Guan Yiquan, a Chinese scholar in Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu, also became convinced that Liqian had links to Rome.

ECONOMIST: So it's said, anyway

In the sixth century Liqian ceased to be used as a placename.

ECONOMIST: So it's said, anyway

Dubs says the Chinese kept the ex-legionaries as frontier guards, installing them in a specially created town called Liqian in what is now Gansu.

ECONOMIST: So it's said, anyway