Rethinking the Silk Road

2017-11-05 Political Science

Author : Maximilian Mayer
Release : 2017-11-05
Genre : Political Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 152/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Rethinking the Silk Road by : Maximilian Mayer

Download or read book Rethinking the Silk Road written by Maximilian Mayer. This book was released on 2017-11-05. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Focused on the "Belt and Road Initiative", this book discusses China’s opportunities to translate economic leverage into political outcomes. The central question is how China’s expanding economic influence will transform the Eurasian political landscape. Proposed in late 2013 by President Xi Jinping, the Belt and Road is the most ambitious foreign policy approach adopted thus far and represents the culmination of China’s search for a grand strategic narrative. Comparative methods and diverse conceptual frameworks are applied to contextualize and explore the political, economic, and cultural ramifications of the Belt and Road in order to shed light on its transformative significance, risks and opportunities.

The Silk Road in World History

2010-07-09 History

Author : Xinru Liu
Release : 2010-07-09
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 80X/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The Silk Road in World History by : Xinru Liu

Download or read book The Silk Road in World History written by Xinru Liu. This book was released on 2010-07-09. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Rethinking the Silk Road

2018 Asia

Author : Maximilian Mayer
Release : 2018
Genre : Asia
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 162/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Rethinking the Silk Road by : Maximilian Mayer

Download or read book Rethinking the Silk Road written by Maximilian Mayer. This book was released on 2018. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Mayer provides a compelling rationale to focusing on China's grand ambitions in the context of China's external relations. It is a rare combination of nuanced historical narratives with detailed empirical studies and comparative frameworks. This brilliant and thoughtful book tackles the most important question facing the world in the 21st century--China's future grand strategy. It should be a must-read for serious scholars and policy makers around the world who are interested in or concerned about China's rise."--Dingding Chen, Professor of International Relations, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China "China's belt and road initiative makes a turning point in China's search for a grand strategic narrative and in the debates about China's rise. This excellent collection of papers combines a series of in-depth empirical studies from the perspective of China's relationships with key countries and regions, with systematic exploration of theoretical frameworks for understanding the initiative. It will be a valuable resource for practitioners and scholars alike."--Tim Summers, Chatham House, Asia Program Focused on the "Belt and Road Initiative", this book discusses China's opportunities to translate economic leverage into political outcomes. The central question is how China's expanding economic influence will transform the Eurasian political landscape. Proposed in late 2013 by President Xi Jinping, the Belt and Road is the most ambitious foreign policy approach adopted thus far and represents the culmination of China's search for a grand strategic narrative. Comparative methods and diverse conceptual frameworks are applied to contextualize and explore the political, economic, and cultural ramifications of the Belt and Road in order to shed light on its transformative significance, risks and opportunities. Maximilian Mayer is a research professor at the German Studies Center of Tongji University, China. He is co-editor of the two-volume The Global Politics of Science and Technology and Art and Sovereignty in Global Politics. His research interests include the global politics of technoscience and innovation, China's foreign and energy policy, global climate politics, and International Relations theories.

The Silk Road: A Very Short Introduction

2013-03-15 History

Author : James A. Millward
Release : 2013-03-15
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 795/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The Silk Road: A Very Short Introduction by : James A. Millward

Download or read book The Silk Road: A Very Short Introduction written by James A. Millward. This book was released on 2013-03-15. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The phrase "silk road" evokes vivid scenes of merchants leading camel caravans across vast stretches to trade exotic goods in glittering Oriental bazaars, of pilgrims braving bandits and frozen mountain passes to spread their faith across Asia. Looking at the reality behind these images, this Very Short Introduction illuminates the historical background against which the silk road flourished, shedding light on the importance of old-world cultural exchange to Eurasian and world history. On the one hand, historian James A. Millward treats the silk road broadly, to stand in for the cross-cultural communication between peoples across the Eurasian continent since at least the Neolithic era. On the other, he highlights specific examples of goods and ideas exchanged between the Mediterranean, Persia, India, and China, along with the significance of these exchanges. While including silks, spices, and travelers' tales of colorful locales, the book explains the dynamics of Central Eurasian history that promoted Silk Road interactions--especially the role of nomad empires--highlighting the importance of the biological, technological, artistic, intellectual, and religious interchanges across the continent. Millward shows that these exchanges had a profound effect on the old world that was akin to, if not on the scale of, modern globalization. He also disputes the idea that the silk road declined after the collapse of the Mongol empire or the opening of direct sea routes from Europe to Asia, showing how silk road phenomena continued through the early modern and modern expansion of the Russian and Chinese states across Central Asia. Millward concludes that the idea of the silk road has remained powerful, not only as a popular name for boutiques and restaurants, but also in modern politics and diplomacy, such as U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton's "Silk Road Initiative" for India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

The Silk Road

2012-07-17 History

Author : Valerie Hansen
Release : 2012-07-17
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 217/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The Silk Road by : Valerie Hansen

Download or read book The Silk Road written by Valerie Hansen. This book was released on 2012-07-17. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Silk Road is as iconic in world history as the Colossus of Rhodes or the Suez Canal. But what was it, exactly? It conjures up a hazy image of a caravan of camels laden with silk on a dusty desert track, reaching from China to Rome. The reality was different--and far more interesting--as revealed in this new history. In The Silk Road, Valerie Hansen describes the remarkable archeological finds that revolutionize our understanding of these trade routes. For centuries, key records remained hidden--sometimes deliberately buried by bureaucrats for safe keeping. But the sands of the Taklamakan Desert have revealed fascinating material, sometimes preserved by illiterate locals who recycled official documents to make insoles for shoes or garments for the dead. Hansen explores seven oases along the road, from Xi'an to Samarkand, where merchants, envoys, pilgrims, and travelers mixed in cosmopolitan communities, tolerant of religions from Buddhism to Zoroastrianism. There was no single, continuous road, but a chain of markets that traded between east and west. China and the Roman Empire had very little direct trade. China's main partners were the peoples of modern-day Iran, whose tombs in China reveal much about their Zoroastrian beliefs. Silk was not the most important good on the road; paper, invented in China before Julius Caesar was born, had a bigger impact in Europe, while metals, spices, and glass were just as important as silk. Perhaps most significant of all was the road's transmission of ideas, technologies, and artistic motifs. The Silk Road is a fascinating story of archeological discovery, cultural transmission, and the intricate chains across Central Asia and China.

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