The relations between China and nomadic peoples inhabiting her north-western frontier from the fifth to the first centuries B.C. followed those established from the late eleventh century B.C. between China and South Siberia. Contrary to what has often been argued previously the forms of swords and daggers current among the nomads of the eastern steppes were influenced by Chinese prototypes. The nomad weapon par excellence, the three-bladed arrow-head, followed a Chinese design and employed a casting technique of Chinese origin. Similarly it is possible to define Chinese motifs contributed to the repertoire of the animal art of the steppe zone. Through the cultural continuum established in this region cultural traits of Chinese origin moved as rapidly westwards as others borrowed from the western civilizations traveled towards the east. The old view of a massive Scythian influence affecting China in the fifth-third centuries B.C. in a one-way traffic of ideas is no longer tenable.