And if it was true, what stopped them from an early silk road style trade route. I have read the merchants of the Roman empire would constantly venture past their borders to trade with the "Barbarian" peoples, such as in the British isles before the invasion. Was it the constant threat from the Parthians and related empires that kept Rome from ever considering the far east for trade?
From the perspective of China (and Roman merchants), the answer is not true
We have some previous answers about the Chinese (Latter Han from 25 CE to 190, the Three Kingdoms Civil War from 190 to 284 and Jin in 285) perspective. New answers and the Roman perspective is welcome but these answers might help
How did diplomacy work between ancient Rome and China? with answers from myself and u/10thousand_stars
Did China and ancient Rome know about each other? with an answer by myself
So the Chinese did know of the "Daqin" and thanks to the interest of Wei historian Yu Huan, we get a sense of what they understood Rome to be like. There were a few trade routes: via the two routes of the Silk Road through the Western Regions or via the seas to the south thanks to the control of Jiaozhi including modern-day Vietnam. When "envoys" did arrive at court, there was interest, it was useful for the prestige of the Emperor to welcome such "embassies" from a distant power, and China liked the coloured glass Rome could produce.
In terms of why not doing something more, as far as China knew the silk road route would take years with Parthians telling Gan Ying the sea route from the Persian Gulf would take two years and neglecting to mention the shorter land route. The sea route in the south required going to the southern edge of the Chinese Empire (less of a problem for Sun Quan, a ruler in the south then perhaps a ruler in the Central Plains) then would take years via India and Egypt for any envoy to reach Rome. The Chinese Emperors had more immediate neighbours to deal with for diplomatic focus and domestic problems requiring focus while already getting trade from the Daqin, perhaps not surprising sending envoys to the distant Daqin was not an active priority.