sea or on land. In ancient times when there were no steamships, no railways, no aeroplanes, communications and contacts between the two continents were extremely difficult. Historians have tried to establish when China started to have contacts with Africa. But so far opinions differ. According to the Chinese historical records ('Shi Ji') written by the famous historian Si Machien over one hundred years BC, the Emperor Wuti of the Han Dynasty sent envoys to the far west to make alliance with friendly tribes against the powerful but often trouble-making Huns in the north. These envoys reached many distant countries originally unknown to China, including Pathia, Babylonia, Seleuid Media, and lastly a place named Likan. They also brought back a Likan magician presented as a gift by the King of Pathia. It is this place name Likan and its whereabouts that has drawn interesting discussions and differing views. This is partly because the descriptions in the Chinese records are too simple and sometimes, confusing. One particular French sinologist named Pelliot held Likan to be Alexandria of Egypt,' which was a trading centre under Greek rule and was later annexed by the Roman Empire. A Chinese scholar Feng Chenjun seconded Pelliot's views.2 And Joseph Needham in his great work Science and Civilization in China also equates Likan with Egypt. If this is the case, it would mean that as early as over two thousand years ago Chinese officials were sent and visited Africa and an African magician came to China, thus starting the earliest human contact between the two continents. But while the supposition remains exciting for historians, there are yet quite different opinions about it. A German Sinologist Friedrich Hirth holds in his book China and the Roman Orient (1885) that Likan was none other than Syria, which was then a part of the Roman Empire. A Chinese historian Qi Siho, who disagrees with Hirth's view, however identifies Likan with Byzantium, in