Coins of Eastern Roman empire in China as a reflection of the situation on the Silk Way

Over forty East Roman coins have been found in China over the past hundred years but many of them have no archaeological context, so it is almost impossible to establish when they got the Celestial Empire. Besides, a significant part of the finds are rather crude initially or heavily worn. Fake coin printing was also frequent on the Silk Road. It is believed that sometimes this was not even malicious intent - Byzantine and Iranian coins acted as stable monetary units, the position of which was stronger because China, with all its role in international trade had been fragmented starting from the 3rd century CE for hundred years. And this fragmentation, in contrast, for example, with the Eastern Zhou period (771-221 BCE), was accompanied by the constant emergence and disappearance of kingdoms and empires, which rarely existed for more than one century (especially in the north). Of course, in such a “political climate” the value of foreign coins, which had a standard mass and precious metal content, increased significantly...