Were there any peppers in ancient China?

No. Pepper was introduced to China in the Ming Dynasty.

Pepper was introduced to China in the Ming Dynasty. According to historical records, the earliest time for Guizhou and Hunan to eat peppers was during the reign of Qing Qianlong, but it was generally after Daoguang. Later, it was widely planted in all parts of China. It was the latest spice introduced to China, but it was the most widely used spice. The earliest people in China who ate Chili peppers were all in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the so-called "Xiajiang people". When Xiajiang people tried peppers, Sichuanese didn't know what peppers were. Interestingly, pepper was first introduced from Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong, but it was not fully utilized in those places, but spread to the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and southwest China. After Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty, Guizhou, Hunan, Sichuan and Jiangxi all had "growing vegetables", "Don't put pepper and mustard, make more soup" and "If you choose extremely spicy food, every meal will be spicy". It shows that the history of Sichuan people eating Chili peppers is about 400 years.

Pepper was introduced into China in two ways. One is the famous Silk Road, which entered Xinjiang, Gansu, Shaanxi and other places from West Asia and was first reclaimed in the northwest. First, it entered South China through the Straits of Malacca, and was planted in Yunnan, Guangxi and Hunan in the south. Later, it gradually expanded to the whole country, and there was almost no blank area for peppers.