The Silk Road from the perspective of civilizational interaction

Author: Yang Juping (Professor, School of History, Nankai University)

The Silk Road was a bridge between the ancient civilizations of the East and the West. Since Zhang Qian's passage to the Western Regions, China has established direct or indirect ties with countries, regions and peoples along the Silk Road as far as the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean, and the major civilizations of the ancient world have thus become an interconnected whole.

Before the opening of the Silk Road, whether it was the southward and eastward march of the Indo-European peoples in Eurasia in the two thousand years BC, or the migration of steppe nomadic peoples represented by the Scythians, it brought about the collision and integration of nomadic civilization and settled civilization. The Persian Empire, which arose on the Iranian plateau in the middle of the first millennium BC, was the world's first large empire spanning three continents of Europe, Asia and Africa, from Egypt, the Aegean Sea and the Danube River in the west, to Central Asia and the Indus River in the east, to the Black Sea, caspian Sea and Aral Sea in the north, and to the Red Sea, Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea in the south. The Persian Empire connected almost all ancient civilizations in ancient times except China and the Western Mediterranean. The subsequent Alexander Empire replaced almost all of the Persian Empire and added the Balkans to the Greek mainland, including its birthplace, the Kingdom of Macedonia. Although Alexander's empire was short-lived, the Hellenistic world he created laid the foundation for the future western section of the Silk Road. The main body of the Hellenistic world was the three Hellenistic kingdoms formed by Alexander's generals dividing up his imperial legacy: the Ptolemaic kingdom of Egypt, the Macedonian kingdom under anti-Tic rule, and the Seleucid kingdom in Asia. The latter has the largest territory and is also the most difficult to control. The first three kings of the Seleucid Kingdom, like Alexander, were committed to the establishment of Greek cities to consolidate their rule over the local peoples and strengthen their control over the main roads of communication, which invisibly expanded the road system left by the Persian Empire, so that once Zhang Qian entered Central Asia, he also embarked on the road to the Mediterranean and India. The Hellenistic cities distributed in northwestern India, Central Asia, the Iranian plateau and the Two Rivers-Syria region were later converted into Silk Road towns, and the routes between them were able to become the main roads or branches of the later Silk Road precisely because of the existence of the previous Hellenistic world and the expansion and deepening of the links between various places inside and outside the world.

However, the real emergence of the Silk Road is still inseparable from the rise of the Qin and Han Dynasties in China and the Xiongtao of the Han Wudi Dynasty in resisting the Xiongnu and opening up the western regions. During the Qin and Han dynasties, a unified Central Plains Dynasty emerged, which could use the strength of the country to fight against the Xiongnu. However, whether it was the Construction of the Great Wall by Mengtian in the Qin Dynasty or the peace and pro-pro policy of the early Han Dynasty, it was defensive and could not fundamentally curb the invasion of the Xiongnu. When Emperor Wu of Han heard that the Xiongnu were at the same time enemies of its western neighbor, the Yue Clan, he wanted to take the opportunity to send envoys to unite with the Great Yue Clan and attack the Xiongnu, and Zhang Qian resolutely enlisted. Although he has been tossing and turning for more than ten years without success, his trip to the western region has announced the official opening of the Silk Road. Chinese envoys led by Zhang Qian brought back information about the Western Regions, including the heritage of the Hellenistic world, such as the many local cities, coins "like the face of the king", the lingua franca that can "know each other", and the writing materials and methods of "painting the leather side", which are quite consistent with the Greek-Bactrian "country of a thousand cities" written by classical writers, as well as the Hellenistic coins, the common Greek language, the parchment of the Hellenistic kingdom of Pergamum in Asia Minor, and the writing style of the Greeks. At the same time, they brought grapes and alfalfa from the Western Regions back to Chang'an, and brought the information of sweat and blood horses to Emperor Wu of Han, so there was an expedition to Dawan. The Silk Road also advanced into Central Asia, and then to West Asia and India. In this sense, Zhang Qian's mission to the Western Regions not only marked the beginning of the entire silk road and the contact between Chinese and Greek civilizations, but also the beginning of the era of great exchanges and convergence between ancient China and Egypt, Lianghe, Persia, India and the northern steppe civilizations.

Zhang Qian sent two missions to the Western Regions: the first time (138-126 BC) he personally visited Dawan, Kangju, Dayueshi, and Bactria, and at the same time heard about India (poisoning), rest, Tiaozhi, Lixuan and other places. The second time (119-115 BC), he sat in Wusun and sent deputy envoys to Dawan, Kangju, Dayueshi, Bactria, Sabbath, and Shixin. When his deputy arrived at the Sabbath, he was greeted with a grand welcome, and the king sent twenty thousand escorts. When the deputy envoy returned, the King of Rest sent envoys with him to observe the riches and breadth of han. These envoys brought with them the big bird eggs and Li Xuan's "dazzling" (acrobats), and began formal diplomatic, cultural, and commercial exchanges between China and Sabbath. China's contacts with India began during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and were mainly in contact with the wubin and Wuyi mountains in northwestern India. King Jinbin even accepted the seal of the Han dynasty and became a vassal of China. As a result, a new branch line was opened on the South Silk Road, the Kuibin-Wuyishan Departure Road. At this point, the "Southern Road is extremely large", and can be diverted to rest, Tiaozhi, and Great Qin. In 97 AD, Gan Ying was sent to Great Qin on the orders of Ban Chao, the capital of the Western Regions, and may have taken this southern Silk Road. He was originally "about to cross the sea", but he was intimidated by the shipmen of the western boundary of sabbath and stopped, and returned halfway, but at least to the "branch city state" that may be located in the Persian Gulf (and other words), it should also pass through the cities or vassal states in the west of the rest, such as Aman, Spbin, and Yuluo.

Great Qin may have been Chinese's alternative title to the "Kingdom of Haixi" at that time, the Roman Empire. Because it is "grown up and peaceful, there is a kind of China", so it is called Great Qin. Although the record of great Qin in the history of the Han Dynasty is a combination of legend and imagination, its basic location, city, system, and part of its production can be roughly the same as that of the Roman Empire or the East of Rome at that time. In 166 AD, when Roman merchants who claimed to be emissaries of An dun, the King of Great Qin, came by sea to Theon County at the southern tip of China, it meant that there was a direct connection between the two great powers of Eurasia, East and West. Of course, this event also marked the opening of the Maritime Silk Road between Rome and China.

After the Common Era, a new kingdom arose in Central Asia, namely the Kushan that unified the five parts of the Great Moon Clan. In its heyday, it spanned the Hindu Kush Mountains, connecting Central Asia with India. Its ancestors came from the "Dunhuang, Qilian" area in northwestern China, and has deep roots with China. The two countries have launched a series of diplomatic and military activities around the control of China's western region, and the Central Plains civilization and the Kushan civilization and the heritage of the Hellenistic civilization they carry have left a mark of fusion here, the most famous of which is the Han and Yang two-body money that integrates the three civilization factors of Greece, India and China.

At this point, the interactive pattern of the Silk Road civilization characterized by the juxtaposition of the four civilizations of Rome, Sabbath, Guishang and China was formed. Among them, the Dormition Empire, which straddled the Silk Road between China and Rome, had a natural Silk Road monopoly due to its unique geographical location and the early silk trade with China. The roman empire's large demand for silk undoubtedly stimulated the desire of the Sabbath people, and further strengthened their monopoly on the land Silk Road. But as long as there is demand, there will be exchange. The Han dynasty records of the rest of the Han Dynasty and the exchange of Tianzhu (India) and Great Qin (Rome) in the sea reflect the continuation of the Silk Road trade, but only change the place and method of trade. After THE DISCOVERY OF THE MONSOON, DIRECT FLIGHTS FROM THE RED SEA TO INDIA WERE POSSIBLE, AND THE MARITIME SILK ROAD BEGAN TO TAKE SHAPE. From then on, India under Kushan's rule, along with its neighboring steppes of China and Central Asia, could trade with Rome by means of the Maritime Silk Road.

The opening of the Maritime Silk Road not only promoted the exchange and circulation of commodities between ancient civilizations, but also promoted cultural exchanges and integration. Hellenistic Roman art was transmitted to India from the eastern Mediterranean through the Maritime Silk Road, and promoted the formation of Gandhara art, which expressed the spirit of Indian Buddhism in the form of Greco-Roman art. Subsequently, Buddhism and its Gandhara art spread first to Central Asia along the Silk Road, then to the Tarim Basin, and then to the Central Plains. It is said that an Sabbath Prince Ansekor gave up his throne and came to China to preach and translate Buddhist scriptures. Emperor Han Ming also sent people to India to invite Buddhist monks, scriptures and Buddha statues, which was an indiscriminate visit to China for Buddhism, and thus opened the prelude to the integration of China's native civilization and foreign religious civilization. After the 3rd century AD, the Sanyi religion (Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, And Jingjiao) in Sassanid Persia and Sogdia were introduced to China, of which Zoroastrianism and Jingjiao temporarily gained a foothold in China, but the believers were mainly foreign Hu people; the influence of Manichaeism in Chinese folk seems to have existed for a long time, but after the end of the Tang Dynasty, it was attached to Buddhism and Taoism, and degenerated into a folk secret religion. The contact, run-in, and abandonment between them and Han culture are actually the process of civilizational interaction.

The interaction between the above civilizations, especially the contacts and exchanges between foreign civilizations and Chinese civilizations, revolved around the Silk Road. We can see that the Western Han Dynasty established contact with the Great Moon Clan in order to fight the Huns, and the result was the encounter of Chinese civilization with Hellenistic civilization and its heritage in Central Asia. The contact between the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Kushan Empire brought about the introduction and sinicization of Buddhism. During the Two Han Dynasties and the Sui and Tang Dynasties, China's interaction with the Sabbath and the Sassanid Empire brought about the Chinese translation of some Buddhist classics and the introduction of The Three Yi Sects. The exchanges between China, Guishuang, Sabbath and Rome brought about the full connection of the Maritime Silk Road. Therefore, whether it is the emergence and formation of the Silk Road, or its extension and expansion, it is related to the interaction of civilizations along the route, and the rise and fall and development of civilizations along the Silk Road are also closely related to the existence, change and unimpededness of the Silk Road. It is precisely because of this that the study of the Silk Road from the perspective of civilizational interaction will undoubtedly provide useful historical reference for our "Belt and Road" construction today, that is, mutual benefit, equal exchanges, mutual promotion and common benefit.

Guangming Daily (14/13/2021)

Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily