The Silk Road- Group topic

Source: http://islaminchina.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/gaozong_of_tang.jpg

Basically, the Tang era, I discovered was significant because it was a time when foreign traders started up their own businesses and spread their products to the citizens of the country looking to purchase new and intriguing luxuries. Furthermore, I was fascinated at the fact that camels were not uncommon to see in China. This was because they were used for food and textile supplies, as well as a method of travelling. I noticed that animals were an enormous benefactor during the Tang dynasty. For instance, some dogs were useful for hunting, whereas others were regarded as “Roman dogs”.

I was unaware of who the ‘fat concubine’ was and how much she impacted Chinese culture. Women in the 8^th century were seen as beautiful only if they were tall and slender. Yet the “fat lady” was an exception and was thought to be a “historical beauty”.

Early Indian Buddhism: Buddhism in Practice

Source: http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42874000/jpg/_42874841_buddhist_220_afp.jpg

The way in which the Buddhism teachings were preserved I found to be very impressive. To preserve Buddha’s teachings, a variety of monks had to listen carefully to be able to memorize the preaching in their head. It wasn’t until four hundred years after Buddha dies that the teachings were written down in Sri Lanka. Even though the monks tried to memorize the teachings as best as they could, it was still not one hundred percent sure that all the words had come from Buddha.It is interesting to highlight the importance of the Mahayana because it was a social movement that created literature which challenged authority of the “institution”. In addition, many of the sutras were being used as scholastic reference. And it was significant to note that as the government in china was at its weakest; Buddhist institutions were at their strongest.

Zoroastrianism

Source: http://religion-cults.com/Eastern/Zoroastrianism/Parsis-Zarathusthra11g.jpg

I found it very interesting that the language known as Avestan only exists through the Holy text, Avesta. Also, it is unfortunate that most of the Avesta’s were destroyed and that it is difficult to regard the text as “authorative” because there new research is constantly being discovered.

I was unaware of the fact that the known Zoroastrian beliefs and practices had come from Persian monuments, inscriptions and from Greek writings. It was intriguing to read about the fact that Parsis helped the Iranis to be freed from prosecution and then given the opportunity to develop their own community in Tehran. I had to not the fact that the Zoroastrians, being a minority, were not regarded and unknown to most western scholars. It wasn’t until travellers were able to voyage over and bring back knowledge of the Zoroastrian culture that other societies were beginning to recognize this religion. One of the scholars was Thomas Hyde who, I think, made a few important claims in believing that the Greek evidence about dualism was misleading.

Let's Discuss Religion!

Photo Credit: http://www.psychologytoday.com/files/u589/World_Religion.gif


Defining religion is no easy task. One might think he/she knows what religion is until they are faced with the very same question. At least, I can say this happened to me. The reason I had such a difficult time coming up with a definition was because all the religions in this world are so diverse and do not carry universal practices. Although religion does not really carry one definition, one can refer to multiple definitions to get a sense of what religion is (providing they have never been exposed to the multiple characteristics the concept takes on). One characteristic I found to be fairly common among many definitions I looked at was the mentioning of a God or a spiritual being. Therefore I argue that it's safe to say that the belief of a God or a "Higher Spiritual Being" is fitting for any definition of "religion". More abstract definitions describe religion as a concept that we learn to live without as we adopt reason and science as our guidelines. The latter definition isn't as correct in our Canadian society today as opposed to two, three hundred years ago. As science and technology is advancing at high speed, we are exposed to many concepts that answer some of the same questions religion does. The creation of the earth, evolution, etc. Hundreds of years ago, these claims were blasphemous and many of the scientists who contributed in answering such questions were threatened.

Many scholars do extensive research regarding many old religions and some newer religions. New information regarding these religions keeps on springing up through new finds of documents, artifiacts and other religious memorabilia. These scholars for the most part have to have an unbias and partial opinion on religion as every religion is different. What do you guys think about religion? Do you guys believe most of the undiscovered documents and artificats have been found or does anyone believe there is much more out there to find?

Blog Entry #3

Photo Credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SogdiansNorthernQiStellae550CE.jpg


Okay, so apparently Blogger things my blog is a spam blog...interesting. Anyways, onto blogging about The Silk Road. What I found interesting in this chapter was the information and photographs relating to Cherchen burials. Talk about, getting buried in style. The way these bodies were mummified was remarkable too. You can sort of make out how the person looked like when they were living. One of the mummified Cherchen men photographed on page 62 has round eye sockets, a beard, and long reddish hair. This specific man was most likely to have migrated in about 2000 BC. from somewhere east of the Caspian Sea. The language they spoke was Tocharian, which was a language that many resemblances to Latin. These mummies were found in the area of Loulan which is currently an area used by China to test atomic bombs in the open air. The area of Loulan served as a major staging post on the 'middle' silk road to the Sogdians. The Sogdian's language which was related to Altaic became the most common language along the trade route of the silk road. The Sogdians were also responsible for the movement of religions like Manicheism, Zoroastrianism and Buddhism eastwards along the Silk Road. Chinese stories also depict the Sogdians as born traders. The Sogdians learned to trade from the age of 5 until they turned 12 which was when they were sent to do business in a neighbouring state. Now, how cool is that? Being 12 years old and going out in the world making it by your business skills which you learned from the age of 5 - 12....That's all for today....Until next time....

Blog Entry #2

I found chapter 4 of "The Silk Road" to be very informative, interesting and not that confusing (still getting used to the names of all the towns, rivers, etc). It was interesting to learn that a small part of the Great Wall in China was built due to Nomadic shepherds that lived in China's northwestern borders constantly raiding their Chinese farming neighbors. Although parts of the wall were constructed for this purpose, they proved to be very ineffective. Some questions posed such as whether the Xiongnu were proto-Turkic or proto-Mongol were pretty mind blowing my opinion. Just to theorize about these peoples whom existed thousands of years ago is very interesting. The only evidence that points to the fact that the Xiongnu were proto-Mongol was the fact that Chinese goods and architectural remains were dug up during excavations in Mongolia. This suggests that the Xiangnu demonstrated great power over the Chinese. During the Han dysnasty, princesses and sons of rulers were sent to Xiongnu in order to avoid frontier wars. Wood's book states that this method can be seen as a method of balance. The contemporary Chinese account of the Xiongnu found on page 50 describes the Xiongnu as people that wear animal skins, eat meat raw and drink blood. This description alone answers my question as to why the Chinese gave up twenty thousand rolls of silk and twenty thousand pounds of silk floss as "gifts". The Chinese were probably so intimidated by these nomads that they opted to give pricey gifts in return of not being killed. One of the positives that came out of the intimidation tactics set out by the Xiongnu was the fact that the Chinese explored Western regions this way, when they started setting out their own armies, convoys and teams to battle the Xiongnu or find another group willing to partner up with them for the same cause. What I foudn quite interesting and shocking in the same time was the practice of passing the wife of the deceased on to another family member. This was the particular case of Xinjun, who was the daughter of the 'cruel' and 'perverted' king of Jiangdu. She was sent to the ruler of Wusun in order to cement links between Wusun and China. In return, China recieved 1000 hourses. It's quite interesting that her value was 1000 horses. Why not 10000 horses or 100? I wonder how many horses I would have been worth. Anwyays, that's it for now. Until next time....

Blog Entry #1

*Photo Credit: http://www.davidsanger.com/editorial/scenes-from-the-silk-road*

After reading the first three chapters of Frances Wood's The Silk Road, I have developed some understanding of what important roles the Eastern civilization has played throughout history. Being born in Europe myself, I never thought I would never harness an interest in ancient Eastern civilizations. Nonetheless, I am very glad I took this course, as the material being covered is very interesting and informative.

To be quite honest, I was lost after reading the first few pages of Wood's book. I think my confusion stemmed partly from being physically exhausted and partly due to the vast amount of cities, rivers, and civilizations mentioned in the first few pages that carried names I have never heard of. I found myself flipping between the inside cover and glancing at the photocopied maps provided to get a better understanding of where each area was located. This helped me imagine the content as I was reading it in a better perspective. After the first few pages, I began to be much more engaged and the descriptions included in the book by various missionaries, and explorers made it much easier to imagine what they saw as it was told in a first person account.

The Silk Road which was a term coined by German explorer, and geographer Baron Ferdinand von Richthofen in 1877 as 'Seidenstrasse' was the setting of ample amounts of trade. Such items that were traded along this route included grapes, raisins, Hami melons, fat-tailed sheep, and horses. It was very interesting to note that very few people actually travelled the full stretch of the Silk Road. Items of trade usually passed through many hands before arriving to the designated location. The only individuals to travel long stretches of the Silk Road, were missionaries of various faiths in the early days. From the 19th century, explorers, geographers and archaeologists bagan to travel the full stretch of the Silk Road. The term "Silk Road" today is used to describe a large geographical area, and also a cultural history stretching thousands and thousands of years.

The account by Chiang Yee, a small boy who lived in the town of Yangtze during the 20th century, was a very interesting read. In his account, he describes the proccess of creating silk in very great detail. He also describes how in Chinese culture, the women were expected to master the art of creating silk and that it wasn't expected for boys to learn. The same analogy could be made for women who were stay at home moms that needed to learn how to cook, clean clothes, take care of children, even though many of them did not choose such a lifestyle. It was more or less imposed, and expected. Men on the other hand were considered the ones who worked and were the main source of income. This of course is not the case anymore, but a worthy analogy in my point of view =).

Another piece of information that I found very interesting was the diverse descriptions and pictures of certain statues / figurines. Throughout the book, there are many wonderful pictures. On page 41 of Wood's book, there are two pictures of Buddhist statues. The statue pictured on page 41 carries a what the book describes as a "Romano-British-Hellenistic influence". On the the opposite spectrum, the picture of a bhuddist statue head on page 40 carries a more oriental look. This illustrates the various influences that encompassed the Silk Road.

Finally, the account by Gan Ying on what Rome looked like was as equally interesting as accounts made by explorers who visited the East. Even though it is believed that Gan Ying never actually reached Rome, it is believed he came the furthest West from all other Chinese. Ying's description of Rome described it as a massive state, which produced marvelous things. Wood's describes this idea that Rome was a large state and produced marvelous things was a reflection of China itself. China was a similar power as Rome which produced many rare and valuable items.

In conclusion, chapters 1-3 from Wood's book was a very interesting, easy to follow and informative read. I am looking forward to the future readings this course entails.