David F. Graf
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- December 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198790662
- eISBN:
- 9780191833175
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198790662.003.0015
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the archaeological and written evidence for the so-called Silk Roads and the development of trade along them between the second century BC and the ...
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This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the archaeological and written evidence for the so-called Silk Roads and the development of trade along them between the second century BC and the end of the Han dynasty in the early second century AD. The Silk Road trade at the Chinese end originated epiphenomenally on the practice of state tribute and diplomatic embassies, as tribute in kind and diplomatic gifts were resold by their enterprising recipients. As trade developed along the routes westwards and gained its own momentum, its value was harnessed by the state in the form of heavy customs dues. Rather than a coordinated route utilized by merchants travelling the length of the terrain between China and Rome, the picture emerging is that of segmented trade involving various merchants.Less
This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the archaeological and written evidence for the so-called Silk Roads and the development of trade along them between the second century BC and the end of the Han dynasty in the early second century AD. The Silk Road trade at the Chinese end originated epiphenomenally on the practice of state tribute and diplomatic embassies, as tribute in kind and diplomatic gifts were resold by their enterprising recipients. As trade developed along the routes westwards and gained its own momentum, its value was harnessed by the state in the form of heavy customs dues. Rather than a coordinated route utilized by merchants travelling the length of the terrain between China and Rome, the picture emerging is that of segmented trade involving various merchants.
Jianjun Mei
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263037
- eISBN:
- 9780191734007
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263037.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This lecture discusses some preliminary observations on the early cultural relationship between China and Central Asia in the light of the most recent archaeological discoveries from Northwest China. ...
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This lecture discusses some preliminary observations on the early cultural relationship between China and Central Asia in the light of the most recent archaeological discoveries from Northwest China. It considers three main issues: the role of outside influences in the beginnings and early development of bronze metallurgy in China, the shift to the ‘Steppe Road’, and the two-way traffic of cultural influence along the prehistoric ‘Silk Road’. The lecture also tries to show that early cultural interaction between China and Central Asia was the crucial drive for the growth of civilisations in both regions.Less
This lecture discusses some preliminary observations on the early cultural relationship between China and Central Asia in the light of the most recent archaeological discoveries from Northwest China. It considers three main issues: the role of outside influences in the beginnings and early development of bronze metallurgy in China, the shift to the ‘Steppe Road’, and the two-way traffic of cultural influence along the prehistoric ‘Silk Road’. The lecture also tries to show that early cultural interaction between China and Central Asia was the crucial drive for the growth of civilisations in both regions.
William Honeychurch
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824839789
- eISBN:
- 9780824869526
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824839789.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
Nomadic peoples of the Inner Asian steppe have long been credited with playing a role in facilitating exchange along the famous Silk Roads reaching across Eurasia. However, since the historical ...
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Nomadic peoples of the Inner Asian steppe have long been credited with playing a role in facilitating exchange along the famous Silk Roads reaching across Eurasia. However, since the historical record of the Silk Roads was written almost exclusively within sedentary, urban societies, the organizational role of nomadic groups and polities is often obscure. This is particularly true during the earliest period of Silk Road exchange contemporary with the Han Dynasty of China and the Xiongnu state of Mongolia. In this chapter, I explore historical and archaeological evidence for Xiongnu state interaction with Central Asia and with China and critique the long standing assumption that eastern steppe nomads were peripheral to or predatory upon exchange between East and West. I suggest that nascent Silk Road activities may have been a critical part of the political economy of the Xiongnu state and examine the possibility of nomads as early architects of Eurasian trade.Less
Nomadic peoples of the Inner Asian steppe have long been credited with playing a role in facilitating exchange along the famous Silk Roads reaching across Eurasia. However, since the historical record of the Silk Roads was written almost exclusively within sedentary, urban societies, the organizational role of nomadic groups and polities is often obscure. This is particularly true during the earliest period of Silk Road exchange contemporary with the Han Dynasty of China and the Xiongnu state of Mongolia. In this chapter, I explore historical and archaeological evidence for Xiongnu state interaction with Central Asia and with China and critique the long standing assumption that eastern steppe nomads were peripheral to or predatory upon exchange between East and West. I suggest that nascent Silk Road activities may have been a critical part of the political economy of the Xiongnu state and examine the possibility of nomads as early architects of Eurasian trade.
Fatemeh Keshavarz
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780748696925
- eISBN:
- 9781474408608
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748696925.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Literature
This Chapter discusses the impact of Sa’di’s travels in shaping his cosmopolitan and inclusive perspective. It moves on the significance of Persian poetry as line of cultural communication among the ...
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This Chapter discusses the impact of Sa’di’s travels in shaping his cosmopolitan and inclusive perspective. It moves on the significance of Persian poetry as line of cultural communication among the Persian speakers across the globe. Persian poets and travel, as well as Sa’di’s own travel are among the other topics in the chapter.Less
This Chapter discusses the impact of Sa’di’s travels in shaping his cosmopolitan and inclusive perspective. It moves on the significance of Persian poetry as line of cultural communication among the Persian speakers across the globe. Persian poets and travel, as well as Sa’di’s own travel are among the other topics in the chapter.
Gunnel Cederlöf
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780198090571
- eISBN:
- 9780199082797
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198090571.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This chapter researches the commercial routes in the South-West Silk Road between Bengal and Yunnan via Burma, as these were explored by the officers in the Survey of India in the 1830s. It also ...
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This chapter researches the commercial routes in the South-West Silk Road between Bengal and Yunnan via Burma, as these were explored by the officers in the Survey of India in the 1830s. It also studies the conflicts deriving from the East India Company’s (EIC) attempts at establishing roads across Khasi hills and Cachar. The control of these roads was important as they contributed both towards the EIC expanding its web of trade and facilitated the movement of troops. Even more crucial for the EIC – the expansion across land towards China took place at the time when they lost their monopolies in trade as the Charter Acts were revised by the British Crown and Parliament.Less
This chapter researches the commercial routes in the South-West Silk Road between Bengal and Yunnan via Burma, as these were explored by the officers in the Survey of India in the 1830s. It also studies the conflicts deriving from the East India Company’s (EIC) attempts at establishing roads across Khasi hills and Cachar. The control of these roads was important as they contributed both towards the EIC expanding its web of trade and facilitated the movement of troops. Even more crucial for the EIC – the expansion across land towards China took place at the time when they lost their monopolies in trade as the Charter Acts were revised by the British Crown and Parliament.
Richard Kennedy
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781496805980
- eISBN:
- 9781496806024
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496805980.003.0007
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Cultural Studies
The author describes the curator’s role in developing and navigating relationships and representation with nation/state partners in the context of serious political differences and violent histories ...
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The author describes the curator’s role in developing and navigating relationships and representation with nation/state partners in the context of serious political differences and violent histories which include the legacy of U.S. engagements with Asian countries. Ranging across the experience of collaborative research and curation of ten international programs at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival—chiefly involving Asian countries, including the Silk Road Festival and the Mekong River Festival Program, over a twenty year period (1988 – 2008)—the chapter chronicles the changing attitudes of both organizers and audiences and traces changing attitudes to ideas about the nature of “tradition” over these decades.Less
The author describes the curator’s role in developing and navigating relationships and representation with nation/state partners in the context of serious political differences and violent histories which include the legacy of U.S. engagements with Asian countries. Ranging across the experience of collaborative research and curation of ten international programs at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival—chiefly involving Asian countries, including the Silk Road Festival and the Mekong River Festival Program, over a twenty year period (1988 – 2008)—the chapter chronicles the changing attitudes of both organizers and audiences and traces changing attitudes to ideas about the nature of “tradition” over these decades.
Jonathan Karam Skaff
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199734139
- eISBN:
- 9780199950195
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199734139.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, World History: BCE to 500CE, Asian and Middle Eastern History: BCE to 500CE
This book challenges readers to reconsider China’s relations with the rest of Eurasia. Investigating interstate competition and cooperation between the successive Sui and Tang dynasties and Turkic ...
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This book challenges readers to reconsider China’s relations with the rest of Eurasia. Investigating interstate competition and cooperation between the successive Sui and Tang dynasties and Turkic states of Mongolia from 580 to 800, this book upends the notion that inhabitants of China and Mongolia were irreconcilably different and hostile to each other. Rulers on both sides deployed strikingly similar diplomacy, warfare, ideologies of rulership, and patrimonial political networking to seek hegemony over each other and the peoples living in the pastoral borderlands between them. The book particularly disputes the supposed uniqueness of imperial China’s tributary diplomacy by demonstrating that similar customary norms of interstate relations existed in a wide sphere in Eurasia as far west as Byzantium, India, and Iran. These previously unrecognized cultural connections, therefore, were arguably as much the work of Turko-Mongol pastoral nomads traversing the Eurasian steppe as the more commonly recognized Silk Road monks and merchants.Less
This book challenges readers to reconsider China’s relations with the rest of Eurasia. Investigating interstate competition and cooperation between the successive Sui and Tang dynasties and Turkic states of Mongolia from 580 to 800, this book upends the notion that inhabitants of China and Mongolia were irreconcilably different and hostile to each other. Rulers on both sides deployed strikingly similar diplomacy, warfare, ideologies of rulership, and patrimonial political networking to seek hegemony over each other and the peoples living in the pastoral borderlands between them. The book particularly disputes the supposed uniqueness of imperial China’s tributary diplomacy by demonstrating that similar customary norms of interstate relations existed in a wide sphere in Eurasia as far west as Byzantium, India, and Iran. These previously unrecognized cultural connections, therefore, were arguably as much the work of Turko-Mongol pastoral nomads traversing the Eurasian steppe as the more commonly recognized Silk Road monks and merchants.
Pradumna B. Rana and Wai-Mun Chia
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- June 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780199479283
- eISBN:
- 9780199091010
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199479283.003.0006
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, South and East Asia
This chapter focuses on infrastructure connectivity issues that are required for providing efficient service links between production blocs. It argues that after enjoying a rich history of about ...
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This chapter focuses on infrastructure connectivity issues that are required for providing efficient service links between production blocs. It argues that after enjoying a rich history of about 1,600 years, the Silk Roads (land connectivity) went into disrepair. Now, for various reasons, land connectivity is once again making a comeback in Asia. First, is the growing importance of supply chain trade or parts and component trade which require efficient service links. The second is the ‘Go West’ policy and the ‘One Belt, One Road’ policy in China. The third is the opening of Myanmar, the node between SA and EA. This chapter also reviews bilateral, regional, and Asia-wide efforts to revive land connectivity including the ASEAN–India Connectivity projects and the recently initiated Bangladesh–China–India–Myanmar Economic Corridor. The chapter then proposes several new Trans-Himalayan Economic Corridors for seamless Pan-Asian connectivity between South Asia, Central Asia, and East Asia.Less
This chapter focuses on infrastructure connectivity issues that are required for providing efficient service links between production blocs. It argues that after enjoying a rich history of about 1,600 years, the Silk Roads (land connectivity) went into disrepair. Now, for various reasons, land connectivity is once again making a comeback in Asia. First, is the growing importance of supply chain trade or parts and component trade which require efficient service links. The second is the ‘Go West’ policy and the ‘One Belt, One Road’ policy in China. The third is the opening of Myanmar, the node between SA and EA. This chapter also reviews bilateral, regional, and Asia-wide efforts to revive land connectivity including the ASEAN–India Connectivity projects and the recently initiated Bangladesh–China–India–Myanmar Economic Corridor. The chapter then proposes several new Trans-Himalayan Economic Corridors for seamless Pan-Asian connectivity between South Asia, Central Asia, and East Asia.
Reinhard Strohm
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- January 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780197266564
- eISBN:
- 9780191889394
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197266564.003.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Ethnomusicology, World Music
The introduction first explains the relationship of the book to the discourse of the ‘Silk Road’, the western half of which is discussed here. It is differently related to Europe than the eastern ...
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The introduction first explains the relationship of the book to the discourse of the ‘Silk Road’, the western half of which is discussed here. It is differently related to Europe than the eastern one. The ‘music road’ metaphor emphasizes the historical and geographical flux of cultures across this region, justifying the keywords of diversity and yet, coherence in musical developments. The topics covered in the book are then gathered under three cultural paradigms: mobility, transmission in time, East–West imagination. The last-named is proposed as a more sensitive term for attitudes formerly subsumed under ‘orientalism’. An extended survey of the topic of all individual chapters reveals many different forms of transfers, connections, bridges and also disruptions in the musics of this special world region.Less
The introduction first explains the relationship of the book to the discourse of the ‘Silk Road’, the western half of which is discussed here. It is differently related to Europe than the eastern one. The ‘music road’ metaphor emphasizes the historical and geographical flux of cultures across this region, justifying the keywords of diversity and yet, coherence in musical developments. The topics covered in the book are then gathered under three cultural paradigms: mobility, transmission in time, East–West imagination. The last-named is proposed as a more sensitive term for attitudes formerly subsumed under ‘orientalism’. An extended survey of the topic of all individual chapters reveals many different forms of transfers, connections, bridges and also disruptions in the musics of this special world region.
Yossef Rapoport and Emilie Savage-Smith
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780226540887
- eISBN:
- 9780226553405
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226553405.003.0008
- Subject:
- Earth Sciences and Geography, Cartography
The maps of the Book of Curiosities demonstrate the strategic importance of the Indian Ocean, and of the tenth-century Ismaʿili emirates in Sind, to the global ambitions of the Fatimid empire. The ...
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The maps of the Book of Curiosities demonstrate the strategic importance of the Indian Ocean, and of the tenth-century Ismaʿili emirates in Sind, to the global ambitions of the Fatimid empire. The maps also contribute to the history of global communications at the turn of the previous millennium, as they highlight a route to China that passed through northern India and Tibet. This chapter examines three separate maps of East and Central Asia: a map of the Indian Ocean, a map of the River Oxus, and a map of the Indus, which also shows localities along the Ganges. This third map of the Indian river systems uniquely depicts an overland itinerary from Muslim Sind, then under Fatimid control, through northern India and then probably through Tibet, to China. Other routes, either the sea route to China through the Straits of Malacca, or the Central Asian Silk Road, are not depicted in such detail, suggesting that by the time the Book of Curiosities was composed the Tibetan route eclipsed its more famous alternatives.Less
The maps of the Book of Curiosities demonstrate the strategic importance of the Indian Ocean, and of the tenth-century Ismaʿili emirates in Sind, to the global ambitions of the Fatimid empire. The maps also contribute to the history of global communications at the turn of the previous millennium, as they highlight a route to China that passed through northern India and Tibet. This chapter examines three separate maps of East and Central Asia: a map of the Indian Ocean, a map of the River Oxus, and a map of the Indus, which also shows localities along the Ganges. This third map of the Indian river systems uniquely depicts an overland itinerary from Muslim Sind, then under Fatimid control, through northern India and then probably through Tibet, to China. Other routes, either the sea route to China through the Straits of Malacca, or the Central Asian Silk Road, are not depicted in such detail, suggesting that by the time the Book of Curiosities was composed the Tibetan route eclipsed its more famous alternatives.
Steven Sidebotham
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520244306
- eISBN:
- 9780520948389
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520244306.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Asian and Middle Eastern History: BCE to 500CE
The legendary overland silk road was not the only way to reach Asia for ancient travelers from the Mediterranean. During the Roman Empire's heyday, equally important maritime routes reached from the ...
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The legendary overland silk road was not the only way to reach Asia for ancient travelers from the Mediterranean. During the Roman Empire's heyday, equally important maritime routes reached from the Egyptian Red Sea across the Indian Ocean. The ancient city of Berenike, located approximately 500 miles south of today's Suez Canal, was a significant port among these conduits. This book, written by the archaeologist who excavated Berenike, uncovers the role the city played in the regional, local, and “global” economies during the eight centuries of its existence. The book analyzes many of the artifacts, botanical and faunal remains, and hundreds of the texts the author and his team found in excavations, providing a profoundly intimate glimpse of the people who lived, worked, and died in this emporium between the classical Mediterranean world and Asia.Less
The legendary overland silk road was not the only way to reach Asia for ancient travelers from the Mediterranean. During the Roman Empire's heyday, equally important maritime routes reached from the Egyptian Red Sea across the Indian Ocean. The ancient city of Berenike, located approximately 500 miles south of today's Suez Canal, was a significant port among these conduits. This book, written by the archaeologist who excavated Berenike, uncovers the role the city played in the regional, local, and “global” economies during the eight centuries of its existence. The book analyzes many of the artifacts, botanical and faunal remains, and hundreds of the texts the author and his team found in excavations, providing a profoundly intimate glimpse of the people who lived, worked, and died in this emporium between the classical Mediterranean world and Asia.
Peter Jackson
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780300125337
- eISBN:
- 9780300227284
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300125337.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This chapter examines the conditions created by the Mongol conquests, summed up in the phrase Pax Mongolica, and the role of the Silk Roads in the transcontinental travel andcommunication to which ...
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This chapter examines the conditions created by the Mongol conquests, summed up in the phrase Pax Mongolica, and the role of the Silk Roads in the transcontinental travel andcommunication to which the Mongols had given impetus. It begins with a discussion of commodities traded in Mongol Asia, including spices, silks and other luxury textiles, pearls, precious stones, bullion and furs. It then considers the Mongols' diversion of trade routes within Western Asia and their role in the emergence of new termini, along with the steps taken by Mongol khans to foster trade. It also analyses the obstacles and risks involved in overland trade and travel in the era of the successor-states, the growth in the maritime trade of Asia during the Mongol epoch, and the limits of cultural diffusion brought by transcontinental trade across Mongol Asia.Less
This chapter examines the conditions created by the Mongol conquests, summed up in the phrase Pax Mongolica, and the role of the Silk Roads in the transcontinental travel andcommunication to which the Mongols had given impetus. It begins with a discussion of commodities traded in Mongol Asia, including spices, silks and other luxury textiles, pearls, precious stones, bullion and furs. It then considers the Mongols' diversion of trade routes within Western Asia and their role in the emergence of new termini, along with the steps taken by Mongol khans to foster trade. It also analyses the obstacles and risks involved in overland trade and travel in the era of the successor-states, the growth in the maritime trade of Asia during the Mongol epoch, and the limits of cultural diffusion brought by transcontinental trade across Mongol Asia.
Robert R. Bianchi
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- February 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190915285
- eISBN:
- 9780190915315
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190915285.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
The rise of the New Silk Road is generating fierce debates over the emergence of new megaregions and their role in reshaping world politics. Chinese writers are avid consumers of and contributors to ...
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The rise of the New Silk Road is generating fierce debates over the emergence of new megaregions and their role in reshaping world politics. Chinese writers are avid consumers of and contributors to these discussions both at home and internationally. China’s growing interest in megaregional integration accompanied a sharp turn in foreign policy—from a defensive posture that feared provoking war with the United States toward a bold campaign to assert global leadership, economically and diplomatically. Gradually, Chinese leaders are beginning to realize that all of the emerging megaregions are developing lives of their own that cannot be directed by a hierarchical network centered in Beijing. This realization is forcing China’s policymakers to reconsider their traditional assumption that sovereignty belongs only to formal governments and the elites that control them rather than to the all of the citizens who comprise the national communities.Less
The rise of the New Silk Road is generating fierce debates over the emergence of new megaregions and their role in reshaping world politics. Chinese writers are avid consumers of and contributors to these discussions both at home and internationally. China’s growing interest in megaregional integration accompanied a sharp turn in foreign policy—from a defensive posture that feared provoking war with the United States toward a bold campaign to assert global leadership, economically and diplomatically. Gradually, Chinese leaders are beginning to realize that all of the emerging megaregions are developing lives of their own that cannot be directed by a hierarchical network centered in Beijing. This realization is forcing China’s policymakers to reconsider their traditional assumption that sovereignty belongs only to formal governments and the elites that control them rather than to the all of the citizens who comprise the national communities.
Reinhard Strohm (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- January 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780197266564
- eISBN:
- 9780191889394
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197266564.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Ethnomusicology, World Music
The book, derived from the Balzan musicology project ‘Towards a global history of music’, describes cultural traditions and communication patterns of music, dance and theatre in the world region ...
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The book, derived from the Balzan musicology project ‘Towards a global history of music’, describes cultural traditions and communication patterns of music, dance and theatre in the world region between India and the Mediterranean in the last 2000 years. The new metaphor of the ‘Music Road’—the western half of the ‘Silk Road’—refers to the travels of musical songs, instruments and ideas across both space and time. The book has an introduction and 16 chapters, each by a different author. Highlighted are the following cultural traditions: ancient Gandhāra (first centuries ce); traditions of the Alexander legend; the musical philosophy and practice of Muslim societies; colonial India and the West; Greek music and nationalism (19th–20th centuries); travelling music-theatre companies in the Eastern Mediterranean; the ‘Gypsy rhapsody’ in European art music. The keynote chapter by Martin Stokes reviews the work of Villoteau and Lachmann, advocating a fusion of historical thought and ethnomusicology. The book offers case studies not only on music per se, but also on fine art, dance, musical theatre, on the theology, philosophy, historiography and literature of music, and on East–West relations in the musical practice of colonial and modern times. It is argued in the introduction and implied elsewhere that the musical culture of this world region, and its interactions with the West, have always been on the move, that its diversities and disruptions are counterbalanced by numerous internal and external linkages, and that the reifying term of ‘orientalism’ might be replaced by ‘the East–West imagination’.Less
The book, derived from the Balzan musicology project ‘Towards a global history of music’, describes cultural traditions and communication patterns of music, dance and theatre in the world region between India and the Mediterranean in the last 2000 years. The new metaphor of the ‘Music Road’—the western half of the ‘Silk Road’—refers to the travels of musical songs, instruments and ideas across both space and time. The book has an introduction and 16 chapters, each by a different author. Highlighted are the following cultural traditions: ancient Gandhāra (first centuries ce); traditions of the Alexander legend; the musical philosophy and practice of Muslim societies; colonial India and the West; Greek music and nationalism (19th–20th centuries); travelling music-theatre companies in the Eastern Mediterranean; the ‘Gypsy rhapsody’ in European art music. The keynote chapter by Martin Stokes reviews the work of Villoteau and Lachmann, advocating a fusion of historical thought and ethnomusicology. The book offers case studies not only on music per se, but also on fine art, dance, musical theatre, on the theology, philosophy, historiography and literature of music, and on East–West relations in the musical practice of colonial and modern times. It is argued in the introduction and implied elsewhere that the musical culture of this world region, and its interactions with the West, have always been on the move, that its diversities and disruptions are counterbalanced by numerous internal and external linkages, and that the reifying term of ‘orientalism’ might be replaced by ‘the East–West imagination’.
Robert R. Bianchi
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- February 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190915285
- eISBN:
- 9780190915315
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190915285.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
China is building a New Silk Road that runs through the heartland of the Muslim world. Its leaders promise to bring about change through improved economies and greater communications across the ...
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China is building a New Silk Road that runs through the heartland of the Muslim world. Its leaders promise to bring about change through improved economies and greater communications across the Eurasian and African continents. While China has the financial and technical resources to accomplish its infrastructure goals, it is sorely unprepared to deal with the social and political demands of the people in the partner countries. This book addresses how China’s leaders and citizens—in their relationships with Pakistan, Turkey, Indonesian, Iran, Nigeria, and Egypt—are learning that they have to respect and adjust to the aspirations of ordinary people throughout the Islamic world, not just cater to the narrow band of government and business elites. In addition, it is becoming increasingly clear that turbulent countries along the New Silk Road are likely to transform Chinese society at least as much as China is changing them. This is a deeply unsettling realization for China’s authoritarian rulers who desperately want to monopolize power domestically. The party and state bosses have responded with a contradictory blend of flexibility abroad and rigidity at home—compromising with popular demands in one country after another while refusing to negotiate many of the same issues with their own citizens. Maintaining such a split-minded statecraft will become ever more difficult as people in China and across the New Silk Road share their aspirations and grievances in wider networks.Less
China is building a New Silk Road that runs through the heartland of the Muslim world. Its leaders promise to bring about change through improved economies and greater communications across the Eurasian and African continents. While China has the financial and technical resources to accomplish its infrastructure goals, it is sorely unprepared to deal with the social and political demands of the people in the partner countries. This book addresses how China’s leaders and citizens—in their relationships with Pakistan, Turkey, Indonesian, Iran, Nigeria, and Egypt—are learning that they have to respect and adjust to the aspirations of ordinary people throughout the Islamic world, not just cater to the narrow band of government and business elites. In addition, it is becoming increasingly clear that turbulent countries along the New Silk Road are likely to transform Chinese society at least as much as China is changing them. This is a deeply unsettling realization for China’s authoritarian rulers who desperately want to monopolize power domestically. The party and state bosses have responded with a contradictory blend of flexibility abroad and rigidity at home—compromising with popular demands in one country after another while refusing to negotiate many of the same issues with their own citizens. Maintaining such a split-minded statecraft will become ever more difficult as people in China and across the New Silk Road share their aspirations and grievances in wider networks.
Joseph Mazur
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780691173375
- eISBN:
- 9781400850112
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691173375.003.0003
- Subject:
- Mathematics, History of Mathematics
This chapter discusses the important role played by the Silk and Royal roads in the spread of teaching and knowledge of philosophy, science, and mathematics during ancient times. The Silk Road was a ...
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This chapter discusses the important role played by the Silk and Royal roads in the spread of teaching and knowledge of philosophy, science, and mathematics during ancient times. The Silk Road was a series of land and sea routes criss-crossing Eurasia and connecting to other routes traveled mostly by Indian merchants, agents, and explorers. Formed sometime around the second century BC, it connected to the Royal Road in the Zagros Mountains of Persia. Commercial trade was done mostly through bartering, but fair bartering required at least a rough estimate of value, an understanding of conversions of weights and measures: square areas of silk, or weights of gold, or value of coin. The chapter describes the number system that allowed the Chinese to “name” large numbers, as well as the system of counting rods to do practical arithmetic.Less
This chapter discusses the important role played by the Silk and Royal roads in the spread of teaching and knowledge of philosophy, science, and mathematics during ancient times. The Silk Road was a series of land and sea routes criss-crossing Eurasia and connecting to other routes traveled mostly by Indian merchants, agents, and explorers. Formed sometime around the second century BC, it connected to the Royal Road in the Zagros Mountains of Persia. Commercial trade was done mostly through bartering, but fair bartering required at least a rough estimate of value, an understanding of conversions of weights and measures: square areas of silk, or weights of gold, or value of coin. The chapter describes the number system that allowed the Chinese to “name” large numbers, as well as the system of counting rods to do practical arithmetic.
Elaine Lynn-Ee Ho
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781503606661
- eISBN:
- 9781503607460
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9781503606661.003.0005
- Subject:
- Sociology, Migration Studies (including Refugee Studies)
Studying the interface of distinct yet interrelated migration trends through the framework of contemporaneous migration allows us to conceptualize both inter-ethnic and co-ethnic relations in ...
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Studying the interface of distinct yet interrelated migration trends through the framework of contemporaneous migration allows us to conceptualize both inter-ethnic and co-ethnic relations in culturally diverse societies. The Chinese worldview of tianxia informs understanding of the multidirectional migration patterns that reflect and impact China’s domestic management of ethnic diversity and its external relations. This chapter argues that contemporaneous migration further illuminates three dimensions of alterity, namely alterity as phenotypical difference, as the diversification of co-ethnicity, and as spatial recalibration. It interfaces African immigration to China with the re-migration of Chinese diasporic descendants to the ancestral land, and the emigration of ethnic minorities in China. Such an analytical approach reveals how fraternity and alterity operate within and across ethnic categories in transnational contexts.Less
Studying the interface of distinct yet interrelated migration trends through the framework of contemporaneous migration allows us to conceptualize both inter-ethnic and co-ethnic relations in culturally diverse societies. The Chinese worldview of tianxia informs understanding of the multidirectional migration patterns that reflect and impact China’s domestic management of ethnic diversity and its external relations. This chapter argues that contemporaneous migration further illuminates three dimensions of alterity, namely alterity as phenotypical difference, as the diversification of co-ethnicity, and as spatial recalibration. It interfaces African immigration to China with the re-migration of Chinese diasporic descendants to the ancestral land, and the emigration of ethnic minorities in China. Such an analytical approach reveals how fraternity and alterity operate within and across ethnic categories in transnational contexts.
Eswar S. Prasad
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- October 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780190631055
- eISBN:
- 9780190631086
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190631055.003.0009
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, International
This chapter describes how China is wielding its economic power to increase its economic and geopolitical influence in Asia and other parts of the world. These initiatives are also tied in with the ...
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This chapter describes how China is wielding its economic power to increase its economic and geopolitical influence in Asia and other parts of the world. These initiatives are also tied in with the promotion of the RMB’s international role. China is trying to influence the rules of international governance through more effective wielding of its power in existing international institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank, and also by setting up its own institutions such as the AIIB. The Belt and Road Initiative is another example of how China is tying together its economic and geopolitical ambitions, and making progress on both in a concerted manner.Less
This chapter describes how China is wielding its economic power to increase its economic and geopolitical influence in Asia and other parts of the world. These initiatives are also tied in with the promotion of the RMB’s international role. China is trying to influence the rules of international governance through more effective wielding of its power in existing international institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank, and also by setting up its own institutions such as the AIIB. The Belt and Road Initiative is another example of how China is tying together its economic and geopolitical ambitions, and making progress on both in a concerted manner.
Martin Dusinberre
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824835248
- eISBN:
- 9780824871819
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824835248.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This chapter discusses the significance of studying the town of Kaminoseki. For one, the town's location highlights an imbalance in the historiography of modern Japan. Not only did Kaminoseki ...
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This chapter discusses the significance of studying the town of Kaminoseki. For one, the town's location highlights an imbalance in the historiography of modern Japan. Not only did Kaminoseki straddle key trade and diplomatic shipping routes, as indicated by the Silk Road sign, but in the mid-nineteenth century it was also situated in one of the nation's most important political domains. Another reason for focusing on Kaminoseki is because of its everyday hometown atmosphere, which is crucial in understanding the motivations and values of ordinary people in modern Japan, and because of the extraordinary range of sources that the town offers to historians of everyday life. In the course of the study, the book draws on two sets of documents: the Bōchō fūdo chūshin'an, and the Murotsu collection.Less
This chapter discusses the significance of studying the town of Kaminoseki. For one, the town's location highlights an imbalance in the historiography of modern Japan. Not only did Kaminoseki straddle key trade and diplomatic shipping routes, as indicated by the Silk Road sign, but in the mid-nineteenth century it was also situated in one of the nation's most important political domains. Another reason for focusing on Kaminoseki is because of its everyday hometown atmosphere, which is crucial in understanding the motivations and values of ordinary people in modern Japan, and because of the extraordinary range of sources that the town offers to historians of everyday life. In the course of the study, the book draws on two sets of documents: the Bōchō fūdo chūshin'an, and the Murotsu collection.
Andrew Edmund Goble
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824835002
- eISBN:
- 9780824870317
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824835002.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This chapter examines the pharmaceutical aspects of the new knowledge available in the East Asian macroculture and how Kajiwara Shōzen benefited from access to and information about materia medica ...
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This chapter examines the pharmaceutical aspects of the new knowledge available in the East Asian macroculture and how Kajiwara Shōzen benefited from access to and information about materia medica transported along the so-called Pharmaceutical Silk Road. The chapter first considers the increasing availability of overseas materia medica as well as the technical challenges faced by Shōzen in trying to understand formulas and materia medica. It then discusses some of the changes in Chinese medicine between the Tang and Song eras and the influence of Islamic medicine on Song medicine. It also explores the new illness category of disorders of qi and how it was understood by Shōzen. It concludes with some examples of Shōzen's use of formulas to illustrate how the preceding elements converged to influence Japanese medicine.Less
This chapter examines the pharmaceutical aspects of the new knowledge available in the East Asian macroculture and how Kajiwara Shōzen benefited from access to and information about materia medica transported along the so-called Pharmaceutical Silk Road. The chapter first considers the increasing availability of overseas materia medica as well as the technical challenges faced by Shōzen in trying to understand formulas and materia medica. It then discusses some of the changes in Chinese medicine between the Tang and Song eras and the influence of Islamic medicine on Song medicine. It also explores the new illness category of disorders of qi and how it was understood by Shōzen. It concludes with some examples of Shōzen's use of formulas to illustrate how the preceding elements converged to influence Japanese medicine.
