Han Dynasty makes contact with Egypt

Hi guys, I have a quick question related to a larger timeline I'm hoping to present soon. In brief, I'm hypothesizing an alternate history in which the state of Qi manages to unite the other states against Qin during the warring states period. The result is a unification of China that runs somewhat parallel to our own history (there is a Han dynasty, for instance) but was grounded in Mohism rather than confuscianism. In addition, the individual states retain greater power than in our TL, resulting in a political situation which resembles more the Spring and Autumn period than the Han dynasty of our time- competition between states and a philosophy that emphasizes personal innovation as much (if not more) than tradition results in an accelerated growth in technology and philosophy at the cost of stability and longevity. The upshot is that the massive flooding that in our TL caused the Red Eyebrows uprising that briefly interrupted the Han dynasty will cause the empire to fall apart into disunity in this TL. But before that.....

Imagine that China has made advances in naval technology far ahead of the China of our time. Specifically, China invents a working campus and the junk ship design somewhere around 140 BC, and designs a vessel able to make the journey up from China up the red sea in 100 BC (give or take). What will be the reaction of Egypt at this time to the arrival of foreigners they have at best only heard vague rumors about through the silk road? Would such foreigners be allowed access to the Library of Alexandria (something that might well be of interest to Han scholars of this timeline- without a Qin victory and the resulting burning of books and burying of scholars, the age of the 100 schools of thought has continued and expanded in all directions).
 

Orry

Donor
Monthly Donor
Ah - more tribute states for the Middle Kingdom.....

Those barbarians have no real idea of culture....
 
Wait...

Which middle kingdom are we talking about? I've heard that name applied to both Egypt and China.
 
Okay, but...

Help me out with the context here. What it is about Ptolemaic Egypt's foreign policy that will inspire this attitude? I was actually under the impression that Egypt in general and Alexandria in particular thrived under foreign contact. In fact, while I can't speak for the specific policy at this time, I know the Library at Alexandria at one time was very aggressive about obtaining books and knowledge, to the point of practically robbing ships and caravans of their scrolls so expand the library's collection. And while it might not apply to every foreign country, I believe the library also welcomed and provided lodging to foreign scholars intent on studying and critiquing the works contained within it.
 
Top