INQ 270 Spring 2011 Roanoke College Instructor: Dr. Stella Xu The Silk Road: Did globalization exist in the premodern era?

Required Textbooks Bentley, Jerry H., Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times. Oxford University Press, Hayashi, Ryoichi, The Silk Road & the Shoso-In. Weatherhill/Heibonsha ser., Wriggins, Sally H., Xuanzang, A Buddhist Pilgrim on the Silk Road, Westview, Wood, Michael, In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great. California, Yu, Anthony trans., Journey to the West.

Komroff, Manuel ed., The Travels of Marco Polo, New York: Liverright, Liu, Xinru, The Silk Road, American Historian Association Essays on Global & Comp. History Series. Whitfield, Susan. Life along the Silk Road, Berkeley, Los Angeles: University of California Press, Foltz, Richard C.. Religions of the Silk Road. Overland Trade and Cultural Exchange from Antiquity to the Fifteenth Century, New York :St. Martin’s Press, 1999.

Week 1: Introduction to the Silk Road Reading: Whitfield, Susan. Life along the Silk Road, Berkeley, Los Angeles: University of California Press, Lecture – 1) What is the Silk Road? Why the Silk Road, especially now? – 2) Geographical and environmental landscape of the Silk Road; – 3) The long-lasting interests in the Silk Road, especially from the twentieth century; – 4) Globalization in the contemporary period;

Week 2 Historical background of the Silk Road: Reading: Roger Ames, “The Confucian Worldview: Uncommon assumptions, common misconceptions”. In D. Jones & E.R. Klein ed., Asian Test-Asian Contexts: Encounter with Asian Philosophies and Religions. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, pp Nicolas Di Cosma, Ancient China and its Enemies: The Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian History, Cambridge University Press, ) The origin and popularization of Confucianism and Daoism in China 2) The beginning of the Silk Road during the Han period (war with the Xiongnu and trans-regional trade) 3) Han China’s initial contact with Central Asia;

Week 3: Buddhism from India to East Asia Reading: 1) Origin of Buddhism, Buddhism in India; 2) Dissemination of Buddhism to China; Buddhist missionary and translation projects; Buddhism as a foreign religion and the later sinfication of Buddhism in China; 3) Buddhism versus Confucianism & Daoism –conflict and compromise

Week 4: Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Culture Reading: Wood, Michael, In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great. California, ) Alexander’s invasion to India; 2) Buddhist art; the impact of Hellenism to Buddhist sculpture; Film: In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great: Across the Khyber Pass

Week 5: Tang Dynasty The Peak of the Silk Road, the climax of East West trade and cultural interaction Reading: Wriggins, Sally H., Xuanzang, A Buddhist Pilgrim on the Silk Road, Westview, ) Cosmopolitan society of the Tang; 2) Pilgrimage of Xuanzang to India, 3) New denomination of Buddhism.

Week 6: Dunhuang— The Cave Grotto of Buddhism on the Dessert— Reading: Whitfield, Roderik. Cave Temples of Mogao: Art and History on the Silk Road. Getty Conservation Institute, Rediscovery of the Dunhuang Cave and the importance of newly found artifacts and documents

Week 7: Eastern Extension of the Silk Road: Korea and Japan Reading: Hayashi, Ryoichi, The Silk Road & the Shoso-In. Weatherhill/Heibonsha ser., ) Travel of Koreans and Japanese (monks, students, merchants) to Tang China 2) Buddhist pilgrimage and translation project;

Week 8: Muslims and Christians along the Silk Road Reading: Religions of the Silk Road. Overland Trade and Cultural Exchange from Antiquity to the Fifteenth Century, St. Martin’s Press: New York 1) Islam 2) Christianity 3) Interaction of trade and religion Discussion for the final paper topic.

Week 9: The Mongol Empire Reading: Komroff, Manuel ed., The Travels of Marco Polo, New York: Liverright, ) The expansion and the establishment of the Mongol Empire 2) Travel of Marco Polo: Did Marco Polo really go to China? 3) Trade and cultural interaction across Eurasia

Week 10: Maritime Silk Road Reading: 1) Southeast Asia in the global trade network 2) Accounts from other Silk Road travelers --Ibn Batutta Group #1 :Paper presentation.

Week 11: China’s Maritime Explorations Zheng He and his voyages to Southeast Asia and Africa— mission for peace or colonization? Ming Dynasty: the inward transition to focus on domestic affairs Reading: Dreyer, Edward. Zheng He: China and the Oceans in the Early Ming Dynasty, , Longman, 2006 Group # 2 Paper presentation.

Week 12: Fictions on the Silk Road Reading: Journey to the West: A text of Buddhist, Daoist, Confucian, or the combination of three? Group # 3 Paper presentation.

Week 13 Retrospect and Prospect Is the Silk Road still a proper term for defining the connection and interaction of East and West during the premodern era? How did the Silk Road help to understand the current status and predict the future of globalization? US and China in the twenty-first century--Media and the reality

Week 14 Final Paper due