What do you think?
Rate this book
De zijderoute
‘De zijderoute’ van Valerie Hansen is een monumentaal werk dat niet gaat over rijk beladen karavanen die handeldreven tussen China en het oude Rome. Het is een wervelend en fascinerend verslag over de échte het oude handelsnetwerk tussen China en Samarkand in het huidige Iran. Aan de hand van unieke archeologische vondsten (sommige officiële documenten werden hergebruikt als schoenzool en bleven eeuwenlang bewaard door het droge klimaat in de Taklamakanwoestijn) toont Hansen dat de zijderoute een aaneenschakeling van markten was, waar meer in papier dan in zijde werd gehandeld. In kosmopolitische centra heerste tolerantie voor verschillende religies, waaronder zoroastrisme en boeddhisme. ‘De zijderoute’ is een fascinerend verhaal over de culturele overdracht van ideeën, religies, technologie en artistieke motieven.
518 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 14, 2012
146 people are currently reading
2562 people want to read
About the author
Valerie Hansen
51 books56 followersValerie Hansen is a professor of History at Yale University.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 134 reviews
Read
November 17, 2019While at a reception in 1933, venerable Swedish explorer Sven Hedin - he turns 70 at the end of the book chats with senior members of the Chinese Republican government who are much vexed by the civil war and banditry in the west of the country, the solution is simple, Hedin explains - build some good roads suitable for motor cars and a railway line and the situation will be swiftly resolved. Of course there is only one candidate for the task of surveying the potential routes and soon Hedin with a team of Swedes will be off on an epic non-road adventure.
Only one problem occurs to him - he has been banned from undertaking any archaeological work - but he immediately decides to ignore that restriction in favour of exploring and discovering the route of the famous 'silk road'.
Bandits and civil war aside, even from my armchair I felt it would be more sensible to undertake such a journey by camel rather than by car and lorry given the difficulty of obtaining fuel and the likelihood of breakdowns and the difficulties of repairing vehicles in the back of beyond. In the event caravans of camels have to carry the petrol and establish fuel dumps in advance of the cars and the fuel freezes in the engines overnight and can only be melted by fires of camel dung.
On the plus side Edsel Ford himself, in a masterpiece of product placement donates one lorry to the expedition, it like the other vehicles, also breaks down, while all average an impressive 4.2 miles to the gallon. as the old saying goes, keeps your friends close and your camels closer.
I don't know if Hedin was particularly excitable! But if not, his translator certainly was! Making frequent use of the exclamation mark, even when not recounting tales of broken axles or Mongolians killed in railway crossing accidents! Perhaps the printers had to buy in additional exclamation marks, just to make sure the reader knows how breathless with excitement they were to celebrate Charles XII day, Swedish national flag day, Christmas, and New Year!
There is a long section in the middle of the book when Hedin and his companions are held under effective house arrest, it was plainly tiresome for them, a feeling which they kindly allow the reader to share. Much of the narration reads as though it has been regurgitated from travel diaries (which presumably was the case) the military chaos calms down as a Muslim group is defeated apparently with much assistance from the Bolsheviks despite this, the authorities in the far West of China are not minded to be too obedient to the central government in Nanking. Indeed a cabal of loyal generals steadily opposed the improvement of rail and road links towards central China precisely so they could do as they pleased way out west.
On the return route particularly Hedin allows himself some lyrical reflections on the wild camels, the history of the Silk Road, and it's potential future (p.230-2) which unsurprisingly comes over rather similar to the current 'Belt and Road' policy - geography does not change that quickly. He points out the sunken roads - deep in the Earth due to centuries of traffic, the scenic grazing yaks, the wild camels, the team shoot antelopes, they see pilgrims, pass temples and on the return journey keep the Great Wall of China on their left hand side as they travel through rivers and over mountains. I imagined that feeling your car slowly break through layers of ice until it stops dead on a river bed, then having to unload it and have it towed out was probably considerably more interesting to experience than to read about.
Hedin was full of the excitement and Romance of the road project, dreaming of motoring from Nanking to Bremerhaven or Bordeux, a Catholic missionary he speaks to was more, realistic pointing out that earth roads would be quickly destroyed by the rain while timber bridges would be cannibalised for firewood. In places banditry is so endemic that patrols of soldiers are unarmed - as th bandits would simply take their rifles, by contrast the Bolshevik supported forces in the far West have rifles but not necessarily boots or shoes.
The romance of bell collared camel caravans must also have a feature of the poverty and under development of western China, that in turn related to China's political power and ambitions in the region. On the whole a far less interesting book to read than I had imagined it might be.
Only one problem occurs to him - he has been banned from undertaking any archaeological work - but he immediately decides to ignore that restriction in favour of exploring and discovering the route of the famous 'silk road'.
Bandits and civil war aside, even from my armchair I felt it would be more sensible to undertake such a journey by camel rather than by car and lorry given the difficulty of obtaining fuel and the likelihood of breakdowns and the difficulties of repairing vehicles in the back of beyond. In the event caravans of camels have to carry the petrol and establish fuel dumps in advance of the cars and the fuel freezes in the engines overnight and can only be melted by fires of camel dung.
On the plus side Edsel Ford himself, in a masterpiece of product placement donates one lorry to the expedition, it like the other vehicles, also breaks down, while all average an impressive 4.2 miles to the gallon. as the old saying goes, keeps your friends close and your camels closer.
I don't know if Hedin was particularly excitable! But if not, his translator certainly was! Making frequent use of the exclamation mark, even when not recounting tales of broken axles or Mongolians killed in railway crossing accidents! Perhaps the printers had to buy in additional exclamation marks, just to make sure the reader knows how breathless with excitement they were to celebrate Charles XII day, Swedish national flag day, Christmas, and New Year!
There is a long section in the middle of the book when Hedin and his companions are held under effective house arrest, it was plainly tiresome for them, a feeling which they kindly allow the reader to share. Much of the narration reads as though it has been regurgitated from travel diaries (which presumably was the case) the military chaos calms down as a Muslim group is defeated apparently with much assistance from the Bolsheviks despite this, the authorities in the far West of China are not minded to be too obedient to the central government in Nanking. Indeed a cabal of loyal generals steadily opposed the improvement of rail and road links towards central China precisely so they could do as they pleased way out west.
On the return route particularly Hedin allows himself some lyrical reflections on the wild camels, the history of the Silk Road, and it's potential future (p.230-2) which unsurprisingly comes over rather similar to the current 'Belt and Road' policy - geography does not change that quickly. He points out the sunken roads - deep in the Earth due to centuries of traffic, the scenic grazing yaks, the wild camels, the team shoot antelopes, they see pilgrims, pass temples and on the return journey keep the Great Wall of China on their left hand side as they travel through rivers and over mountains. I imagined that feeling your car slowly break through layers of ice until it stops dead on a river bed, then having to unload it and have it towed out was probably considerably more interesting to experience than to read about.
Hedin was full of the excitement and Romance of the road project, dreaming of motoring from Nanking to Bremerhaven or Bordeux, a Catholic missionary he speaks to was more, realistic pointing out that earth roads would be quickly destroyed by the rain while timber bridges would be cannibalised for firewood. In places banditry is so endemic that patrols of soldiers are unarmed - as th bandits would simply take their rifles, by contrast the Bolshevik supported forces in the far West have rifles but not necessarily boots or shoes.
The romance of bell collared camel caravans must also have a feature of the poverty and under development of western China, that in turn related to China's political power and ambitions in the region. On the whole a far less interesting book to read than I had imagined it might be.
March 3, 2018
A history of the Silk Road based mainly on the archaeological sources and textual analysis. The book is divided into seven chapters one each for the oasis towns of Niya, Loulan, Kucha, Turfan, Samarkand, Chang’an, Dunhuang, and Khotan. Six of them are in modern day north-west china and Samarkand is in modern day Uzbekistan. The author uses all the recent archaeological finds to show us the cultural, economic and social history of these Silk Road communities. The book starts from the earliest evidence available, from about second century CE and ends with the first millennium CE, at which point the advent of Islam made the once diverse communities homogenous.
This book disabuses us of the romantic notion of the Silk Road. Of long train of caravans traveling long distances carrying exotic goods from East to west. Most of the evidence rather points towards a more localised, small-scale trade made small groups of itinerant traders. The goods reached west through trickle trade rather than merchants directly travelling from China to Rome.
Rather than trade, the most important aspects of the Silk Road was the cultural exchange of ideas. The oasis towns of the Silk Road were a cultural milieu of multiple migrant communities from India, Iran and central Asia. The library cave at Dunhuang gives us a good idea of the rich linguistic and cultural diversity in the Silk Road communities. Number of texts on Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Nestorianism, Manichaeism and even some on Judaism were found here. Through the exchange of religions, art, languages and new technologies, the Silk Road did play a very important role in shaping the modern world.
One interesting aspect for me is that the author doubts the prevailing notion of the Kushana’s that they were one of the five branches of the Tocharian speaking nomadic Yuezhi tribes who migrated from China, based on the evidence of the Gandhari prakrit speaking people who later migrated to Niya. She says that we can only be certain that the Yuezhi were in Bactria in 138 BCE and that the claims for their earlier migrations from the Tarim Basin area are only speculative.
This is a highly readable account with a narrative structure and some amusing stories and anecdotes dotted within. Some excellent illustrations and maps are also provided. The main downside of this text is that it focuses only on the trade routes to China and not on the trade routes to India.Another issue comes with the author focusing only on the archaeological sources and the surviving texts. The uneven nature of the surviving evidence available makes for an uneven narrative.
This book disabuses us of the romantic notion of the Silk Road. Of long train of caravans traveling long distances carrying exotic goods from East to west. Most of the evidence rather points towards a more localised, small-scale trade made small groups of itinerant traders. The goods reached west through trickle trade rather than merchants directly travelling from China to Rome.
Rather than trade, the most important aspects of the Silk Road was the cultural exchange of ideas. The oasis towns of the Silk Road were a cultural milieu of multiple migrant communities from India, Iran and central Asia. The library cave at Dunhuang gives us a good idea of the rich linguistic and cultural diversity in the Silk Road communities. Number of texts on Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Nestorianism, Manichaeism and even some on Judaism were found here. Through the exchange of religions, art, languages and new technologies, the Silk Road did play a very important role in shaping the modern world.
One interesting aspect for me is that the author doubts the prevailing notion of the Kushana’s that they were one of the five branches of the Tocharian speaking nomadic Yuezhi tribes who migrated from China, based on the evidence of the Gandhari prakrit speaking people who later migrated to Niya. She says that we can only be certain that the Yuezhi were in Bactria in 138 BCE and that the claims for their earlier migrations from the Tarim Basin area are only speculative.
This is a highly readable account with a narrative structure and some amusing stories and anecdotes dotted within. Some excellent illustrations and maps are also provided. The main downside of this text is that it focuses only on the trade routes to China and not on the trade routes to India.Another issue comes with the author focusing only on the archaeological sources and the surviving texts. The uneven nature of the surviving evidence available makes for an uneven narrative.
October 3, 2021
This book seems to be something of a contrarian account of the Silk Road, or at least that’s how the author presents it. Her main thesis is that, as she puts it, “the Silk Road was one of the least traveled routes in human history”. Which seems a quite radical statement to make! My understanding from other books is that the general consensus is the opposite: that it was a mass of traffic, at least at certain periods. But of course maybe those books are wrong, based as they are on an assumption derived from exceptional literary sources and a few references.
Normally I don’t like to read revisionist histories as my first guide to a subject. Since their goal is to undermine an existing view they focus more on the evidence against it than on providing a full overview of the data needed to form a balanced opinion. It can be very frustrating to wander through pages contradicting preconceptions you never had and don’t really understand. It also seems odd to read a book on the Silk Road with that thesis. But in this case I think that attitude would be a mistake. Her main thesis is that the Silk Road wasn’t really all that important as an artery of commerce. That’s not the same as saying it wasn’t vital as a route for transmitting ideas and culture. Which it absolutely was. And that’s the far more interesting part. As for the other point, since she’s arguing long-distance trade barely existed her argument is less a reinterpretation of evidence than a brief observation of how little evidence there is. Doesn’t take up a lot of room to do that.
The book is divided up into cities which provide a loosely chronological advance from the early years of the first millennium AD to the last. Each city is described in depth, as is its discovery and the discovery of the few documents we have detailing it. This is a good way of dealing with the divided cultural/political landscape that makes up the Silk Road. And each city is interesting and unique in its own way. The narrative even manages to move from one side of the Silk Road to the other, meaning we get a chronological and geographical sense of progression.
In keeping with her main thesis, we do get a look at evidence for trade in each city, her conclusion invariably being that there was very little and what little there was was largely driven by the Chinese government. This might get repetitive if it wasn’t for the brevity of each discussion. There are so few records of trade that it seems genuinely perplexing that anyone can argue for a major trade route through the Taklamakan Desert and other dangers. It seems, from the way she discusses it, that research is naturally focused on single cities since that is all an archaeologist excavating will be able to focus on. Which means that each city in isolation can explain away the absence of trade documents, but once they get surveyed as a whole such absence seems stark.
I liked this book. I suspect it will serve very well as most people’s guide to the Silk Road. I’m curious now whether her ideas on the volume of traffic traveling the route have become standard or if there’s something she’s not acknowledging (later medieval traveler accounts would seem the obvious example, especially since we cut off around the year 1000). It’s always a good thing when a history book leaves you interested in finding out more.
Normally I don’t like to read revisionist histories as my first guide to a subject. Since their goal is to undermine an existing view they focus more on the evidence against it than on providing a full overview of the data needed to form a balanced opinion. It can be very frustrating to wander through pages contradicting preconceptions you never had and don’t really understand. It also seems odd to read a book on the Silk Road with that thesis. But in this case I think that attitude would be a mistake. Her main thesis is that the Silk Road wasn’t really all that important as an artery of commerce. That’s not the same as saying it wasn’t vital as a route for transmitting ideas and culture. Which it absolutely was. And that’s the far more interesting part. As for the other point, since she’s arguing long-distance trade barely existed her argument is less a reinterpretation of evidence than a brief observation of how little evidence there is. Doesn’t take up a lot of room to do that.
The book is divided up into cities which provide a loosely chronological advance from the early years of the first millennium AD to the last. Each city is described in depth, as is its discovery and the discovery of the few documents we have detailing it. This is a good way of dealing with the divided cultural/political landscape that makes up the Silk Road. And each city is interesting and unique in its own way. The narrative even manages to move from one side of the Silk Road to the other, meaning we get a chronological and geographical sense of progression.
In keeping with her main thesis, we do get a look at evidence for trade in each city, her conclusion invariably being that there was very little and what little there was was largely driven by the Chinese government. This might get repetitive if it wasn’t for the brevity of each discussion. There are so few records of trade that it seems genuinely perplexing that anyone can argue for a major trade route through the Taklamakan Desert and other dangers. It seems, from the way she discusses it, that research is naturally focused on single cities since that is all an archaeologist excavating will be able to focus on. Which means that each city in isolation can explain away the absence of trade documents, but once they get surveyed as a whole such absence seems stark.
I liked this book. I suspect it will serve very well as most people’s guide to the Silk Road. I’m curious now whether her ideas on the volume of traffic traveling the route have become standard or if there’s something she’s not acknowledging (later medieval traveler accounts would seem the obvious example, especially since we cut off around the year 1000). It’s always a good thing when a history book leaves you interested in finding out more.
February 20, 2015
This is probably more for academic study and experts than a casual reader. Ancient customs records definitely provide a historian with a wealth of information, but they don't make for a compelling story. Still, I did learn a fair bit, certainly can't say it wasn't educational, and there's probably a lot here for a silk road scholar, if that's a thing exists (which it probably does since one wrote this book)
January 17, 2014
Several years ago now I was at the International Dunhuang Project conference and Valerie Hansen was there and talked about this book she was in the process of writing. The assumption about the silk road has always been that it was a major trade route between Europe and China, where Europe got it's silk from. This book takes apart that myth and looks at the reality of life in the small trading communities along the silk road. It examines their religious beliefs and their lives. It draws on texts that have been discovered in archaeological finds over the past century. It is a totally fascinating study and offers real insight into the lives of the people living in those communities. Hansen shows how most of the trade that went on was local trade with small quantities of goods. The only large trader was the Chinese government paying their troops. What is more astonishing is the level of historical detail found in little scraps of paper. Religious beliefs that haven't survived elsewhere, letters from women, accounts, all manner of things enable Hansen to recreate life in these areas. This book is a very interesting account of life in Central Asia and one I would very highly recommend.
October 3, 2021
「如果說任一時間點的運載量、交通量或旅人數量，是評估一條路線重要性的唯一判準，那麼絲路可說是人類史上旅行量最低，或者說是最不值得研究的一條路線。」（頁301）
這本《絲路新史︰一個已經逝去但曾經兼容並畜的世界（The Silk Road: A New History）》的寫作主旨有點奇怪。作者利用了絲路考古與文獻的研究，以七個章節講述了七個古代城市，材料洋洋灑灑，但目的是要證明「這條絲路的貿易在歷史上完全不重要」？我讀過不少歷史論述，論述者通常都會把自己研究的內容無限放大的趨向（比如杉山正明研究蒙元史，連帶把劉邦建立的漢朝也和遊牧民族攀附上了……）。但這種把自己研究給無限貶���的情況，倒是我第一次所見。
作者的治學方式，是從出土材料來加以論斷︰一直到今天出土的文獻中，都沒有發現足夠「證明」絲路貿易量興盛的證據。比如像出土的龜茲的海關記錄，無論來往人員、攜帶貨物數量、全年的申請件數，差不多都是「個位數目」；而吐魯番出土的法庭殘片上，一個商人所留的遺產也僅止於275匹絹和二駝四牛一驢。再加上中國世傳的文獻幾乎沒有特別記述，因此我們百年來印象中「絲路」，基本上不是什麼重要的商業路線。
我沒有作過這方面的專業研究，無法確定作者這種結論是否為真。不過記得先前讀過大航海時代歐洲東印度公司的統計列表，從數字上看，也與我過去印象中商港內的艫舳千里、泊岸船隻的節比鱗次，相去甚遠。我可以同意過去我們對於商隊在絲路上的項背相望，一定是過度浪漫化的景像。但在現代工業化規模的貿易型態之前，跨國貿易要怎麼樣才稱得上是「繁盛」，這是帶有評論者的主觀在裡頭的。而在宋代開始所謂的「海上絲路」，原本就是由一段段區域之間的短暫商貿所「串聯」起來的，因此各個參與份子都只負責少量的商品流通。只有到西歐人到來，打破這種各自分工的均衡，才出現商盜軍工複合體加以壟斷的新時代。
我很容易可以「脈絡化」這個問題的解釋：華人傳統在表面上抑商，要我是日進斗金的成功大商賈，我也不敢成天吹噓自己的賺錢帳目，而是會留下我宣揚道義、追求真理的文字資料吧。若後世不能脈絡我擔心被社會視為暴發戶的背景，那麼那位學者便很難從中猜到我在世時的事業真相。所以史料選取與解讀很重要，並非從土裡挖出的當事人材料永遠為真，也不是世傳的正史記述都是帶有意圖刻意化妝後的次級品。
至於本書作者在行文上，也瞧出一種「輕視中國世傳材料」的習慣。比如犍陀羅語族的代表「月氏」，作者便用「中國人將夷狄安排中國故鄉」的傳統，直接摒斥了月氏在甘肅源起、受匈奴侵逼而分為「大月氏」、「小月氏」兩支（46頁）。作者並未提出新理論或其它的考古材料，僅從自己的意願就直接論斷中國寫史者亂寫，那倒顯了太過度了。
無論如何，本書還算是一本相當有系充的絲路古文明歷史的入門書籍。值得一讀。
這本《絲路新史︰一個已經逝去但曾經兼容並畜的世界（The Silk Road: A New History）》的寫作主旨有點奇怪。作者利用了絲路考古與文獻的研究，以七個章節講述了七個古代城市，材料洋洋灑灑，但目的是要證明「這條絲路的貿易在歷史上完全不重要」？我讀過不少歷史論述，論述者通常都會把自己研究的內容無限放大的趨向（比如杉山正明研究蒙元史，連帶把劉邦建立的漢朝也和遊牧民族攀附上了……）。但這種把自己研究給無限貶���的情況，倒是我第一次所見。
作者的治學方式，是從出土材料來加以論斷︰一直到今天出土的文獻中，都沒有發現足夠「證明」絲路貿易量興盛的證據。比如像出土的龜茲的海關記錄，無論來往人員、攜帶貨物數量、全年的申請件數，差不多都是「個位數目」；而吐魯番出土的法庭殘片上，一個商人所留的遺產也僅止於275匹絹和二駝四牛一驢。再加上中國世傳的文獻幾乎沒有特別記述，因此我們百年來印象中「絲路」，基本上不是什麼重要的商業路線。
我沒有作過這方面的專業研究，無法確定作者這種結論是否為真。不過記得先前讀過大航海時代歐洲東印度公司的統計列表，從數字上看，也與我過去印象中商港內的艫舳千里、泊岸船隻的節比鱗次，相去甚遠。我可以同意過去我們對於商隊在絲路上的項背相望，一定是過度浪漫化的景像。但在現代工業化規模的貿易型態之前，跨國貿易要怎麼樣才稱得上是「繁盛」，這是帶有評論者的主觀在裡頭的。而在宋代開始所謂的「海上絲路」，原本就是由一段段區域之間的短暫商貿所「串聯」起來的，因此各個參與份子都只負責少量的商品流通。只有到西歐人到來，打破這種各自分工的均衡，才出現商盜軍工複合體加以壟斷的新時代。
我很容易可以「脈絡化」這個問題的解釋：華人傳統在表面上抑商，要我是日進斗金的成功大商賈，我也不敢成天吹噓自己的賺錢帳目，而是會留下我宣揚道義、追求真理的文字資料吧。若後世不能脈絡我擔心被社會視為暴發戶的背景，那麼那位學者便很難從中猜到我在世時的事業真相。所以史料選取與解讀很重要，並非從土裡挖出的當事人材料永遠為真，也不是世傳的正史記述都是帶有意圖刻意化妝後的次級品。
至於本書作者在行文上，也瞧出一種「輕視中國世傳材料」的習慣。比如犍陀羅語族的代表「月氏」，作者便用「中國人將夷狄安排中國故鄉」的傳統，直接摒斥了月氏在甘肅源起、受匈奴侵逼而分為「大月氏」、「小月氏」兩支（46頁）。作者並未提出新理論或其它的考古材料，僅從自己的意願就直接論斷中國寫史者亂寫，那倒顯了太過度了。
無論如何，本書還算是一本相當有系充的絲路古文明歷史的入門書籍。值得一讀。
February 12, 2016
The only part of this book that actually matched with the title was the conclusion. A more suitable title may have been "The Myth of the Silk Road" or better still "A Comprehensive study of Documents Found Along the Silk Road." Even this would be slightly misleading as a majority of the book focuses on the history of a few cities on the edge of the Chinese sphere of influence.
In fact, a majority of the book feels more like a history of China text than anything related to the Silk Road. This is partially due to the author's poor decision to focus on one city per chapter. As a road entails movement, it felt off to be staying in one place. It also led to a lot of repetition and confusion as she covered the same information and time periods since the cities often interacted with each other.
Basically, it felt like she stung together about 20 academic papers that she had written in the past with sentences about how the Silk Road did not exist. To make matters worse, the first few chapters came across as a pissed off rebuttal of someone else's theory that Rome was a major player in the Silk Road. It was actually funny to me because as a lay person with only rudimentary knowledge of the Silk Road, I had never once thought that it was primarily between China and Rome.
In fact, a majority of the book feels more like a history of China text than anything related to the Silk Road. This is partially due to the author's poor decision to focus on one city per chapter. As a road entails movement, it felt off to be staying in one place. It also led to a lot of repetition and confusion as she covered the same information and time periods since the cities often interacted with each other.
Basically, it felt like she stung together about 20 academic papers that she had written in the past with sentences about how the Silk Road did not exist. To make matters worse, the first few chapters came across as a pissed off rebuttal of someone else's theory that Rome was a major player in the Silk Road. It was actually funny to me because as a lay person with only rudimentary knowledge of the Silk Road, I had never once thought that it was primarily between China and Rome.
July 7, 2023
An excellent introduction to the ancient East-West trade route largely told through details of the archaeological discoveries along its length. Most trade along the road was local but culture and religion flowed like wine and blood. Empires rose and fell as the balance of commerce shifted. It's an epic story, even when it's reconstructed from paper funeral garments. My favorite thing about a history volume like this one is that it points in countless new directions to learn more.
Recommended.
Recommended.
November 26, 2017
This is a very thoughtful and research-based look into the myth of the Silk Road, focussing on a number of settlements in the vicinity of the Taklamakan. The strength of this book is in the wide base it covers and in the fact that the claims it makes -- such as re-evaluating the importance of the Silk Road commercially and politically -- are supported by as much evidence as is possible.
December 12, 2019
What if I were to just... add books I read for school...
(definitely not to get closer to my 2019 reading goal)
(
March 1, 2024
Dry and scholarly.
Read
March 10, 2025Audio book kinda vibe. It's quite dry to read otherwise. Thought I'd listen before I head to a part of the Silk Road myself (Dunhuang) in May!
August 31, 2014
Valerie Hansen makes history exciting. When I read David Quammen's book, I wished I were a field biologist. Now I wish I were a historian!
In this book, she mainly concentrates on one of the routes - that between the ancient Tang capital of Chang'an (Xi'an) and Samarkand in Sogdiana (present day Uzbekistan and Tajikistan), which goes either above or below the Taklamakan desert. The extremely dry climate of the desert preserved a lot of documents (as well as dessicated food and dead bodies) and studying those, she provides evidence for her claims that:
a) the Silk Road trade was a trickle trade - a few individuals participated in it, with few animals. There were no large caravans.
b) there was no such thing as a "silk road", but a collection of variable paths that people took depending on the weather or water availability.
c) silk was not the main traded item, but was used as currency
d) the trade was mainly between China and Sogdiana, and not between China and Rome as is widely believed.
She outlines the process of history. She tells us where and how documents were found (some in really unexpected places), how they were read, how some historians put two and two together etc. In addition to written documents (both on paper and leather), decorative items such as paintings and figurines, and items of daily use such as clothes and utensils also contain useful information. (I found the library cave of Dunhuang, the "Tang Barbie" and the 'Hejiacund village find' rather fascinating.)
We learn much about the towns bordering the Taklamakan desert and about the lives of the people. We see how restricted and dangerous travel was (because of bandits as well as treacherous mountainous terrain). Despite such dangers, people still travelled. This silk route saw several Sogdian merchants, a few Jewish merchants from further west, Chinese monks travelling to Nalanda, Indian monks, Tibetans and several others I don't know from where.
Of the traded items, the most important of course was paper, which crawled westwards and took a decade(?) or more to make it to Europe. But the ones I found particularly amusing were ceruse and "fragrances"! Of course, much like the present day, the silk road trade directly affected only the affluent.
The dynamic culture around the silk road, felt quite similar to what we have in the present day (minus the obvious). People trading, migrating to better or safer places, people wearing makeup and fragrances, converting from one religion to the other, needing permission (visas) to travel. Chang'an was a very cosmopolitan town with a large foreign population, much like the present day US cities.
October 9, 2025
A great book that tries to look at the Silk Road from a wholistic perspective. Many scholars are experts on their tiny field of research. Hansen tries to stitch all that together by looking at about half a dozen cities along the road. Her argument is essentially that the image that is commonly accepted, that the Silk Road was a major trading route between China and Rome, is flawed. Though goods did make it to the two terminuses from the other end, the trade is largely driven by Tang government spending through military expeditions. When those expeditions disappear, the economy returns to subsistence levels.
Hansen's effort is to be commended, but the structure, looking at the route by closely examining several nodes along the way, left me a little unsatisfied. She never really connects all the pieces, leaving me feeling like the narrative is sometime disjointed. When she does try to tie it all together, like in the final chapter on Hotan, where she goes through the history of the city all the way to the present, it does not work well.
Also, a good editor would have been more scrupulous on facts being repeated; how many times does the reader need to be told that Zoroastrians leave the bodies of their dead to scavengers because they thought rotting flesh plotting.
Despite these small flaws, Hansen's work is still chock full of facts and each chapter is well-narrated in isolation. One of the best books to come out recently on the Silk Road.
Hansen's effort is to be commended, but the structure, looking at the route by closely examining several nodes along the way, left me a little unsatisfied. She never really connects all the pieces, leaving me feeling like the narrative is sometime disjointed. When she does try to tie it all together, like in the final chapter on Hotan, where she goes through the history of the city all the way to the present, it does not work well.
Also, a good editor would have been more scrupulous on facts being repeated; how many times does the reader need to be told that Zoroastrians leave the bodies of their dead to scavengers because they thought rotting flesh plotting.
Despite these small flaws, Hansen's work is still chock full of facts and each chapter is well-narrated in isolation. One of the best books to come out recently on the Silk Road.
June 16, 2017
First book done after the move. The Silk Road. I have often heard of the term but did not fully understand what the actual reality of the term meant. The Silk Road is the myriad of routes between Western China and roughly Iran. I am fortunate that I recently read a book on the Sassanian Empire which greatly assisted with my comprehension of the subject under discussion. The routes were a network that funneled trade goods from such exotic places as Samarkand, Tashkent, Kucha, Tibet, and China. Silk was actually used as currency in many ways. Silk paid for Chinese garrisons. Silk was used to pay taxes. A whole system of currency came to light as I read more. Most important was the transfer of people and ideas from on Silk Road location to another. Writing, religion, and methods moved as populations of Persians, Chinese, and other central Asian societies intermeshed. The work discussed archeological evidence throughout so this was different for me compared to my other readings. Overall a very good book.
June 10, 2024
A very well written book about civilization living in oases along the route of the Great Silk Road. Mostly heading for danger to the Taklamakan dessert or the Tarim Basin. There is also a clash of cultures of China, Uighurs, Sogdians, Iranians and even jews. The author mainly concentrates on the first millennium. One of the major events was the An Lushan Rebellion in 755.
Очень хорошо написанная книга про цивилизации, живущие в оазисах вдоль маршрута Великого Шелкового Пути. В основном находящимся в пустыне Такла-Макан или Таримская Впадина. Тут происходило столкновение культур Китая, уйгуров, согдиев, иранцев и даже евреев. В основном автор концентрируется на первом тысячелетии. Одно из крупных событий было восстание Лушаня. Стиль немного академичен. Видимо, сама автор -археолог. Есть много слишком подробных описаний. Повествование разбито по оазисам. Я бы предпочел изложение по эпохам.
Очень хорошо написанная книга про цивилизации, живущие в оазисах вдоль маршрута Великого Шелкового Пути. В основном находящимся в пустыне Такла-Макан или Таримская Впадина. Тут происходило столкновение культур Китая, уйгуров, согдиев, иранцев и даже евреев. В основном автор концентрируется на первом тысячелетии. Одно из крупных событий было восстание Лушаня. Стиль немного академичен. Видимо, сама автор -археолог. Есть много слишком подробных описаний. Повествование разбито по оазисам. Я бы предпочел изложение по эпохам.
November 19, 2012
Did you know the first printed book was not the Guttenberg Bible, but a Buddhist text, the Diamond Sutra? And without the Chinese invention of paper, the printing press would not have allowed for mass scale reproduction of texts. Paper allows ink to adhere and absorb, unlike vellum or other documents used for recording written words and transactions. The Diamond Sutra was found in a library cave along the Silk Road, along with many other important historical documents (that were then stolen and smuggled out of the country by Aurel Stein, a researcher working on behalf of the Indian and British authorities in the early 1900s). An excellent read on the history of the Silk Road that clarifies and corrects previously Western-based (and biased) histories. The author is able to write in a manner that non-academics can follow. I look forward to reading other histories by Valerie Hansen.
March 2, 2013
This is not a history of the Silk Road, or at least one that is remotely interesting. It is a collection of and description of documents, and throws innumerable terms and names at you that you cannot possibly know or recognize unless you are a brilliant scholar of the geography of China and the Middle East. Hansen skips around the time frame of the Silk Road not only across chapters, but within her chapters she takes time to tell stories and pour out information that is muddling and occasionally irrelevant. The author clearly did years of research, and the information is very thorough - but it's not for beginners, something you might expect from a book simply called The Silk Road. Perhaps if the information was presented differently and more focus was put on the key factors about the Silk Road, the history could have been conveyed in a much more appealing and direct way.
June 6, 2020
Given this book focuses on archeological study results, I didn't know expect it to hold my interest. I was pleasantly surprised. The findings in this book hold weight today in debates over the Uighurs' autonomy and with China's One Belt One Road initiative. Three stars because I don't think audiences outside of people with interest in History, China, and/or Central Asia would find this interesting. However, it was more compelling than I expected.
February 12, 2025
Modern historians hate the idea of the silk road. Hate, hate, hate it! And they love nothing more than to disabuse people of the idea of its existence. Most are content to say something like "the silk road is an outdated historical construct; it was not one road. Rather, it was a complex network of trade routes that spanned Eurasia, from the steppes to Malacca, from Japan, to Ireland with few people making the entire journey."
These are all academic quibbles though. When someone says "silk road" you know what they mean. The historians know what you mean (they just need to deny the existence of it to puff up the importance of their thesis on the fur exports of the Yenesei Kyrgyz tribes or whatever). The silk road is land trade between China and the west, largely involving silk. There's only so many routes it can take: the pastoralists in the steppe won't let trade through unmolested; The straights of Malacca, sojourning the bulk of the trade, isn't really what we have in mind when we say "road". This leaves just a few mountain passes adjacent to the Tarim basin to get goods through. It's an area where goods, merchants, envoys, and armies are funneled, resulting in cultural exchange.
Valerie Hansen takes this definition we know and love and runs with it, focusing mostly around oasis polities in the Taklamakan, with a few excursions to Sogdia and Chang'an. However, she has her own thesis: trade didn't happen on any meaningful scale. All these oasis states? Yeah, they just had local economies with the occasional peddler or some envoy from a forgotten satrap stopping through to make tribute to the emperor. Silk was of great importance, but was mostly used as a currency since the Chinese dynasties, most notably the Tang, paid their garrisoned soldiers with it, and it trickled down into the local economy.
Hansen deftly weaves her narrative chronologically and geographically, starting with the earliest finds we have in Niya and Loulan, and devotes each subsequent chapter to another oasis town and the wonderfully preserved, but fragmentary documents found therein. Kucha, Turfan, Mt. Mugh, Dunhuang, and Khotan are all addressed in detail as the centuries progress. The bulk of the book is dedicated to detailing what we know of these societies economies, and what little we know points to little trade. The transfer of texts and technologies was mostly done by refugees according to Hansen.
It's hard to square this argument with the wealth of the Sogdians, a Persian people who settled throughout these city states and China itself. The Sogdians maintained regular communication with their homeland. This can be evinced from the famed (and cited) Sogdian letters. Tombs of Sogdians are exceeded in opulence only by tombs of Emperors. The lasting reputations of the Sogdians as wealthy merchants is apparently pervasive throughout Chinese folklore, but this is swept under the rug because there is evidence of poor Sogdians in China, as if Sogdian society couldn't be stratified. As if a large, successful population couldn't produce a few failsons.
The tomb of An Jia is described by Hansen as only having carvings of diplomatic scenes, not mercantile ones. Thus he couldn't have been a merchant. Come on, you don't get a tomb with multiple panels carved by artisans without money.
The hand waiving on some examples gets even more absurd. A document inventorying a foreign "Iranian lock" is interpreted as only being Iranian in style and made locally in Dunhuang, sort of like "French fries" are made in America. Seriously, this argument is put forth: a lock is apparently much too heavy to be brought on the trip, and any goods brought by peddlers and occasional envoys must have been low weight, high cost items like gemstones. As if Persian people coming from a Persian area wouldn't lock up their Persian gemstones, that we agree must have come from that area, with their Iranian made lock!
Hansen says anyone disagreeing with her must admit that the documents don't support large scale trade. Perhaps not, but even with the documents, it really seems she is downplaying what trade there is evidence for. My issues with the thesis aside, the book is fantastic in its detail and a complete joy to read for anybody interested in the area, the religions covered, or even trade and anybody buying the book should opt for the version that includes the large selection of primary sources, most of which are hard to track down elsewhere.
These are all academic quibbles though. When someone says "silk road" you know what they mean. The historians know what you mean (they just need to deny the existence of it to puff up the importance of their thesis on the fur exports of the Yenesei Kyrgyz tribes or whatever). The silk road is land trade between China and the west, largely involving silk. There's only so many routes it can take: the pastoralists in the steppe won't let trade through unmolested; The straights of Malacca, sojourning the bulk of the trade, isn't really what we have in mind when we say "road". This leaves just a few mountain passes adjacent to the Tarim basin to get goods through. It's an area where goods, merchants, envoys, and armies are funneled, resulting in cultural exchange.
Valerie Hansen takes this definition we know and love and runs with it, focusing mostly around oasis polities in the Taklamakan, with a few excursions to Sogdia and Chang'an. However, she has her own thesis: trade didn't happen on any meaningful scale. All these oasis states? Yeah, they just had local economies with the occasional peddler or some envoy from a forgotten satrap stopping through to make tribute to the emperor. Silk was of great importance, but was mostly used as a currency since the Chinese dynasties, most notably the Tang, paid their garrisoned soldiers with it, and it trickled down into the local economy.
Hansen deftly weaves her narrative chronologically and geographically, starting with the earliest finds we have in Niya and Loulan, and devotes each subsequent chapter to another oasis town and the wonderfully preserved, but fragmentary documents found therein. Kucha, Turfan, Mt. Mugh, Dunhuang, and Khotan are all addressed in detail as the centuries progress. The bulk of the book is dedicated to detailing what we know of these societies economies, and what little we know points to little trade. The transfer of texts and technologies was mostly done by refugees according to Hansen.
It's hard to square this argument with the wealth of the Sogdians, a Persian people who settled throughout these city states and China itself. The Sogdians maintained regular communication with their homeland. This can be evinced from the famed (and cited) Sogdian letters. Tombs of Sogdians are exceeded in opulence only by tombs of Emperors. The lasting reputations of the Sogdians as wealthy merchants is apparently pervasive throughout Chinese folklore, but this is swept under the rug because there is evidence of poor Sogdians in China, as if Sogdian society couldn't be stratified. As if a large, successful population couldn't produce a few failsons.
The tomb of An Jia is described by Hansen as only having carvings of diplomatic scenes, not mercantile ones. Thus he couldn't have been a merchant. Come on, you don't get a tomb with multiple panels carved by artisans without money.
The hand waiving on some examples gets even more absurd. A document inventorying a foreign "Iranian lock" is interpreted as only being Iranian in style and made locally in Dunhuang, sort of like "French fries" are made in America. Seriously, this argument is put forth: a lock is apparently much too heavy to be brought on the trip, and any goods brought by peddlers and occasional envoys must have been low weight, high cost items like gemstones. As if Persian people coming from a Persian area wouldn't lock up their Persian gemstones, that we agree must have come from that area, with their Iranian made lock!
Hansen says anyone disagreeing with her must admit that the documents don't support large scale trade. Perhaps not, but even with the documents, it really seems she is downplaying what trade there is evidence for. My issues with the thesis aside, the book is fantastic in its detail and a complete joy to read for anybody interested in the area, the religions covered, or even trade and anybody buying the book should opt for the version that includes the large selection of primary sources, most of which are hard to track down elsewhere.
November 8, 2020
Interesting history with a focus on archelogy. Each chapter of the book covers a city along the silk road telling of the development of the city, its rulers, and the archelogy in the area. There are some myths that are dispelled in this book – China and Rome never were trading partners – no evidence, the closest, tenuous relationship is between Byzantine and China. The silk road was not a major trading route – few merchants, caravans were typically 4 people and 10 cattle, infrequent, and not a major part of life. With that said, royal delegations/tributes were more common. The many kingdoms of regions sending delegations to China and among themselves. The peak of the Silk Road was during the Tang dynasty (618-907) in which the Chinese placed garrison troops in several of the cities. The money sent to soldiers was typically standardized bolts of silk cloth which then stimulated the economies in these subsistence oasis towns. One of the main travelers on the silk road were monks and the silk road was critical for the spread of Buddhism – with many monks from China going to India to study the original texts.
April 22, 2018
Hansen, one of our great historians, argues that the Silk Road during this period (200 CE to 1000 CE-- when Islam arrived in force in the region) was hardly the superhighway we think it to be, that it consisted largely of agrarian societies trading with their immediate neighbors, refugees fleeing their homeland, and scholars in search for manuscripts or on pilgrimage. She further notes that a great deal of the trade during this time was not carried out by independent merchants, but was directly funded and supported by the Chinese state.
April 3, 2019
What is known about the Silk Road with particular emphasis on what archaeology has turned up -- like collections of Manichean hymns and flowers made from silk. How it was not a road but a general direction, generally with several choices of paths. The various peoples and their writings. Rather academic in places.
December 31, 2022
Very good (as far as I know) for giving a sense of what life and economic activity were like in central asia between ~200-1000. Buddhism dominant, no large caravans, extremely multicultural, most trade was local trade or official government business (especially from the Tang empire). Also gives a good sense for how archaeology happens - lucky finds of small scraps of paper, Europeans lying to local people about their intentions, excavating in harsh conditions under time pressure.
Read
June 14, 2019ไม่รอดตั้งแต่บทแรก คาดหวังว่ามันจะไลต์ๆ เพลินๆ แต่ข้อมูลเยอะและหนักมาก สำนวนค่อนข้างแห้งแล้ง แถมเราก็มีปัญหากับชื่อถิ่นแคว้นทางจีนอีก it isn't my cup of tea.
May 16, 2011
Sven Hedin was a Swedish explorer who spent over 50 years in Asia - specifically China and discovered river sources and mountains and mapped much of western China. This is one of several books he wrote on his explorations, this one undertaken to map the possibilities of a highway into the western regions of China. The trip was undertaken in 1933-34 and the account published in 1938. It is not the most interesting travel story although the first half is filled with wonderful accounts of automobile breakdowns and homemade fixits. I enjoyed some of the information- for example, he describes on camel caravan of 593 camels and he often extols the beauty of the riding camels. As the explorers move further west they become trapped by warring groups and Soviet warplanes that are aiding one side in the fight. At one point, dependent on a head of one of the groups for oil and gas, they are kept virtual prisoners for several months in Urumchi, although always treated as "honored guests" and constantly promised but never given passes to leave and gas for their vehicles. This part of their adventure reminded me very much of Marco Polo's enforced stay in China.
The expedition finally is completed but it becomes a bit tiresome - stuck vehicles cease to be interesting, the landscape he describes becomes repetitive and the various town officials are all the same. The situation in China in 1933 was politically interesting. I was surprised at the role of the Soviets and the internal warring of the Chinese. Also interesting is the appendix that discusses how very little the western world was aware of what was happening in China. I was also surprised by what appears to have been the Swedish presence in Asia - although this may be because it is presented through Swedish eyes.
The expedition finally is completed but it becomes a bit tiresome - stuck vehicles cease to be interesting, the landscape he describes becomes repetitive and the various town officials are all the same. The situation in China in 1933 was politically interesting. I was surprised at the role of the Soviets and the internal warring of the Chinese. Also interesting is the appendix that discusses how very little the western world was aware of what was happening in China. I was also surprised by what appears to have been the Swedish presence in Asia - although this may be because it is presented through Swedish eyes.
December 7, 2022
An extremely difficult read for a layman. Don’t touch unless you’re deeply invested in what „this” or „that” archeologist discovered - chances are you won’t remember a thing after puting this one to rest.
Read
December 12, 2015Valarie Hansen sets out to correct a common misunderstanding embodied in the popular stereotype that asserts the Silk Road was a bustling, ancient trade route, something akin to a superhighway that connected both sides of the Eurasian continent with a large, steady flow of goods and culture. Hansen does not deny the pivotal role trade played on the Eurasian continent, but rather concludes that the much vaunted “silk road” was, in actuality, a variety of trade routes that traversed from China to the west and back, and did not engage in large-scale material trade, but instead was smaller and more modest in its quantity of traded goods. Trade across the Eurasian continent proved to be time-consuming, difficult, and often quite dangerous with trade routes that passed through various city-states acutely aware of market prices, and their importance in geopolitical conflicts. Hansen, however, does not discredit the role that this Silk Road has played in world history. The influence that the routes provided was a key aspect of disseminating goods and culture, even if the common stereotypes are shown to be inaccurate as Hansen looks to elucidate a more realistic understanding the silk roads and how they came to command such a central position in world history.
Hansen structures her book with seven chapters that examine a different city-state or surrounding area that provides material evidence to explain the role, scope, and degree of engagement in trade and culture with the surrounding world ; on the other hand, most of the sites are limited to being on the outer limits of China’s reach, which may exclude some areas, but wisely stays within Hansen’s area of expertise. Chapter one looks at the sites of Niya and Loulan due to the fact that the archaeological evidence shows the sites sustained the first continued contact between the Chinese, locals, and the parts of the modern Middle East that comprise parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan (p. 21 ). Migrants introduced a script, and way to write on wood. Residents also adopted a unique form of Buddhism that had married monks. Chapter two focuses on Kucha, which excites scholars for the uniquely Indo-European language, spoken as well it being the home of Kumarajiva, the famous translator of the first Buddhist works in Chinese (p. 21, 69). The next chapter looks at Turfan for its influential Sogdian community, the central role that the Chinese played in the region under the Tang Dynasty, as well as being a great source of documents (p. 21). The area around Samarkand is the subject of chapter four, which surveys the Sogdian homeland, which is significant because it is commonly thought China was hostile to foreigners, but the site helps to tell the story of immigration (p. 22). In chapter five the author presents the tombs of Sogdian immigrants from the Iranian world in Chang’an, and how they reflect their Zoroastrian beliefs (p. 23). Chapter six looks at Dunhaung, and the 40,000 documents as well as cave paintings that serve as a wealth of information (p. 24). Chapter seven finishes off with the influence of Khotan and the role of Islam along the silk roads (p. 74) .
The first and most apparent aspect of the work by Hansen is that her book is based almost completely on archeological evidence and primary written sources. These written sources are centered on thousands of documents, many of which, are written on pieces of wood, but also paper and leather. Additionally, evidence is drawn from paintings, sites of ancient oasis cities, coins, cloth, and much more. Thus, Hansen’s approach is both comprehensive and interdisciplinary. She strictly adheres to interpreting the evidence in order to construct an understanding of trade and interactions on many levels. One illustrative example are the extensive graveyard sites of Astana and Karakoja in Turfan which contained artifacts and documents revealing much about life in the region. Documents exposed the leaders of Turfan’s diplomatic relations in 477 CE prior to the establishment of the Goachang Kingdom (p. 94). Evidence, primarily that of coins silver coins found in the region, also reveals an important and consistent aspect of the Silk Road - Iran, and not Rome was the primary Western economic influence in the region until the 640s (pp. 94-96). In that time period the Sasanian Empire fell to the invading Arab Muslim armies and a distinctly Arab-Sasanian silver coin emerged (p.95). Most Sassanian coins did not travel far into China, and the majority of coins have been found in Xinjiang, but what this reveals is that silver along the silk roads was not as widely utilized, and it is likely not seen as valuable as it was in more western lands (pp. 94-95). A Turfan moneylender, who died in 673 CE, was buried with contracts from his life that show that coins were preferred for smaller transactions and silk for larger purchases, indicating that coins were not heavy in circulation (p. 96). This is one small example Hansen provides using archeological insight into the silk road on multiple levels; it demonstrated diplomatic relations, indications on the standards of contracts, which is heavily suggestive of the health of the overall economy, and the silver coins unearthed from Persian (Sasanian or Islamic) trade played a role in the region. In short, Hansen artfully and thoroughly relies on the material evidence at hand in order to construct a strict understanding of the silk roads.
The key feature in the book that is of prime importance is the author’s central claim that there was not a standard path that goods and culture traveled, but also that the amount of goods were not terribly large. This claim is emphasized in the structure of the book in that each chapter of the book deals with a specific site. This is helpful because the geographic barrier on the eastern edge of the Iranian-dominated world and the western edge of China was the Taklamakan Desert, and each site examined is an oasis kingdom centered on trading. Using this set-up Hansen is able to trace a generic route in terms of the flow of goods and ideas, but is careful to highlight that there is no specific or exact path and the Silk Road is better understood as a series of routes that cohered around these economic centers; their wealth and information are clues and trackers of the movement of goods, people and ideas. To further show how the common understanding of the routes is often misinformed Hansen reminds the reader that documents from Kucha and surrounding sites provide a picture of well-regulated trade by Chinese officials under the Tang Dynasty. Here, private merchants with caravans of goods were not the standard method of trade as most traders stayed within the city or outside the oasis city under imperial guidance (pp. 81-82). She elaborates how the withdrawal of the Tang as the dynasty collapsed by 763, which severely depressed the local economy as the city’s economy had relied on the presence of the Chinese army garrisoned there, and throughout the book makes the point that the presence of the Chinese army was the main driver of the economy throughout the Silk Road, which was otherwise primarily local (pp. 80, 237). This situation is in contrast to the stereotype of large scale private trade. To assist in illustrating this complex picture the author provides maps to help the reader not only know where these sites are in relation to the rest of Eurasia, but to also illustrate how the silk roads examined are generic routes over massive distances. This visualization of the distance cements the vast distances that forced travel to remain light but steady.
Hansen argues successfully that the Silk Road of stereotype and cliché was a much more complex phenomenon that involved more than a simple “superhighway” where enormous amounts of products traveled. Instead, Hansen paints a picture of small kingdoms that relied on the wealth of local and regional trade, and acted as the only practical corridor for any movement. This is not to say there was none, but that the empirical evidence, archeological, written, and painted, does not support the contention of a larger movement of goods because it simply does not exist. The book does not present any serious and glaring errors, but the book does focus on one narrow part of the vast trade networks across Eurasia, and does not elaborate on any other “roads” that championed contact across the Eurasian landmass, which might offer a more complete picture of trade and cultural interaction and put the “Silk Road” into a greater context. Unfortunately, the author seems to see the religious and cultural diversity of the era discussed implicitly romantic terms, lamenting a “…now lost, tolerant world.” (p. 242). On the other hand, the positive aspect of this emphasis of note; the author suggests that culture was the major player. One instance would be in the city of Niya located in the Kingdom of Kroraina; here, immigrants reached the kingdom and introduced a written script called Karoshthi, because the “natives” did not have a written language (p. 26). This demonstrates that Niya was a cross-cultural intersection, where the cultural influence was strongly felt, especially in the transmission of Buddhism into the region (pp. 51-55). Another sample that Hansen uses is Kucha where Buddhist writings were translated into Chinese for the first time, which had a lasting impact on China and the whole of Central Asia (pp. 66-70). The first printed book, The Diamond Sutra, is preserved in the sealed caves of Dunhaung, dating to 868 CE, and is a testament to the spread of Buddhism that was made possible by the work of Kumarajiva in the early 400s, on the other side of the Taklimakan Desert in Kucha. In all sites the diversity of language and script is discussed in factual, but clearly positive tones, and in this Hansen helps to give her analysis more subtly and nuance. In fact, based on the information that is provided it is quite possible to conclude that culture had a much greater influence on the Silk Road than material goods, and the sustained diversities of intercultural contact was the most historically influential aspect of the Silk Road trading network.
Hansen structures her book with seven chapters that examine a different city-state or surrounding area that provides material evidence to explain the role, scope, and degree of engagement in trade and culture with the surrounding world ; on the other hand, most of the sites are limited to being on the outer limits of China’s reach, which may exclude some areas, but wisely stays within Hansen’s area of expertise. Chapter one looks at the sites of Niya and Loulan due to the fact that the archaeological evidence shows the sites sustained the first continued contact between the Chinese, locals, and the parts of the modern Middle East that comprise parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan (p. 21 ). Migrants introduced a script, and way to write on wood. Residents also adopted a unique form of Buddhism that had married monks. Chapter two focuses on Kucha, which excites scholars for the uniquely Indo-European language, spoken as well it being the home of Kumarajiva, the famous translator of the first Buddhist works in Chinese (p. 21, 69). The next chapter looks at Turfan for its influential Sogdian community, the central role that the Chinese played in the region under the Tang Dynasty, as well as being a great source of documents (p. 21). The area around Samarkand is the subject of chapter four, which surveys the Sogdian homeland, which is significant because it is commonly thought China was hostile to foreigners, but the site helps to tell the story of immigration (p. 22). In chapter five the author presents the tombs of Sogdian immigrants from the Iranian world in Chang’an, and how they reflect their Zoroastrian beliefs (p. 23). Chapter six looks at Dunhaung, and the 40,000 documents as well as cave paintings that serve as a wealth of information (p. 24). Chapter seven finishes off with the influence of Khotan and the role of Islam along the silk roads (p. 74) .
The first and most apparent aspect of the work by Hansen is that her book is based almost completely on archeological evidence and primary written sources. These written sources are centered on thousands of documents, many of which, are written on pieces of wood, but also paper and leather. Additionally, evidence is drawn from paintings, sites of ancient oasis cities, coins, cloth, and much more. Thus, Hansen’s approach is both comprehensive and interdisciplinary. She strictly adheres to interpreting the evidence in order to construct an understanding of trade and interactions on many levels. One illustrative example are the extensive graveyard sites of Astana and Karakoja in Turfan which contained artifacts and documents revealing much about life in the region. Documents exposed the leaders of Turfan’s diplomatic relations in 477 CE prior to the establishment of the Goachang Kingdom (p. 94). Evidence, primarily that of coins silver coins found in the region, also reveals an important and consistent aspect of the Silk Road - Iran, and not Rome was the primary Western economic influence in the region until the 640s (pp. 94-96). In that time period the Sasanian Empire fell to the invading Arab Muslim armies and a distinctly Arab-Sasanian silver coin emerged (p.95). Most Sassanian coins did not travel far into China, and the majority of coins have been found in Xinjiang, but what this reveals is that silver along the silk roads was not as widely utilized, and it is likely not seen as valuable as it was in more western lands (pp. 94-95). A Turfan moneylender, who died in 673 CE, was buried with contracts from his life that show that coins were preferred for smaller transactions and silk for larger purchases, indicating that coins were not heavy in circulation (p. 96). This is one small example Hansen provides using archeological insight into the silk road on multiple levels; it demonstrated diplomatic relations, indications on the standards of contracts, which is heavily suggestive of the health of the overall economy, and the silver coins unearthed from Persian (Sasanian or Islamic) trade played a role in the region. In short, Hansen artfully and thoroughly relies on the material evidence at hand in order to construct a strict understanding of the silk roads.
The key feature in the book that is of prime importance is the author’s central claim that there was not a standard path that goods and culture traveled, but also that the amount of goods were not terribly large. This claim is emphasized in the structure of the book in that each chapter of the book deals with a specific site. This is helpful because the geographic barrier on the eastern edge of the Iranian-dominated world and the western edge of China was the Taklamakan Desert, and each site examined is an oasis kingdom centered on trading. Using this set-up Hansen is able to trace a generic route in terms of the flow of goods and ideas, but is careful to highlight that there is no specific or exact path and the Silk Road is better understood as a series of routes that cohered around these economic centers; their wealth and information are clues and trackers of the movement of goods, people and ideas. To further show how the common understanding of the routes is often misinformed Hansen reminds the reader that documents from Kucha and surrounding sites provide a picture of well-regulated trade by Chinese officials under the Tang Dynasty. Here, private merchants with caravans of goods were not the standard method of trade as most traders stayed within the city or outside the oasis city under imperial guidance (pp. 81-82). She elaborates how the withdrawal of the Tang as the dynasty collapsed by 763, which severely depressed the local economy as the city’s economy had relied on the presence of the Chinese army garrisoned there, and throughout the book makes the point that the presence of the Chinese army was the main driver of the economy throughout the Silk Road, which was otherwise primarily local (pp. 80, 237). This situation is in contrast to the stereotype of large scale private trade. To assist in illustrating this complex picture the author provides maps to help the reader not only know where these sites are in relation to the rest of Eurasia, but to also illustrate how the silk roads examined are generic routes over massive distances. This visualization of the distance cements the vast distances that forced travel to remain light but steady.
Hansen argues successfully that the Silk Road of stereotype and cliché was a much more complex phenomenon that involved more than a simple “superhighway” where enormous amounts of products traveled. Instead, Hansen paints a picture of small kingdoms that relied on the wealth of local and regional trade, and acted as the only practical corridor for any movement. This is not to say there was none, but that the empirical evidence, archeological, written, and painted, does not support the contention of a larger movement of goods because it simply does not exist. The book does not present any serious and glaring errors, but the book does focus on one narrow part of the vast trade networks across Eurasia, and does not elaborate on any other “roads” that championed contact across the Eurasian landmass, which might offer a more complete picture of trade and cultural interaction and put the “Silk Road” into a greater context. Unfortunately, the author seems to see the religious and cultural diversity of the era discussed implicitly romantic terms, lamenting a “…now lost, tolerant world.” (p. 242). On the other hand, the positive aspect of this emphasis of note; the author suggests that culture was the major player. One instance would be in the city of Niya located in the Kingdom of Kroraina; here, immigrants reached the kingdom and introduced a written script called Karoshthi, because the “natives” did not have a written language (p. 26). This demonstrates that Niya was a cross-cultural intersection, where the cultural influence was strongly felt, especially in the transmission of Buddhism into the region (pp. 51-55). Another sample that Hansen uses is Kucha where Buddhist writings were translated into Chinese for the first time, which had a lasting impact on China and the whole of Central Asia (pp. 66-70). The first printed book, The Diamond Sutra, is preserved in the sealed caves of Dunhaung, dating to 868 CE, and is a testament to the spread of Buddhism that was made possible by the work of Kumarajiva in the early 400s, on the other side of the Taklimakan Desert in Kucha. In all sites the diversity of language and script is discussed in factual, but clearly positive tones, and in this Hansen helps to give her analysis more subtly and nuance. In fact, based on the information that is provided it is quite possible to conclude that culture had a much greater influence on the Silk Road than material goods, and the sustained diversities of intercultural contact was the most historically influential aspect of the Silk Road trading network.
January 27, 2021
This is a history of the “Silk Road” by a Yale historian. It reads a bit like it was developed out of a series of papers that were integrated into a more comprehensive presentation. The geographic focus is broad, touching on the entire length of the road from Syria to China, as well as some sea routes that served as alternatives to some, such as from southeast China to India. Most of the book focuses on a narrower scope of the road from western China to eastern Iran and the areas north and west of Iran such as Samarkand. The time frame is generally focused between the fourth and eighth centuries CE although a broader time span is covered in some chapters. Hansen’s book makes for a good comparison with Starr’s book on a “lost enlightenment” in Central Asia from the Arab conquests until the eleventh century.
Hansen is focusing on a thing (the Silk Road) that was not seen as a distinct item by the people using it over centuries. The term “Silk Road” was only coined in the 19th century. So the study is looking as a really complex set of activities that were only clear after the fact. That has not kept the term from catching on and the Chinese government has its own “belt and road” initiative today. One of the punchlines of the book is that Hansen sees the road more as a series of short range roads and paths between different places along the way and that was used primarily for local connections. The vast majority of parties using the Silk Road only travelled over limited paths along the way. Individuals like Marco Polo were few and far between.
Another takeaway from Hansen’s book concerns whether the Silk Road’s importance stemmed from commerce, politics, or culture. Since the term was first coined, it appears that the Silk Road was seen as valuable for commerce - a way for parties in geographically separate areas to trade with each other, even in the absence of political and cultural interactions. Hansen argues convincingly that activity along the road was important much more for political and cultural reasons that for commerce. The volume of trade was low, even at the height of the road’s popularity. Governments and their rulers had the size and scale to fund exchanges, provide security along the way, and obtain valuable intelligence about potential adversaries. They could also document and tax this activity. Hansen makes use of bureaucratic reports found in diggings to show what the commercial activity may have looked like. While there was an emphasis on high value trade (precious stones for example), the overall volume was never very large. The cultural value of exchanges was also important, but that did not enter into interactions until much later, after political storms had passed.
How do we even find out about activities on the Silk Road? I have occasionally run across photos of my great grandparents (and earlier) and marvel at how detached I feel from their world of where I live now but not too long ago. Events along the Silk Road involved people in far away lands of which we know next to nothing (paraphrasing Chamberlain). Hansen goes at this problem with a focus on the tangible records were have - not only artifacts but also written records of people at the time. This is where history meets archaeology, with the “stones and bones” of digs in remote places supplemented by miraculous finds of written documents, some of which appear to have been saved because people at the time reused paper to outfit the dead for burials (its a long story ...). So the history here is very much “bottom up” supplemented by what we know from other sources. Imagine how hard it must be to tell as story when one is limited to the physical debris actors left behind over a millenium ago! This method helps us learn about individuals and groups that would otherwise be long forgotten, but it also leave a reader thinking of broader societal stories that are relevant.
Hansen and Starr make for an interesting comparison on their methods. Starr focuses on broader stories and on prominent individuals on which there is already an extensive record and who have also left behind a volume of work that can be reported upon. Questions of societal governance, politics, science, mathematics, and culture seem to go well with Starr’s approach although issues of how individuals lived their lives at this time are harder to link with broad cultural stories. Starr is doing more of a “top down” approach in his book. Starr is fully aware of the research lines that Hansen is involved in and his focus is a defensible choice. Starr and Hansen are pursuing different questions and their time frames overlap somewhat (Hansen is interested in a somewhat earlier time frame.). The two books taken together permit a more focused consideration of the Silk Road while also considering broader questions of politics, culture, and religion.
Hansen is focusing on a thing (the Silk Road) that was not seen as a distinct item by the people using it over centuries. The term “Silk Road” was only coined in the 19th century. So the study is looking as a really complex set of activities that were only clear after the fact. That has not kept the term from catching on and the Chinese government has its own “belt and road” initiative today. One of the punchlines of the book is that Hansen sees the road more as a series of short range roads and paths between different places along the way and that was used primarily for local connections. The vast majority of parties using the Silk Road only travelled over limited paths along the way. Individuals like Marco Polo were few and far between.
Another takeaway from Hansen’s book concerns whether the Silk Road’s importance stemmed from commerce, politics, or culture. Since the term was first coined, it appears that the Silk Road was seen as valuable for commerce - a way for parties in geographically separate areas to trade with each other, even in the absence of political and cultural interactions. Hansen argues convincingly that activity along the road was important much more for political and cultural reasons that for commerce. The volume of trade was low, even at the height of the road’s popularity. Governments and their rulers had the size and scale to fund exchanges, provide security along the way, and obtain valuable intelligence about potential adversaries. They could also document and tax this activity. Hansen makes use of bureaucratic reports found in diggings to show what the commercial activity may have looked like. While there was an emphasis on high value trade (precious stones for example), the overall volume was never very large. The cultural value of exchanges was also important, but that did not enter into interactions until much later, after political storms had passed.
How do we even find out about activities on the Silk Road? I have occasionally run across photos of my great grandparents (and earlier) and marvel at how detached I feel from their world of where I live now but not too long ago. Events along the Silk Road involved people in far away lands of which we know next to nothing (paraphrasing Chamberlain). Hansen goes at this problem with a focus on the tangible records were have - not only artifacts but also written records of people at the time. This is where history meets archaeology, with the “stones and bones” of digs in remote places supplemented by miraculous finds of written documents, some of which appear to have been saved because people at the time reused paper to outfit the dead for burials (its a long story ...). So the history here is very much “bottom up” supplemented by what we know from other sources. Imagine how hard it must be to tell as story when one is limited to the physical debris actors left behind over a millenium ago! This method helps us learn about individuals and groups that would otherwise be long forgotten, but it also leave a reader thinking of broader societal stories that are relevant.
Hansen and Starr make for an interesting comparison on their methods. Starr focuses on broader stories and on prominent individuals on which there is already an extensive record and who have also left behind a volume of work that can be reported upon. Questions of societal governance, politics, science, mathematics, and culture seem to go well with Starr’s approach although issues of how individuals lived their lives at this time are harder to link with broad cultural stories. Starr is doing more of a “top down” approach in his book. Starr is fully aware of the research lines that Hansen is involved in and his focus is a defensible choice. Starr and Hansen are pursuing different questions and their time frames overlap somewhat (Hansen is interested in a somewhat earlier time frame.). The two books taken together permit a more focused consideration of the Silk Road while also considering broader questions of politics, culture, and religion.
March 3, 2020
Interesting book outlining a few of the Oasis kingdoms and important archeological sites for our understanding of the Silk Road. I would have preferred a greater discussion of the historical framework of the Silk Road, as the Chapters are rather disjointed, but this focuses more on the archeological evidence that was found. The book draws a few conclusions, but it's a useful introductory resource for important sites and documented primary source material, which can be employed in papers or for reference. Quick recap of some of the main points/pieces of evidence below for perusal (and a pedagogical tool for future reference):
-Topic: Kroraina Kingdom (200-400 B.C.), CHPTR 1
Along the South of the Takla Makan Desert, and stretching over a wide span of cities. This state was first independent, balanced between the Han and the Xiongnu, however the Han eventually carried out a regime change to place a more favorable ruler. The Takla Makan desert was known as "the right arm of the Xiongnu" and as such was a part of the Han's broader grand strategy to aggressively contain the Xiongu steppe empire. After this, the region came under the direct influence of the Han with military garrisons, though there appears to be little political or cultural control over the region-- a Krorainan seal with Chinese characters stands out however. Multiple currency system due to centrality of states.
-Topic: Kucha, CHPTR 2
Ancient Buddhist kingdom that controlled the city-state of Kucha and is most known for being the home of Kumarajiva who translated the most popular version of the Lotus sutra in the 4th century. Located in the N. of the Takla Makan desert. This kingdom became a tributary state to the Western Turks in 580 AD, but the kingdom remained in control of local administration. In 648 AD, the Tang take over Kucha as one of the "Four Garrisons." Influenced heavily by Gandhara and connections with India, allowing for advanced translations to take place here (often performed by teams of translators). Surviving paper texts from Tang soldiers stationed at their garrison near the city (690s) do not mention merchants-- these soldiers seem wholly unattached to any trade (if there was much) occurring in Kucha. With that being said, the pay Tang soldiers received provided a major source of capital to the city, possibly aiding the oasis town's economic development.
-Topic: Turfan, CHPTR3
Extremely important due to the surviving tombs of locals. This site is surprising as the clothes the dead are buried with are made of paper. Paper, being an expensive commodity in the day, was not used brand new, but often as recycled scrap-- which is what the paper clothes are fabricated with. Thus, we have been able to reconstruct minor documents that survived due to the extremely arid climate of the Takla Makan Desert. This kingdom city-state was located to the N. of the Gansu Corridor and was ruled by a Chinese-style rulers. This was also one of the "Four Garrisons" of the Tang, and the army payments seem to play a large role in facilitating economic exchange and development in the kingdom. At this site, there are many more documents describing merchant activity, including Tang-issued travel passes that detail inventory and the number of people/animals traveling. Passes presumably served as a means of regulating travel through the silk road and discouraging bandits. The inventory included on the pass also means that possibly stolen goods can be confiscated by authorities. This city was occupied mostly by Sogdians and ethnic Chinese.
-Topic: Dunhuang (Mogao Caves), CHPTR 6
Library cave located here, more of a lush oasis town. Located along with the important literary finds at Library Cave are 500 other Buddhist grottos commissioned by various states, including the Khotan state in the South. From this site 40,000+ scrolls have been recovered, mostly religious and linguistic texts that are crucial for our understanding of this period.
Chapters Not included: Khotan Kingdom, Chang'an (Tang capital)-- religion and foreign objects in the capital, Samarkand (Sogdian capital).
-Topic: Kroraina Kingdom (200-400 B.C.), CHPTR 1
Along the South of the Takla Makan Desert, and stretching over a wide span of cities. This state was first independent, balanced between the Han and the Xiongnu, however the Han eventually carried out a regime change to place a more favorable ruler. The Takla Makan desert was known as "the right arm of the Xiongnu" and as such was a part of the Han's broader grand strategy to aggressively contain the Xiongu steppe empire. After this, the region came under the direct influence of the Han with military garrisons, though there appears to be little political or cultural control over the region-- a Krorainan seal with Chinese characters stands out however. Multiple currency system due to centrality of states.
-Topic: Kucha, CHPTR 2
Ancient Buddhist kingdom that controlled the city-state of Kucha and is most known for being the home of Kumarajiva who translated the most popular version of the Lotus sutra in the 4th century. Located in the N. of the Takla Makan desert. This kingdom became a tributary state to the Western Turks in 580 AD, but the kingdom remained in control of local administration. In 648 AD, the Tang take over Kucha as one of the "Four Garrisons." Influenced heavily by Gandhara and connections with India, allowing for advanced translations to take place here (often performed by teams of translators). Surviving paper texts from Tang soldiers stationed at their garrison near the city (690s) do not mention merchants-- these soldiers seem wholly unattached to any trade (if there was much) occurring in Kucha. With that being said, the pay Tang soldiers received provided a major source of capital to the city, possibly aiding the oasis town's economic development.
-Topic: Turfan, CHPTR3
Extremely important due to the surviving tombs of locals. This site is surprising as the clothes the dead are buried with are made of paper. Paper, being an expensive commodity in the day, was not used brand new, but often as recycled scrap-- which is what the paper clothes are fabricated with. Thus, we have been able to reconstruct minor documents that survived due to the extremely arid climate of the Takla Makan Desert. This kingdom city-state was located to the N. of the Gansu Corridor and was ruled by a Chinese-style rulers. This was also one of the "Four Garrisons" of the Tang, and the army payments seem to play a large role in facilitating economic exchange and development in the kingdom. At this site, there are many more documents describing merchant activity, including Tang-issued travel passes that detail inventory and the number of people/animals traveling. Passes presumably served as a means of regulating travel through the silk road and discouraging bandits. The inventory included on the pass also means that possibly stolen goods can be confiscated by authorities. This city was occupied mostly by Sogdians and ethnic Chinese.
-Topic: Dunhuang (Mogao Caves), CHPTR 6
Library cave located here, more of a lush oasis town. Located along with the important literary finds at Library Cave are 500 other Buddhist grottos commissioned by various states, including the Khotan state in the South. From this site 40,000+ scrolls have been recovered, mostly religious and linguistic texts that are crucial for our understanding of this period.
Chapters Not included: Khotan Kingdom, Chang'an (Tang capital)-- religion and foreign objects in the capital, Samarkand (Sogdian capital).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 134 reviews