Evidence for Rome establishing relations/ contact with China

[marsvigilia]

If a Roman of the early Principate (reigns of Augustus through Claudius) wanted to refer to China, specifically, what name would he/she use?

I suspect that China and the Chinese simply did not play a significant enough of a differentiated role. Suppose someone where to ask the current American English term for a resident of the northern suburbs of Beijing.

OR maybe no one thought to write it down on one of the surviving documents.

OR once again I may be completely wrong. It seams to be happenning with greater frequency. Just ask my kids.