Life Along The Silk Road: Second Edition - An Engaging and Accessible Introduction to the Silk Road

The relations between the Xiongnu and China have traditionally been seen as marking the real start of the Silk Road, since it was in the second century BCE that we can document large quantities of silk being sent on a regular basis to the nomads as a way of keeping them from invading China and also as a means of payment for the horses and camels needed by the Chinese armies. Zhang Qian's report about the Western Regions and the rebuff of initial Chinese overtures for allies prompted energetic measures by the Han to extend their power to the west. Not the least of the goals was to secure a supply of the "blood-sweating" "heavenly" horses of Ferghana.

This relationship between the rulers of China and the nomads who controlled the supply of horses continued down through the centuries to shape important aspects of the trade across Asia. At times the substantial financial resources of the Chinese empire were strained to keep frontiers secure and the essential supply of horses flowing. Silk was a form of currency; tens of thousands of bolts of the precious substance would be sent annually to the nomadic rulers in exchange for horses, along with other commodities (such as grain) which the nomads sought. Clearly not all that silk was being used by the nomads but was being traded to those further west. For a time in the eighth and early ninth centuries, the rulers of the T'ang Dynasty were helpless to resist the exorbitant demands of the nomadic Uighurs, who had saved the dynasty from internal rebellion and exploited their monopoly as the main suppliers of horses. Beginning in the Song Dynasty (11th-12th centuries), tea became increasingly important in Chinese exports, and over time bureaucratic mechanisms were developed to regulate the tea and horse trade. Government efforts to control the horse-tea trade with those who ruled the areas north of the Tarim Basin (in the Xinjiang of today) continued down into the sixteenth century, when it was disrupted by political disorders.

Life Along The Silk Road: Second

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Earthquakes are among the most horrible events of nature due to unexpected occurrence, for which no spiritual means are available for protection. The only way of preserving life and property is to prepare for the inevitable: applying earthquake-resistant construction methods. Zones of damaging earthquakes along the Silk Road are reviewed for seismic hazard and to understand the ways local civilizations coped with it during the past two thousand years. China and its wide sphere of cultural influence certainly had earthquake-resistant architectural practice, as the high number of ancient buildings, especially high pagodas, prove. A brief review of anti-seismic design and construction methods (applied both for wooden and masonry buildings) is given, in the context of earthquake-prone zones of Northern China. Muslim architects in Western China and Central Asia used brick and mortar to construct earthquake-resistant structural systems. Ancient Greek architects in Anatolia and the Aegean applied steel clamps embedded in lead casing to hold together columns and masonry walls during frequent earthquakes. Romans invented concrete and built all sizes of buildings as a single, non-flexible unit. Masonry, surrounding and decorating the concrete core of the wall, did not bear load. Concrete resisted minor shaking, yielding only to forces higher than fracture limits. Roman building traditions survived the Dark Ages, and 12th century Crusader castles erected in earthquake-prone Syria survive until today in reasonably good condition. Usage of earthquake-resistant technology depends on the perception of earthquake risks and on available financial resources. Earthquake-resistant construction practice is significantly more expensive than regular construction. Frequent earthquakes maintain safe construction practices, like the timber-laced masonry tradition in the Eastern Mediterranean throughout 500 years of political and technological development.

There is long but somewhat meagre tradition of studying seismic hazard, risk, and resilience of societies along the Silk Road. Earthquakes are parts of nature and life, and people have developed a connection with land throughout millennia (e.g. in Iran: Ibrion et al. 2014; however, the 2003 Bam earthquake arrived to a community not believing it can happen: Parsizadeh et al. 2015). Knowledge of seismicity and the methods used by local people to resist and survive destruction inflicted by natural calamities in general (Janku 2010) and by earthquakes in particular (Jusseret 2014; Rideaud and Helly 2017) are valuable contributions to the understanding how human society works.

Timber structures and timber-reinforced masonry and adobe structures have been in use all along the Silk Road from China to the Mediterranean for millennia (Semplici and Tampone no date). Whether their use is the result of parallel innovation or spread of good practices either east or west, is a matter of research in progress. Detailed study on fitting of beams and columns, for example, might help to recognize independent or dependent development of life-saving construction practices.

Archaeoseismology, the archaeological study of past earthquakes, is a treasure trove of information about the behaviour of ancient societies. Earthquakes are part of nature and life along the overland Silk Road between China and the Mediterranean; peoples developed various methods to cope with the risk. Making buildings able to resist the shaking of the ground and knowing ways of quick reconstruction after destruction depend on available material and knowledge of good construction practices.

o develop into a social institution, a religion must have economic as well as religious roots. This paper will discuss material, much of it found at Dunhuang, which demonstrates the economic base on which the Buddhist religion grew and became an integral part of life along the Silk Road. Along the way it was flavored by diverse ethnic groups, languages, and gender relations, as is revealed in the archaeological, art, and documentary evidence.

Some Mahayana scriptures, such as the Mahavastu, claimed that worship of and donations to a Buddha offered tangible benefits. For example, a king who built a palace full of precious things for the Buddha could claim Buddhahood from this act of merit. In this text, the main items used in honoring a Buddha consisted of the exotic merchandise later traded extensively along the Silk Road: pearls, coral, lapis lazuli, and other precious substances were used as religious gifts [Liu 1988, p. 93]. The decoration of Buddhist monuments with silk was encouraged by the Mahavastu as well, leading believers to decorate stupas with thousands of silk banners. The items most valued in society changed to include the seven treasures needed for Buddhist worship. The worship of bodhisattvas, future buddhas who could use their accumulated merit to help the faithful, by extension implied that merit, like goods, could be transferred to others or exchanged for good deeds or donations.

Cave 317 at Dunhuang (Middle Tang, 825-830 CE) has a lovely wall mural showing these commodities as used in daily life in the courtyard of a m o n a s t e r y [Whitfield 1995: Vol. 1, p. 214]. At the back of the courtyard is a Buddha figure with bodhisattvas on either side. Two monks sit in the corners, one reading from a sutra. In the middle of the courtyard a long silk banner flies from a pole, and a monk stands beneath the banner reaching up to place an oil lamp on a fivewheeled candelabra, preparing for an illumination. A huge amount of food, including noodles and flat cakes, is piled on a large table to one side, attended by laymen carrying bowls. The people in the mural are probably preparing for a vegetarian feast, one of the activities sponsored several times a month by lay organizations.

This is just one of many aspects of a changing society depicted in the thousand-year history of Buddhist grottoes along the Silk Road. In the material from Dunhuang we can trace the symbiotic development of the Buddhist religion and economic and political changes that occurred along the nearby trade routes over the centuries. Buddhist teachings affected what was carried along the Silk Road. These trade goods include precious stones and silk banners used in worship, and minerals used in Buddhist art. Rulers used Buddhist tenets to acquire legitimacy for themselves, and Buddhist institutions flourished under their patronage, becoming an integral part of society and economy. People from all walks of life were involved in Buddhist institutions, participating in rituals, donating goods and time, and enjoying feast days. Many women took part, and developed in roles outside the family as Buddhist institutions granted new spaces for them in society. Acts of Buddhist devotion, patronage, and politics caused works of great art to be created and sustained, finally to be left buried in desert sand, a panoramic fusion of the cultures of many peoples who lived and traveled along the Silk Road.

Indian traders under the rule of the Kusanas procured Chinese silk along with other imported goods and indigenous commodities. Urbanisation flourished in northwest India due to a rise in Eurasian trade. During the first few centuries, Mahayana Buddhism developed here. They stressed the importance of worship and donation for a better present life and the assurance of no rebirth. They openly advocated the offering of silk. It helped in the releasing of silk to a larger market.

Similarly, Christianity prevalent in Western Europe also helped in the expansion of the silk market. Churches stored silks in their treasuries as a form of wealth, and the devotees were encouraged to donate silk to churches. Christians decorated their Cathedrals and covered the tombs and relics of their saints with silk in their concern to get a better afterlife.

We do not know precisely when Buddhism first reached China, but we do know that Buddhist missionaries and pilgrims travelled along the Silk Road between India, Central Asia and China during the second century BC. 2ff7e9595c