The Silk Road : two thousand years in the heart of Asia / Frances Wood.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wood, Frances, 1948-

Contributor:

Gotham Book Mart Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Trade routes--China.

Trade routes.

China.

Silk Road--History.

Silk Road.

Asia, Central--History.

Asia, Central.

Central Asia.

History.

Penn Provenance:

Gotham Book Mart (former owner) (Gotham Book Mart Collection copy)

Physical Description:

270 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), maps ; 27 cm

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, [2002]

Summary:

The Silk Road, a series of ancient trade routes stretching across Central Asia to Europe, evokes exotic images of camel trains laden with bales of fine Chinese silk, spices, and perfume, of desert oases surrounded by snow-capped mountains, of bustling markets thronging with travellers buying and selling grapes, coriander, Baltic amber, and Mediterranean coral. Along this route, silks were sent from China to ancient Rome; princesses were dispatched in marriage alliances across the deserts; bandits and thieves launched attacks throughout history. Covering more than 5,000 years, this book, lavishly illustrated with photographs, manuscripts, and paintings from the collections of the British Library and other museums worldwide, presents an overall picture of the history and cultures of the Silk Road. It also contains many previously unpublished photographs by the great explorers Stein, Hedin, and Mannerheim.

More than just a trade route, the Silk Road witnessed the movement of cultural influences. Frances Wood traces the story of the civilizations and ideas that flourished and moved along its vast geographical expanse. Indian Buddhism was carried into China on the Silk Road, initiating a long history of pilgrimages along the lonely desert routes; Manichaeism, Nestorian Christianity, and Islam also made their way eastwards along its route. The nineteenth century saw a new interest in Central Asia and the Silk Road, as Russia and Britain vied for power on the frontiers of Afghanistan. A new breed of explorer, part archaeologist, part cartographer, part spy, was seen on the Silk Road, while some of the ancient cities, long buried in sand-blown dunes, began to give up their secrets. This book brings the history of the Silk Road alive -- from its beginnings to the present day, revealing a rich legacy still in the making.

Contents:

1 'A ceaselessly flowing stream of life' 9

2 Coiled dragons and filmy fleeces: jade and silk 26

3 From Greece and Rome to China

and back again 36

4 A people abandoned by Heaven: the Xiongnu and trade during the Han dynasty 48

5 The spread of trade and religions: Tocharians and Sogdians 61

6 The fashion for all things Central Asian 75

7 The Caves of the Thousand Buddhas: Buddhism on the Silk Road 88

8 Tanguts, Mongols, Nestorians and Marco Polo 111

9 A parterre of roses: travellers to Ming China and Samarkand 130

10 The Great Game and the Silk Road 147

11 Asia held them captive in her cold embrace: explorers on the Silk Road 165

12 Trophies and tiger entrails: hunting and theorising on the Silk Road 180

13 Securing specimens: Aurel Stein 191

14 An end to excavation: Pelliot, von Le Coq and Warner 208

15 The Baby General: travel on the Silk Road in the 1930s 223

Epilogue: The Silk Road today 243.

Notes:

First published: London : Folio Society, 2002.

Maps on lining papers.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 247-254) and index.

ISBN:

0520237862

OCLC:

53025795