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The chapter presents a biography of the Silk Road concept. Starting with the discoveries made in Central Asia in the late nineteenth century, it traces the development of the Silk Road idea through the twentieth century in relation to the politics of nation building, empires, international conflicts, and shifting East West relations. The Silk Road is thus presented as an emergent geocultural imaginary, one that has been imbued with particular values and ideals in different parts of the world. This biographical approach offers a more critical reading of what is at stake in the “revival” of the Silk Roads for the twenty-first century.

Belt and Road has emerged as one of the most significant geo-strategic initiatives of the 21st century. The opening chapter introduces its various elements and how the consequences of BRI are being interpreted across multiple sectors. The analytical framework of heritage diplomacy is introduced for examining the appropriation of the Silk Roads as a regional history for trade and diplomatic purposes.

Here the analysis steps back to consider how a renewed interest in the Silk Roads raises important questions about world history and the identities of nations and cities. It is argued that Belt and Road represents an elastic and expansive international political economy that shines a light on previously ignored histories. Recent research on Central Asia and the Indian Ocean reveals the importance of these regions to our understanding of world history. Potential exists for new stories to be told through academia, museums, and historical sites, and through the media. The chapter also reflects on how forms of scholarly knowledge that feed into public discourses on Silk Road history are being rearranged and reassembled in an era of Belt and Road.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This chapter discusses the intersection of Chinese, Russian, and Central Asian interests in the context of China’s expanding Eurasian presence. It introduces a brief history of China’s relations with Central Asia and Russia. It describes how China has deepened its economic ties, especially with respect to the energy (oil and gas) trade and overland transportation infrastructure. It explains how Kazakhstan’s political economy is defined by illiberal strongman rule, patronage politics, and ethnic cleavages influences, and is likely to be influenced by China’s involvement. It describes how China and Russia share similar global aims, not least in resisting aspects of US leadership, which has contributed to the unusually close ties between presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin. However, it also finds that the increasing power asymmetry between China and Russia, along with Moscow’s reduced influence in Central Asia, will likely introduce tensions between them over time.

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.