The Silk Road was the contemporary name for a complex of ancient trade routes linking East Asia with Central Asia, South Asia, and the Mediterranean world. This network of exchange emerged along the borders between agricultural China and the steppe nomads during the Han Dynasty (206BCE-220CE), in consequence of the inter-dependence and the conflicts of these two distinctive societies. In their quest for horses, fragrances, spices, gems, glassware, and other exotics from the lands to their west, the Han Empire extended its dominion over the oases around the Takla Makan Desert and sent silk all the way to the Mediterranean, either through the land routes leading to the caravan city of Palmyra in Syria desert, or by way of northwest India, the Arabian Sea and the Red Sea, landing at Alexandria.
The Silk Road survived the turmoil of the demise of the Han and Roman Empires, reached its golden age during the early middle age, when the Byzantine Empire and the Tang Empire became centers of silk culture and established the models for high culture of the Eurasian world. The coming of Islam extended silk culture to an even larger area and paved the way for an expanded market for textiles and other commodities. By the 11th century, however, the Silk Road was in decline because of intense competition from the sea routes of the Indian Ocean.
Using supply and demand as the framework for analyzing the formation and development of the Silk Road, the book examines the dynamics of the interactions of the nomadic pastoralists with sedentary agriculturalists, and the spread of new ideas, religions, and values into the world of commerce, thus illustrating the cultural forces underlying material transactions. This effort at tracing the interconnections of the diverse participants in the transcontinental Silk Road exchange will demonstrate that the world had been linked through economic and ideological forces long before the modern era.
0 有用 Ameng 2011-11-08 07:53:15
基本的介绍所以不难懂 读起来挺有意思的
0 有用 Böri 2021-02-16 22:24:03
刘欣如教授对丝绸之路历史的简短概括作品。“New World History”系列中的一册。刘认为在蒙元衰落后,传统用来支持丝绸之路的宗教机构和商贸城镇也一并衰落。同时,海运的发达,瓷器与茶叶贸易的兴起(瓷器尤其需要海上运输)也导致了丝绸贸易的逐渐消失。
0 有用 大块头 2016-07-01 16:57:34
这本书是2010年牛津大学为欧美大学生与一般大众所写的轻学术读物,介绍丝绸之路的起源与衰微。由于不是很了解这段历史,又是英文原版阅读,里面各种地名生词搞得我晕头转向的,还好在网上找到了一篇中文的简介,才算是有点头绪
0 有用 黄依依 2016-03-15 01:27:00
一本给外国人介绍丝绸之路的教材,浅显易懂
0 有用 ddddddxdd 2020-04-26 19:26:31
只读了3,4,5章,mark一下
0 有用 Kinoko 2021-11-30 23:15:08
姑且算我读完
0 有用 Böri 2021-02-16 22:24:03
刘欣如教授对丝绸之路历史的简短概括作品。“New World History”系列中的一册。刘认为在蒙元衰落后,传统用来支持丝绸之路的宗教机构和商贸城镇也一并衰落。同时,海运的发达,瓷器与茶叶贸易的兴起(瓷器尤其需要海上运输)也导致了丝绸贸易的逐渐消失。
0 有用 ddddddxdd 2020-04-26 19:26:31
只读了3,4,5章,mark一下
0 有用 Leah 2019-11-21 14:24:02
入门级读物,但是读得很轻松
0 有用 姐就是女王 2019-11-09 19:13:24
给外国人介绍丝绸之路,从外国人的视角来看,有趣的