Book contents
- Empires of Ancient Eurasia
- New Approaches to Asian History
- Empires of Ancient Eurasia
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures and Maps
- Introduction
- 1 Pastoral Nomads and the Empires of the Steppe
- 2 Early China
- 3 Zhang Qian and Han Expansion into Central Asia
- 4 The Early Han Dynasty and the Eastern Silk Roads
- 5 The Roman Empire and the Western Silk Roads
- 6 The Parthian Empire and the Silk Roads
- 7 The Kushan Empire
- 8 Maritime Routes of the First Silk Roads Era
- 9 Collapse of Empires and the Decline of the First Silk Roads Era
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
- References
4 - The Early Han Dynasty and the Eastern Silk Roads
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 April 2018
Book contents
- Empires of Ancient Eurasia
- New Approaches to Asian History
- Empires of Ancient Eurasia
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures and Maps
- Introduction
- 1 Pastoral Nomads and the Empires of the Steppe
- 2 Early China
- 3 Zhang Qian and Han Expansion into Central Asia
- 4 The Early Han Dynasty and the Eastern Silk Roads
- 5 The Roman Empire and the Western Silk Roads
- 6 The Parthian Empire and the Silk Roads
- 7 The Kushan Empire
- 8 Maritime Routes of the First Silk Roads Era
- 9 Collapse of Empires and the Decline of the First Silk Roads Era
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
- References
Summary
Chapter Four describes the various ways by which large quantities of Han Chinese silk made their way into Central Asia. Most of it was dispatched initially as some form of tribute to various Central Asian nomadic and sedentary powers, but it appears to have been quickly monetized by Chinese envoys and Central Asian elites and merchants. The chapter also traces the geography of the key routes from the Early Han capital of Chang’an into Central Asia via the Tarim Basin, and the role of the Bactrian camel in facilitating the movement of silk and other luxury goods. Finally, it considers the origins and rapid expansion of silk manufacturing in ancient China, made possible by the evolution of the Bombyx mori silk moth.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Empires of Ancient EurasiaThe First Silk Roads Era, 100 BCE – 250 CE, pp. 91 - 118Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2018
References
Selected Further Reading
Bertrand, A., “The Hydraulic Systems in Turfan (Xinjiang),” The Silk Road, 8 (2010) pp. 27ff.Google Scholar
De la Vaissière, E., Sogdian Traders. A History, trans. Ward, James, Handbook of Oriental Studies, Vol. 10. Leiden: Brill, 2005.Google Scholar
Hill, J., Through the Jade Gate to Rome: A Study of the Silk Roads during the Later Han Dynasty, 1st to 2nd Centuries CE. Charlestown: BookSurge, 2009.Google Scholar
Liu, X., “Exchanges within the Silk Roads World System,” in Benjamin, C., ed., Cambridge History of the World Vol. IV. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015, pp. 457–479.Google Scholar
National Geographic: Bactrian Camel at www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/b/bactrian-camel/.Google Scholar
Torday, L., Mounted Archers: The Beginnings of Central Asian History. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1978.Google Scholar
Vainker, S., Chinese Silk: A Cultural History. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2004.Google Scholar
Yu, Y.-S., “Han Foreign Relations,” in Twitchett, D. and Loewe, M. eds., The Cambridge History of China Volume 1: The Ch’in and Han Empires 221 BC – AD 220. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.Google Scholar