The concept of "Rinan" (lit "South of the Sun", referring to the Southern Hemisphere) was originally astronomical: above the Tropic of Cancer, the Chinese always faced south during religious ceremonies concerning the sun. In his Records of the Grand Historian, Sima Qian claimed the Qin dynasty had expanded so far as Rinan, where the houses faced north instead of south.[1] The Han claimed this conceptual region as early as 111 BC upon their conquest of Nanyue[2] but did not administer an actual district under the name until 48 BC.[1]
Under the Western Han, it was recorded as having 14,000 households or about 69,000 people. Several embassies from Rome (Da Qin) during the 1st and 2nd centuries – including one from Marcus Aurelius in AD 166 – are recorded as having come via Rinan, presumably by sea via India.[3]
^Hill, John E. Through the Jade Gate to Rome: A Study of the Silk Routes during the Later Han Dynasty, 1st to 2nd Centuries CE, pp. 27 ff. BookSurge (Charleston), 2009. ISBN978-1-4392-2134-1.
