The Maritime Silk Road and the Overland Silk Road are not an alternative relationship. Because from the perspective of overseas trade, in fact, our country already had a fleet of ships engaged in foreign trade a long time ago, and foreign trade by sea has long appeared.
--Deng Xiaonan
In addition, some things spread from east to west through the Silk Road, and the Central Plains culture also had an impact on the western region and South Asia. In the fourth year of Zhenguan, Xuanzang arrived at Nalanda Temple, and the then King of Tianzhu asked him: "I heard that there is a "Qin King Breaking Array Music" in your country, who is this Qin King?" "King of Qin" refers to Li Shimin, and "The Broken Array Music of the King of Qin" is a very majestic song and dance in the court. We can see that at that time, the people of ancient India already had an understanding of some of the things that happened in Chinese mainland, some major events, and even some music. Some cultures of the Central Plains have spread to these places.
Some archaeological discoveries in recent years tell us that Chinese texts, including Buddhist scriptures translated from Han Chinese, the Confucian classics "Shiji" and "Book of Han", and the Zen classic "Quotations of the Divine Society" in the interior of the Central Plains, have been found in the Turpan region of the western region, and even further west.
By the seventh century, the political landscape in the heart of Asia was already changing, and by the eighth century AD, the trend of change was even more pronounced. The Anshi Rebellion was in the middle of the eighth century AD. Before the Anshi Rebellion, in fact, the Tang Dynasty army at that time had already had a direct conflict with the army of Dashi (the Arab army) in the western region. In the frontal conflict at this time, the Tang army no longer had the advantage. So at that time, the Great Cannibal blocked the pace of the Tang Dynasty army's continued expansion to the west.
As we can see, at that time, the territory of the Tang Dynasty was basically two large blocks of east and west, and the two large blocks were connected by a narrow strip of land, and this "narrow strip" was what we now call the "Hexi Corridor". For example, this place in Dunhuang, it is not easy for us to go there now. Why is it that the treasure trove of cultures gathers so far away? In fact, one of the very important reasons is that it guards the throat of the Hexi Corridor, and all those who come from east to west must go from here.
At that time, the Tang Dynasty's army was blocked by the army of the Great Eater, and after the Tang Army was defeated, many soldiers were forced to be taken prisoner and taken by the Great Cannibal to the then City of Samargan (then the Kang Kingdom). After the Tang Dynasty captives were brought there, many soldiers used to have various techniques when they were in their hometowns, such as some people could weave silk, some people could make paper, some people could make gold and silver, and some people could draw, so they became a group of local technical craftsmen. It is for this reason that the papermaking technology of the Tang Dynasty spread to the Arab region, and later to Europe through the Arabs.
So we will see that although papermaking appeared very early in China, at least at the time of the turn of the two Han Dynasties, and the technology of Cai Lunshi has been perfected, the real spread of papermaking is actually in the middle of the Tang Dynasty. So this also allows us to see that the other side of cultural exchanges, the era of peace must have cultural exchanges, and the state of war will also have cultural exchanges. But this cultural exchange also has a choice, but also a trade-off. For example, like engraving and printing, this technology was also complete in the Tang Dynasty, but this technology was not accepted by the Arab world for a long time. Because they felt that something like the Koran should be copied by hand, not printed in engraving. So the spread of culture, there is a problem of passing it out, and there is also a question of the history of acceptance, that is, what kind of content will be accepted by the local culture.
So Needham said: "In the history of Chinese science and technology, Chinese inventions have paved the way for the European Renaissance." "Of course there are many aspects to this, but papermaking is also one of them.
Historian Mr. Zhang Guangda once said that the culture of the Western Regions (the Xinjiang region in ancient China) is composed of Han culture, northern nomadic culture, Greek culture, Persian culture and Indian culture, and in terms of the convergence and exchange of this multiculturalism, the charm of the Western Regions is even greater than that of the Mediterranean world.
Next, let's talk about the Maritime Silk Road. The Maritime Silk Road and the Overland Silk Road are not an alternative relationship. Because from the perspective of overseas trade, in fact, our country already had a fleet of ships engaged in foreign trade a long time ago, and foreign trade by sea has long appeared.
In the Qin and Han dynasties, there was already some foreign trade on the sea. In fact, before that, maybe that kind of small-share sailing trade already existed. In the Tang Dynasty, there was actually a Silk Road on the one hand, and maritime trade on the other. But in any case, when a large area of territory in the northwest was not controlled by the Tang government, then the Silk Road on land was no longer effectively controlled by the Central Plains Dynasty. However, this is not to say that the overland Silk Road is gone, but that the overland Silk Road is not controlled by the Central Plains Dynasty. So in this case, how should the Central Plains Dynasty develop its own foreign trade? One of the most important alternatives is to take the sea route.
Therefore, in the middle and late period of the Tang Dynasty, maritime trade had a significant development compared with the early period. After the Song Dynasty, the momentum of this development became more prominent. Therefore, in a strict sense, the prosperous period of the Maritime Silk Road should be after the Southern Song Dynasty. The Maritime Silk Road is basically two directions, one is to the northeast, to the Korean Peninsula to the Japanese archipelago. The other direction is to go south, through the countries of Southeast Asia, through South Asia, then to the Arab region, and then to the west. In fact, we will see that the merchant ships traveling on the Maritime Silk Road are more items transported from Chinese mainland, but many of the merchant ships are Arab fleets.
In 1998, there was a fisherman in Indonesia who raised sea cucumbers, and in the process of fishing for sea cucumbers, he accidentally found some ceramics on the seabed and fished them. After this news spread, Dutch and German salvage teams came to this area to salvage. Subsequently, in the waters of Indonesia, a shipwreck was found on the edge of a large black stone, so people named the ship "Black Stone". The ship was actually an Arab merchant ship, and the goods carried on the merchant ship were transported from Chinese mainland. There are large quantities of porcelain, gold and silverware, and some daily necessities, as well as some Buddhist arhat statues, bronze mirrors and other items. Therefore, according to the age recorded on these items, people can generally determine that this ship is from the late Tang Dynasty.
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Deng
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Professor and doctoral supervisor of the Department of History and the Research Center for Ancient Chinese History of Peking University. His research interests include song history, women's history of the Tang and Song dynasties, and history of bureaucracy. His major academic achievements include "Various Levels of the Selection and Appointment System of Civil Officials in the Song Dynasty", "Curriculum, Qualifications, and Examinations: A Side Discussion on the Evaluation System for Civil Officials of the Tang and Song Dynasties", "The Law of the Ancestors - A Political Brief Outline of the Early Northern Song Dynasty", "Women and Society in the Tang and Song Dynasties", etc.
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Editor: Niu Yajie
Review: Gao Qiaoyan
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