2017 年国际暑期学校项目
PKU Summer School International 2017
Number
Title
30340046
Silk Road: A History of Cultural and Material Exchanges
丝绸之路：文化和物质交流史
Credit
2 PKU Credits, 32 teaching hours
Instructor
Professor Lu Yang
Email
[email protected]
TA
Classroom
Classes start from the 1st week
MON, Class 7-8, 0900-1200
Lecture time
TUE, Class 7-9, 1510-1800
THU, Class 2-4, 0900-1200
1.
Objective
Students will be trained in the basic skills of conducting research by analyzing primary sources
and will acquire familiarity with scholarly research on Silk Road related topics. Students are
expected to develop and practice their skills by tackling historical questions in their reading, class
discussions, various written assignments, and exams.
2.
Proceeding of the Course
This course introduces the history of the Silk Road — a complex network of trade routes that
connected China and the Mediterranean world over land and sea — and examines the cultural
and material exchanges between the peoples and cultures it connected in a global context. The
course covers the period 500 BCE to 1600 CE, during which forces wielded by many peoples (e.g.,
Chinese, Greeks, Persians, Arabs, Turks, and Mongolians) shaped the geopolitical and cultural
landscape of Eurasia. It explores the roles played by the Silk Road in forming and transforming
the cultural, linguistic, ethnic, and religious identities of these peoples and their perceptions of
one other. It highlights such themes as conspicuous consumption, cultural diversity, religious
pluralism, and ethnic migration, as well as the financial, judicial, religious, and political institutions
that were the fruits of these extended exchanges. The course begins and ends with an analysis of
conceptualizations of the “Silk Road” against the backdrop of the “Great Game” that played
out in the late 19th and early 20th centuries among various colonial powers as well as its legacy
to this day.
3.
Evaluation
Class Participation 10%
Map Quizzes 10%
Class Presentation 20%
Short Essay 20%
Final Essay 40%
中国 北京市 海淀区颐和园路 5 号 100871
2017 年国际暑期学校项目
PKU Summer School International 2017
Class Participation:
Class participation does not just mean attendance. It encompasses: 1. Attendance to lectures; 2.
Timely completion of reading assignments; 3. Active participation in class and group discussions.
In order to help the student to prepare for discussion, the student will be given study questions.
The student shall reflect upon them and be able to articulate his or her thoughts to the class at the
moment of notice. Participation in discussion sessions is such a crucial part of this course, if any
student misses more than Three lectures without attempting to catch up by getting the notes and
meeting with the instructors will receive 0 for class participation.
Map Quizzes:
The student is expected to have a firm comprehension of general geography; hence there will be
three map quizzes throughout the course. The best way to prepare for them is to pay attention to
the maps included in the textbooks and lecture PPT.
Class Presentation:
The Student chooses a topic related to the history and culture of the Silk Road and makes a 20-25
minute PPT presentation in class. The topic can be based either on the reading assignments or
materials (textual or/and visual) gathered by the student.
Writing Assignments
All written assignments will be evaluated based on accurate factual presentation of the topic, the
level of critical interpretation/reflection, and clear and logical development of the argument and
thesis.
Short Essay:
The student is expected to complete a 3-page essay in the fourth and the eighth Lecture of this
course. The essay will be based on a set of primary sources. In the short essay, the student must
directly engagement with the texts assigned by giving proper quotation or reference to support the
reading and/or argument. The essay must be titled with standard margins, a 12 point typeface,
double-spacing, and page numbers on the bottom center of each page. Late submission will be
penalized at 10 points per day unless you have advance approval (at least 24 hours before the
deadline) for an extension. Students are encouraged to read Gordon Harvey, Writing with Sources:
A Guide for Students, Hackett: Indianapolis, 1998.
Final Essay
The student is expected to complete a 10-12 page paper on a chosen topic related to the major
historic themes of this course. The paper must incorporate readings of the course and present a
clear argument. The essay must be titled with standard margins, a 12 point typeface,
double-spacing, and page numbers on the bottom center of each page. Late submission will be
penalized at 10 points per day unless you have advance approval (at least 24 hours before the
deadline) for an extension.
4.
Texts
Richard C. Foltz. Religions of the Silk Road: Premodern Patterns of Globalization. Palgrave
Macmillan, 2010. (Henceforth Religions)
Richard Frye, The Heritage of Central Asia, Markus Wiener Publishers; 1ST edition, 2012
(Henceforth Heritage)
Valerie Hansen. The Silk Road: A New History. Oxford University Press, 2012. (Henceforth Sites)
Xinru Liu. The Silk Roads: A Brief History with Documents. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2012.
(Henceforth Documents)
Xinru Liu. The Silk Road in World History, Oxford University Press, 2010. (Henceforth History)
中国 北京市 海淀区颐和园路 5 号 100871
2017 年国际暑期学校项目
PKU Summer School International 2017
Susan Whitfield. Life Along the Silk Road. John Murry, 1999. (Henceforth Life)
Other assigned scholarly articles, book chapters, and primary sources are available on the course
website
5.
Academic Integrity
6.
CLASS SCHEDULE (Subject to minor adjustment)
Lecture 1:
People and Geography
*Liu, Connections Across Eurasia, Introduction, pp. 1-15
*Religions, Ch. 1: The Silk Road and Its Travelers, pp. 1-21
*Heritage, Chs. 1-2
*David Christian, “Silk Roads or Steppe Roads? The Silk Roads in World History,” Journal of
World History 11: 1 (2000), pp. 1-26.
Lecture 2: The Great Game and the Western Discovery of the Silk Road
(Map quiz 1)
*Islamic Central Asia: Historical Sources, Part 6.C: “The Great Game to Russian Rule”
*Hopkirk. Foreign Devils on the Silk Road, Prologue plus Chs. 4-5, 13.
Lecture 3:
Silks and Horses
*Documents, pp. 1-7; pieces #1-3
*History, Ch. 1: China Looks West, pp. 1-19
*Boulnois, Silk Road, Ch. 1: “Serica” and Ch. 2: “The Land of Silk,” pp. 33-58
*Sites, “Introduction” and Ch. 1: “The Kingdom of Kroraina,” pp. 2-55
*Hopkirk. Foreign Devils on the Silk Road, Prologue plus Chs. 4-6
Lecture 4:
1st
Spices & Aromatics
Short Paper due
*Documents, pp. 7-10; pieces #4-8
*Frye, The Heritage of Central Asia, Chs. 5-6
*Boulnois, Silk Road, Ch. 6: “The Geographer in Antiquity and Women’s Extravagance” and Ch.
7: “Dangers in the Erythraean Sea,” pp. 99-144
*Hopkirk. Foreign Devils on the Silk Road, Prologue plus Chs. 7-9
Lecture 5:
Zoroastrianism & Buddhism
Map quiz 2
*Religions, Ch. 2: “Religion and Trade in Ancient Eurasia” pp. 23-36; Ch. 3: “Buddhism and the
Silk Road” pp. 37-59
*Heritage, Ch. 4
*Van Voorst, World Scriptures, Ch. 9, “A Hymn of Praise to Zarathushtra,” “Hymn to Ahura and
the Purifying Fire,” “Hymn to Ahura Mazda the Creator,” “The Choice between Good and
Evil,” and Judgment of the Soul on Chinvat Bridge”; Ch. 3, “The Four Noble Truths,” “The
中国 北京市 海淀区颐和园路 5 号 100871
2017 年国际暑期学校项目
PKU Summer School International 2017
Noble Eightfold Path,” The Skandhas and the Chain of Causation”
Lecture 6:
The Lands and Peoples In-between
*Documents, pp. 10-18; Pieces # 9 and 12, 14
*History, Ch. 3: “The Kushan Empire and Buddhism,” pp. 42-61
*Frye, The Heritage of Central Asia, Chs. 7
*Sites, Ch.2: Kucha and the Caves of Kizil, pp. 56-82
*Van Voorst, World Scriptures, Ch. 3, “The Essence of Mahayana Buddhism,” “A Mahayana
View of the Buddha,” and “The Blessing of the Pure Land”
*Afghanistan: Hidden Treasure from the National Museum, Kabul (Website)
*Hopkirk, Foreign Devils on the Silk Road, Chs. 13-16
Lecture 7:
Empire, Trade, and Religion: The Turks, The Chinese and The Sogdians
*Documents, Pieces #14, 19, 20, and 21
*History, Ch. 4: “The Golden Age Emerges,” pp. 62-86
*Sites, 4: “Samarkand and Sogdiana,” pp. 113-139
*Religions, Ch. 4: “Nestorians and Manichaeans on the Silk Road,” pp. 61-87
*Klimkeit, Gnosis on the Silk Road, “Prose Texts on Cosmogony and Cosmology” and “Texts on
the Soul and Salvation”
*Golden, Central Asian in World History, Ch. 3: “The Turks and Their Successors,” pp. 35-49
Lecture 8:
The Great Tang Empire
Map Quiz 3
2nd Short Paper due
*Documents, Pieces #17, 22, 23 and 24
*Sites, Ch. 5: “Chang’an,” pp. 141-166; Ch. 6: Dunhuang Caves, pp. 167-197
*Life, “the Merchant’s Tale,” pp. 27-54; “The Nun’s Tale,” “The Widow’s Tale,” “The
Official’s Tale,” and “The Artist’s Tale,” pp. 155-222
*Boulnois, Silk Road, Ch. 12: “Byzantium, Persia, the Turks and the Sogdians,” pp. 235-254
*Dunhuang: Caves of Faith (website)
*The Silk Road Exhibition (website)
Lecture 9:
The Arab Conquests of the Silk Road
*History, Ch. 5: “Transformation of the Eurasian Silk Market,” pp. 87-108
*Heritage, Ch.14
*Islamic Central Asia: Historical Sources, Part 1.A: Central Asia and Arab Conquests
*Sites, Ch. 7: “Khotan,” pp. 199-234
Lecture 10:
Silk Road on the Sea
Map Quiz 4
*Documents, Pieces #25, 26, and 27
*Religions, Ch. 5: “The Islamization of the Silk Road,” pp. 89-109
*Documents, Pieces #28, 29, 30 and 31
中国 北京市 海淀区颐和园路 5 号 100871
2017 年国际暑期学校项目
PKU Summer School International 2017
*Liu, Connections, Ch. 5: “Trade and Communication Under the Muslim System,” pp.147-179
Lecture 11:
The Mongols and the Silk Road
*History, Ch. 6: “The Mongols and the Twilight of the Silk Road,” pp. 109-126
*Islamic Central Asia: Historical Sources, Part 3.A: “Temujin and the Rise of Mongol Empire”
*Religions, Ch. 6: “Ecumenical Mischief,” pp. 111-134
*Boulnois, Silk Road, Ch. 15: “Oriente Poliano,” pp. 311-352
*Marco Polo, The Travels of Marco Polo, in Foundations of Anthropological Theory, pp. 73-84
Lecture 12:
From Istanbul to Beijing: The Silk Road in Twilight
*Islamic Central Asia: Historical Sources, Part 4.A: “Timur’ Rise and Rule”
*Religions, Ch. 7: “A Melting Pot No More,” pp. 135-144
*Heritage, Ch. 15: “The Iranian-Islamic Œcumene”
*Rassabi, “The ‘Decline’ of the Central Asian Caravan Trade” in The Rise of Merchant Empires,
pp. 351-370
中国 北京市 海淀区颐和园路 5 号 100871