How did the Eastern Romans Trade with Far East?

The Byzantine Empire was many things and had many great accomplishments. As the last surviving extension of the once-almighty Western Roman Empire, Byzantium carried on as much of the Roman legacy and responsibilities as it could. One of these lesser-known Roman dealings was the West's growing trade with the Far East. As global trade grew more and more popular, the Eastern Roman Empire took full advantage. Before the fall of the Western Roman Empire, trade between the East, especially China and Rome, had already begun and gone quite well. Thanks to the Silk Road, the two faraway nations were able to import and export different spices, incense, livestock, grains, leather, and other materials, with possibly the most popular import into Rome from China being silk, and silk was unquestionably in high demand within the Roman Empire, despite the frustrating trade imbalance that some of the later emperors attempted to resolve. So, when the Byzantines succeeded the Western wing of the empire, they also inherited this trade relationship and silk obsession. Trade in general was also a largely important part of the Eastern Roman Empire's functioning. Much of the Byzantine trade was carried out by boat during the late spring and throughout the summer, when weather conditions were most ideal. These ships could travel quite far, and land-based trades such as along the Silk Road could also span throughout the whole of the empire and beyond. This not only allowed the Byzantines to continue expanding their influence and economy, but it also meant that, after some time, Constantinople became a hub for trade, and not just for those within the empire. The city would boast an impressive market, with covered streets leading you down aisles of shops stocked with merchandise from all around the Byzantine trade network throughout Europe to Asia. This was great for the empire, but the didn't exactly look upon such businesses as high class. In reality, trade was often seen with a negative eye. In the works of most Byzantine writers and artists, traders and merchants are frequently viewed as at least somewhat undignified, and nobles, aristocrats, and royals were sure to avoid such endeavors. Not only that, but the upper classes of society didn't often trust such businessmen either, and they were generally regarded as cheating and manipulating their clients in order to earn their money. For this reason, the state decided to become pretty heavily involved in the world of Byzantine trade. The imperial authorities oversaw multiple branches of the trade enterprise, such as weighing and measuring of goods, provisioning of major cities, and even subsidizing merchants who would then be given much lower duties to pay on imported goods. These merchants would additionally be provided a fixed compensation for lost or damaged goods via the state. Smuggling was furthermore a major focus of the state, which hoped to utilize well-run custom stations and policies to prevent the illegal practice from occurring to a high degree. Nevertheless, all of these state controls would eventually fizzle out a bit as private trade took over during and after the Byzantine-Arab conflicts. Throughout these changes and challenges though, one thing remained the same. Roman trade with China was still going strong. Silk wasn't the only thing that the Romans wanted from China, nor did China lack interest in Byzantine goods. The Romans on one hand bought foods, furs, iron, perfumes, incense, spices, and other luxury items from China, whereas the latter would import commodities such as precious metals and stones, glass, embroideries, colored silks, which in many cases had ironically first been brought raw from China, as well as animals and other goods. Eventually, the Byzantines would begin their own silk industry after two monks smuggled back some of the silkworms that, up until that point, no one knew were responsible for the production of silk. But this did not end Roman trade with China, nor vice versa. Instead, the biggest challenges to this commercial relationship came from the conflict between Rome and a not-so-friendly neighbor. Normally, the trade route from Byzantium to China and back passed through either the Persian Gulf or, by land, directly through Persian territory. This proved to be a bit problematic though, because the Romans and Persians were very frequently locked in armed conflicts that simply made it impossible for Byzantine merchants to pass through either of their normal routes, especially during the reign of Emperor Justinian. In hopes of maintaining his empire's widely beneficial trade relations with China, Justinian subsequently reached out to the neighboring rulers for negotiations. This resulted in successful alliances, such as with the Gassanid dynasty, which allowed Chinese goods to pass through their territory instead on its way to Constantinople, completely bypassing the Persians. The Byzantines would use additional alternative paths as well, putting them into contact with people such as the Avars, Turks, and Russians, and further expanding Byzantine influence throughout the region. The trade itself was vastly important to the empire though, just as much as their growing reach. This was because Byzantium was far from inexpensive. Those beautiful and well-structured market streets in Constantinople came at a price, and structures such as the Hagia Sophia didn't come cheap either. Additional economic strain would come from the empire's war efforts, notably from endeavors such as that of Justinian to recapture the fallen western portion of the empire. The Byzantines needed some type of reliable income for the imperial treasury, and the earlier mentioned state control of different parts of the industry would show up in a new way under Justinian. Historian Procopius accused the empire of monopolizing silk to the great detriment of the market. This was because the emperor opted to fix the price of silk. He also ordered his bureaucrats of commerce to buy up all of the raw silk that they could access, which would, in turn, put this silk into state-run workshops. Meanwhile, there had been a strong private merchant silk market in both Tyre and Beratus, but when Justinian made this move, the private merchants were hit hard. As the bureaucrats bought up all the available raw silk, the Tyre and Beratus workshops were scarcely able to get their hands on raw silk to make their products, which forced them to hike the prices on what they could make and sell. Justinian, deliberate with his intentions, then put a cap on silk prices. This meant that any merchants who had already purchased more expensive raw silks would now have to sell them at a loss, which quickly pushed many out of business, handing over the market almost entirely to the state. But despite the negative view of this decision from Procopius, there is another theory as to why the emperor would suddenly blindside the well-off private merchants and monopolize the silk industry, and it might have something to do with the Justinianic plague. The Justinianic plague is believed to have been a strain of the bubonic plague, ironically originating from the exact place that Rome would be getting these now-monopolized silks from, China. Nevertheless, when the plague struck Byzantium, the results were catastrophic. The hit to the population would have greatly weakened the highly important Byzantine silk industry and may have already been putting some workshops out of business. As a result, it's possible, although the timeline isn't certain, that Justinian forced the remaining private silk merchants out of business and monopolized the industry not for selfish gain entirely, but to ensure that the market would survive. Either way, the monopolization did happen, although things would become simplified for private merchants once the domestic silk industry began. But again, trade with China and even other parts of the Far East would remain remarkably significant. While we may know the most about the Byzantine Empire's trade with China, we do know that the Romans traded with other eastern powers as well. Early Byzantine artifacts have been found in modern-day countries such as Japan and Korea, as well as in India and Sri Lanka. Thailand and other far-away territories would also turn up proof of Byzantine interaction. It seems that through both land and sea routes, both the Western and later Eastern Roman Empire would manage to expand its influence and trade network from west to east in ways that were quite impressive. Even when challenged by hostile empires and blocked passages, the Romans found a way to get their beloved Chinese goods and deliver their own exports to their Far East friends. And this successful market proved to be crucial for Byzantium and its imperial treasury, even before the silk monopoly was installed. Constantinople also became essentially a world market, where people from all across Europe, Africa, and Asia could come to shop and explore the empire, making the Byzantines a widely known and consequential section of the global society. Nevertheless, while much of the Romans' connections with the Far East was greatly positive, sometimes it was not so much. The spread of the Justianic plague was a disaster for Byzantium, and possibly the root cause of the silk monopoly. So, while it was not a perfect relationship, the trade between the Far East, especially China, and the Byzantine Empire played a hugely monumentous role in history, right up until the fall of Constantinople.