The Geography of the Silk Road.

For centuries, people have either dealt with outside pressures and survived, or perished under its weight. Civilizations that flourish despite great odds are studied and used as case studies for how we should deal with problems of the present day. The civilizations that developed in China and Mesopotamia are perfect examples of how people dealt with other cultures. There was a time when the two lived in complete ignorance of each other, separated by a vast and hostile wasteland known as Central Asia. Eventually, the civilizations of Western Asia and China would come in contact by way of an overland trade route known as The Silk Road. Within Central Asia lies one of the most inhospitable deserts in the world. This is the Taklimakan dessert, but local people call it "the Land of Death", or "the Land of Irrevocable Death". The Taklimakan has for centuries acted as a natural barrier between the East and West, however, it was not the only thing preventing contact.

Chinese and Western civilizations developed on opposite ends of the continent in areas that were able to support life. Exploration of the west by the Chinese did not begin until the Han Dynasty when the emperor sent Zhang Qian on a mission to form an alliance with the Yuezhi tribe in the west. He began his journey in 138 BC and returned to his emperor's court 13 years later after being captured twice by an enemy tribe. Although Qian failed to secure an ally in the west, he brought back important information about a new breed of horse and hitherto unknown tribes in the west. More expeditions were sent west to retrieve horses and objects of beauty for the emperor. By this process, the route to the west was opened up. Many scholars regard Zhang Qian as the father of the Silk Road, but even before his expedition, small amounts of Chinese goods were reaching the west.

When considering the nature of the Silk Road, one must remember that there was no one silk route, but many routes, roads, and paths that head in an east-west direction. Some routes were well developed and relatively free from bandits, while others were less protected and had fewer oasis towns which offered shelter from the elements. A particular route along the southern edge of the Taklimakan was quite risky, but it took less time to cross. The Silk Road did not exist for the sole purpose of trading silk. Although silk was most remarkable for westerners, it was only one of many items that were traded throughout the history of the Silk Road. Gold, precious metals, ivory, precious stones, and glass went towards China, while firs, ceramics, gun powder, jade, bronze objects, lacquer, and iron went west. Such caravans were extremely valuable and vulnerable to bandits; as such they needed escorts and a secure place to camp each night.

The development of Central Asian trade routes caused some problems for Han rulers in China. Bandits took advantage of the terrain to plunder trade caravans along the Gansu Corridor. Han rulers answered this threat by constructing forts and defensive walls along part of the route. These sections were later combined to form the 'Great Wall' which still stands today as a testament to human achievement and suffering at the hands of determined emperors. Unfortunately, the wall along the northern side of the Gansu Corridor was not as effective as intended, as the Chinese periodically lost control of sections of the route.

Religion was the most important commodity to be carried along the route. The religions of Central Asia owe much of their existance to the trade routes that carried them to Tibet, the Taklimakan region, and eventually China's ancient capital Changan. Buddhism came into China from India as early as the first century AD, and changed the face of Silk Road towns with monasteries and pagodas. Buddhisms influence was also seen in the art of the era, as more artists began using the image of the Buddha in their work.

By 742 AD, the Changan had become an exotic metropolis, boasting a population of nearly two million, five thousand of which were foreigners from along the Road, as well as Japanese, Koreans, and Maylays. Starting in 1206, the Mongols led by Genghis Khan conquered a huge petition of Asia. Under the Mongols, the Silk Road became an important path for communication between different parts of the empire, as well as a protected trade route. The Mongols remained relatively sympathetic to different religions, nationalities, and creeds. Marco Polo is probably the most famous westerner to have witnessed the court of Kubilai Khan.

In 1368, the Ming Dynasty regained control of China and immediately emphasized nationalism and isolationalism in an effort to prevent future invasion. With the revival of Islam in the west and Chinese nationalism in the east, the barriers on the land route once again rose. A revival of Islam in Central Asia led to the destruction of non-Islamic artwork and architecture in key cities. Trade by sea became less dangerous and more profitable than the long and arduous land route. Also, the demand for silk began to slump as European production was perfected and passed on. Perhaps the greatest factor contributing to the decline of trade along the Silk Road was geography. Maintaining existing settlements along the Taklimakan and Gobi deserts became increasingly difficult during that era of political unease. A lack of natural resources proved too stressful for many dessert cities along the southern end of the Taklimakan region. Maintenance of wells, streets, and buildings was neglected in light of invasion from bandits, lack of trade, and a sometimes imposing religion from the West. Soon the old towns and religious sites were buried deeper beneath the sands.

Renewed interest in the Silk Road began at the end of the 19th century. Imperial Great Britain and Russia competed for trade opportunities in Kashgar and other surviving cities. However, interests soon turned toward archeological finds in the Taklimakan by both British and Russian surveyors. The treasures of the ancient Silk Road are now scattered around museums in more than a dozen countries.

The historical Silk Road represents for us a time in history where people were forced to deal with cultural, national, and racial differences. We look back at the historical Silk Road for guidance as we try to face problems like discrimination and religious rights. The Silk Road not only as a trade route, but as a metaphor for the age of information in which we live. The World Wide Web provides a vast sea of information in the form of ideas, points of view, pictures, stories, and reports of occurrences around the globe. In an instant, we can talk with someone in Saudi Arabia or China (so long as they have a computer) and encounter a foreign culture and way of life, just like people did on the Silk Road a thousand years ago, somewhere between China and Europe.

Religion in Asia

Tibetan Buddhism (sometimes called Lamaism) is the form of Mahayana Buddhism that developed in Tibet and the surrounding Himalayan region. Incorporates Madhyamika and Yogacara philosophy, Tantric symbolic rituals, Theravadin monastic discipline and the shamanistic features of the indigenous religion. Among its most unique characteristics are its system of reincarnating lamas and the vast number of deities in its pantheon.

The Tibetans reasserted their independence from China in 1912 and retained it until 1951, when it was "liberated" by China. Today, Tibet is still occupied by China. The Dalai Lama, the spiritual and political leader of the Tibetan people, lives in exile in India, and Chinese officials outnumber Tibetans in their own homeland.

The first significant event in the history of Tibetan Buddhism occurred in 641, when King Songtsen Gampo (c.609-650) unified Tibet and took two Buddhist. Before long, King Gampo made Buddhism the state religion. Conflict with the former national religion, Bön, however, would continue for centuries. It was Padmasambhava (more commonly known in the region as Guru Rinpoche) who merged tantric Buddhism with the local Bön religion to form what we now recognize as Tibetan Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhism exerted a strong influence from the 11th century AD among the peoples of Central Asia, especially in Mongolia and Manchuria. It was adopted as an official state religion by the Mongol Yuan dynasty and the Manchu Qing dynasty of China.

Date: 2015-12-18; view: 738