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SUMMARY:How important was silk along the Silk Roads? - Prof. Morris Rossab
 i\, Columbia University 
DTSTART:20231020T130000Z
DTEND:20231020T140000Z
UID:TALK206908@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Said Reza Huseini
DESCRIPTION:Abstract:\nAbout fifty years ago\, in a chapter on “Trade Ro
 utes in Inner Asia” for the aborted Cambridge History of Inner Asia\, Vo
 lume 2 to be edited by Denis Sinor\, the speaker wrote “The caravans fro
 m the Chinese capital to West Asia or Europe transported silk and other lu
 xury products while the hunters and herders traveled to nearby agricultura
 l settlements or towns to trade for essentials\, a much more vital exchang
 e of goods.”  Specialists on Eurasian history arrived at the same conclu
 sion and questioned the economic importance of the so-called Silk Roads. A
 lthough they (and the speaker) acknowledged the cultural and artistic impo
 rtance of such long distance relations\, they wondered whether the term 
 “Silk Roads” was appropriate. This presentation somewhat modifies the 
 views of the past five decades. Based on Chinese sources from the Song thr
 ough the Ming dynasties\, it shows the value of silk in commerce and in fo
 reign relations and provides partial support for use of the term Silk Road
 s.\n\nAbout the speaker:\nProfessor Morris Rossabi is a historian of China
  and Central and Inner Asia. He teaches courses on Inner Asian\, East Asia
 n\, and Chinese history at Columbia. During the 2008–2009 academic year\
 , he received an honorary doctorate from the National University of Mongol
 ia. He and Mary Rossabi are involved in an oral history of 20th and 21st c
 entury Mongolia\, which has led to the publication of Socialist Devotees a
 nd Dissenters\; A Herder\, a Trader\, and a Lawyer\; and The Practice of B
 uddhism in Kharkhorin and its Revival (National Museum of Ethnology\, Osak
 a\, 2010\, 2012\, and 2013). Author or editor of 25 books\, he has helped 
 organize exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art\, the Cleveland Mus
 eum of Art\, and the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. He was on the advi
 sory board of the Project on Central Eurasia and Chair of the Arts and Cul
 ture Committee of the Soros Foundation. The author of numerous articles an
 d speeches\, he travels repeatedly to China\, Central Asia\, and Mongolia.
  In 2021\, the Minister of Foreign Affairs awarded Professor Rossabi a Cer
 tificate of Merit at the Mongolian Embassy to the United Nations.\n
LOCATION:Audit Room\, King’s College (and online) 
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