11:24 AM MYT Traders uploading the truck full of flowers at Dounan Flower Market in Yunnan, China. - The Star/ANN KUNMING (Xinhua): A handful of seashells are on display in a museum in southwest China's border province of Yunnan, recording the country's past history of international communication. Archaeologists believe that the seashells, imported from South and Southeast Asia over 2,000 years ago, were used as both currency and an important commodity in Yunnan. Today, they embody the long-standing economic ties between China and the region. Bordering Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam, Yunnan has been a frontline of interconnection and exchanges between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) countries, said Chen Lijun, vice president of the China (Kunming) Academy of South and Southeast Asian Studies.