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Letters from the Silk Road

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In Japan, the Silk Road has been held up as an alternative form of globalization. Japan was, after all, on the terminus of the Silk Road and the nation experienced its greatest cosmopolitan flowering during the Nara period, when the Silk Road was in its heyday. In contrast to the modern "melting pot" of pluralistic societies we see today, people during Silk Road times are described as having interacted with each other from standpoints of their own unique city-cultures. I think it was UNESCO’s Eiji Hattori who really gave this Japanese idea form when he created his draft for UNESCO’s Silk Road Project, which saw a wonderful number of research projects and publications from 1988-1997 (22). With two doctorates (one from Kyoto University and the other from the Sorbonne), Hattori has an impressive academic background. And yet, rather than entering academia, he chose instead to join UNESCO at their Paris headquarters, where he served for 21 years as a director of the cultural events section—and the Silk Roads project really was his crowning glory.

Put forward as an alternative to the "Globalization as Americanization" model, his project positioned the “Silk Road” in opposition to something he called “Empire” (or “pax”); so that:

6a00d834535cc569e20120a64965a9970b-320wiPax/Empire                  versus                          Silk Road

Monopoly                                                       Two-Way Trade/International Relays

Monologue/Propaganda                                  Dialogue

National                                                           Cities/International

Robbery                                                          Mutual Profit/Equal Partnership/

Co-Dependence 

Hattori's main point is that during Silk Road times, dialogues between cultures were two-way. That is, it was not a power relationship dominated by one side talking/dictating/taking/imposing but rather held up a model for a more two-way dialogue based on trade; one in which trade was an international accomplishment achieved by people from many nations working for mutual benefits cooperatively; not done by one nation alone.

Hattori suggested that no one economic system or historical perspective reigned supreme above all the rest during the Tang dynasty. People interacted with each other from the framework of their own various local city-cultures. This is the famous cosmopolitanism of the Tang. When you consider that what was arguably the greatest of all empires of the time, the Tang actually built mosques and churches in their capital city to welcome the many traders who came from afar-- well, it cannot help but impress. A mosque already stood in “Canton” during the Prophet's lifetime. Flourishing and highly cosmopolitan cities connected the dots along these ancient trade routes, from Nara to Chang’an to Baghdad, Aleppo, and Constantinople.

This is a theme much held up in Japan. Two years ago, I was working on a translation of an interview with one of Japan's greatest living composers—who now sadly is deceased. Like Yo Yo Ma, Miki Minoru is best known for his work on Silk Road music. When asked why he held up the Silk Road as a symbol of mutual cooperation and peaceful coexistence, Miki had this to say:

The Silk Road was a uniquely peaceful trade route. Connecting Rome with Chang’an, it was a route that served to promote peaceful exchanges and mutual cooperation between Eastern and Western places. It is interesting that while in Asia the Silk Road holds great interest and dreams, in the west it seems to be mainly of interest to archaeologists. As a person who fundamentally rejects the current uninteresting state of affairs whereby as the world Westernizes we are seeing more and more of a mono-culture, what I can do in my own projects is to choose artists whose own sense of identity is not that of “international” 

Japan, with its vibrant peace and ecology movements, has taken up these reflections of the Silk Road like perhaps no other people. Having lived the past two decades through its self-proclaimed “Silk Road boom,” I have been so impressed by both the approach of Silk Road history scholars (like those at Ryukoku University) as well as the surprisingly long term enthusiasm of the general public for what was a time of cosmopolitan civism. Obviously, no one is really talking about how things actually may have been during the heyday of the Silk Road; for indeed, we have also seen the Silk Road used as a slogan for aggressive multinational corporations wanting to get a piece of the energy pie in that part of that world as well. But, in Japan-- at least-- the Silk Road has been overwhelmingly taken up as a symbol of mutual cooperation and co-flourishing which is viewed ultimately as a symbol for anti-"globalization" and world peace.

Miki, in his interview said that while there will always be imbalances of power between different peoples over the stretch of time, when that imbalance of power tilts too far in one direction that it is this overwhelming dominance of one group over another that has shown itself to have tremendous power in generating the kind of hate that leads to violence. It was his belief that it is only through harmonious exchanges and collaborative efforts between people that genuine peace can be established.  But how is this possible without stepping back and looking at things on a more local level? 

This is not to say that universalism is categorically problematic, but rather it is a question of balance and degree. Hannah Arendt looked at universalism as being behind much of the political pathologies of her time and felt that being derived from abstract reasoning, which stands apart from the world, the universalist thinking aims to create blueprints for how we think the world “ought” to be; and that this becomes a political project that aims to manipulate how the world is to change it to how one thinks it should be. In that way, she urged people to be engaged with the world as it is—and it seems that in order to do that one must start with the local and the particular.

I am a great fan of the writing of William Dalrymple. In 2009, he had another great article in The Guardian about the future of travel writing. One paragraph in particular caught my attention:

"It's no accident that the mess inflicted on the world by the last US administration was done by a group of men who had hardly travelled, and relied for information on policy documents and the reports of journalists sitting interviewing middle-class contacts in capital cities. A good travel writer can give you the warp and weft of everyday life, the generalities of people's existence that are rarely reflected in journalism, and hardly touched on by any other discipline. Despite the internet and the revolution in communications, there is still no substitute" 

Reading this I thought that nothing much has changed since the last Administration either and that US policy remains in the hands of a cabal of monoglots and cultural provincials. As Eiji Hattori said in a 2004 UNESCO speech, “Civilizations never clash. Ignorance does clash”.  Therefore we may say that true internationalism should be a kind of dialogue, whereby one is open to the world from the rootedness of one’s own culture. One approaches the rich sources of other traditions from one’s own worldview, but without any intention and effort to impose one’s cultural presumptions. In other words, a healthy respect for the particular keeps one grounded and respectful of other local diversities.  

This is why I think it is so important to give cities a voice—to recognize them as gardens which bear the flowers and fruit of their own unique cultural sensibilities and values; so that even in the world’s largest and most complex urban metropolis, we find at its very roots a somehow transience, sudden transformations and unthinkable disaster; something that has flowered into the great social achievements of optimism and resilience that define the spirit of Tokyo .

From Paper given at Spirit of Cities Conference in 2012, Shanghai.

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Islam: A Very Short Introduction, by Malise Ruthven
The Silk Road: A Very Short Introduction by James A. Millward
Silk Road: Monks, Warriors Merchants on the Silk Road by Luce Boulnois, Helen Loveday (Translator), Bradley Mayhew
The Silk Roads: A New History of the World by Peter Frankopan
The Silk Road: Two Thousand Years in the Heart of Asia by Frances Wood
Letters from the Silk Roads: Thinking at the Crossroads of Civilization by Eiji Hattori
Islamic History: A Very Short Introduction by Adam J. Silverstein
Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness: Arab Travellers in the Far North by Ahmad ibn Fadlān
Tearing up the Silk Road: From China to Istanbul, through Central Asia, Iran and the Caucasus by Tom Coote
The Lost Heart Of Asia by Colin Thubron
Chasing the Sea: Lost Among the Ghosts of Empire in Central Asia by Tom Bissell
Samarkand by Amin Maalouf, Russell Harris (Translator)
The Travels of Ibn Battutah by Ibn Battuta, Tim Mackintosh-Smith (Editor)
The Adventures of Ibn Battuta: A Muslim Traveler of the Fourteenth Century by Ross E. Dunn, Ibn Battuta
An Armchair Traveller's History of Istanbul: City of Forgetting and Remembering by Richard Tillinghast
Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City by Hilary Sumner-Boyd, John Freely
Constantinople by Edmondo de Amicis
Istanbul: Memories and the City by Orhan Pamuk
The Silk Road in World History by Xinru Liu
A Traveller's Companion to Central Asia by Kathleen Hopkirk
The Road To Oxiana by Robert Byron
The Baburnama: Memoirs of Babur, Prince and Emperor byZahirud-din Muhammad Babur, Wheeler M. Thackston (Translator)
Out of Steppe: The Lost Peoples of Central Asia by Daniel Metcalfe
In Search of Kazakhstan: The Land that Disappeared by Christopher Robbins
Muraviev's Journey to Khiva Through the Turcoman Country, 1819-20 (1871) by Nikolaĭ N. Murav'ev
A Journey to the Source of the River Oxus: With an essay on the geography of the valley of the Oxus by
John Wood, Alexander Wood
The Spy Who Disappeared: Diary of a Secret Mission to Russian Central Asia in 1918 by Reginald Teague-Jones, Peter Hopkirk (Introduction)
Travels with a Tangerine by Tim Mackintosh-Smith
First Russia, Then Tibet: Travels through a Changing World by Robert Byron
Mission To Tashkent by F.M. Bailey, Peter Hopkirk
Silk Road to Ruin: Is Central Asia the New Middle East? by Ted Rall
Empires of the Indus: The Story of a River by Alice Albinia
Buddhist Gandhara: History, Art and Architecture by Ihsan H. Nadiem
Caravans, James A. Michener
A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush, Eric Newby
The Byzantine Achievement: An Historical Perspective, C.E. 330-1453, Robert Byron
The Golden Oriole, Raleigh Trevelyan
A Ride to Khiva, Frederick Burnaby,
In Xanadu: A Quest, William Dalrymple
The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia, Peter Hopkirk
Foreign Devils on the Silk Road: The Search for the Lost Treasures of Central Asia , Peter Hopkirk
Younghusband: The Last Great Imperial Adventurer, Patrick French
Alexander the Great, Robin Lane Fox
On Secret Service East of Constantinople: The Plot to Bring Down the British Empire, Peter Hopkirk
In The Footsteps Of Alexander The Great, Michael Wood
Human Records on Karakorum Highway, Ahmad Hasan Dani
Gandhara Geography, Antiquity, Art & Personalities Illustrious Heritage of Pakistan, Dr. Muhammad Ashraf Khan, Abdul Ghafoor Lone
The Buddhist Art Of Gandhara: The Story Of The Early School; Its Birth, Growth And Decline, John Marshall
Setting the East Ablaze: Lenin's Dream of an Empire in Asia, Peter Hopkirk
The Silk Road: Beyond the Celestial Kingdom, Colin Thubron, Carlos Navajas
My Life as an Explorer: The Great Adventurers Classic Memoir, Sven Hedin,
Danziger’s Travels, Nick Danziger
Life along the Silk Road, Susan Whitfield
The Diplomat of Kashgar: A Very Special Agent: THE LIFE OF SIR GEORGE MACARTNEY, 18 JANUARY 1867-19 MAY 1945, James McCarthy,
An English Lady In Chinese Turkestan, Catherine Macartney
Aurel Stein: Pioneer of the Silk Road, Annabel Walker
Behind the Wall: A Journey Through China by Colin Thubron
Shadow of the Silk Road by Colin Thubron
The Silk Road Journey with Xuanzang by Sally Hovey Wriggins
Ultimate Journey: Retracing the Path of an Ancient Buddhist Monk Who Crossed Asia in Search of Enlightenment by Richard Bernstein
The Silk Road: Taking the Bus to Pakistan by Bill Porter
The Silk Road - China and the Karakorum Highway: A Travel Companion by Jonathan Tucker
One's Company: A Journey to China in 1933 by Peter Fleming
News From Tartary by Peter Fleming
Forbidden Journey by Ella Maillart
Journeys on the Silk Road: A Desert Explorer, Buddha's Secret Library, and the Unearthing of the World's Oldest Printed Book by Joyce Morgan,
Tun-Huang by Yasushi Inoue,
On Ancient Central Asian Tracks by Aurel Stein
Across the Gobi Desert by Sven Hedin
The Heart Of A Continent: A Narrative Of Travels In Manchuria, Across The Gobi Desert, Through The Himalayas, The Pamirs, And Chitral, 1884 1894 by Francis Younghusband
Macartney At Kashgar: New Light On British, Chinese, And Russian Activities In Sinkiang, 1890-1918 by Clarmont Percival Skrine
Through Asia by Sven Hedin
The Silk Road: Retracing the Ancient Trade Route by Judy Bonavia
Silk Road Dunhuang: Dunhuang Experience with Silk Road Tour by Wang Jin
A New Ride to Khiva by Robert L. Jefferson
A Person from England & Other Travellers to Turkestan by Fitzroy Maclean
Night Train to Turkistan: Modern Adventures Along China's Ancient Silk Road by Stuart Stevens
Turkestan Solo: A Journey Through Central Asia by Ella Maillart
Through Deserts and Oases of Central Asia by Ella Constance Sykes, Percy Molesworth Sykes
The Antique Land by Diana Shipton
A Forgotten Journey by Peter Fleming
A Season in Heaven: True Tales from the Road to Kathmandu by David Tomory
Magic Bus: On the Hippie Trail from Istanbul to India by Rory MacLean
The Oriental Adventure: Explorers Of The East by Tim Severin
In Search of Genghis Khan by Tim Severin
The Mongols by David Morgan
On the Trail of Genghis Khan: An Epic Journey Through the Land of the Nomads by Tim Cope
Hearing Birds Fly by Louisa Waugh
The Mongols: A Very Short Introduction by Morris Rossabi
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford
Mongolia: Travels in an Untamed Land by Jasper Becker
Sky Shamans of Mongolia: Meetings with Remarkable Healers by Kevin Turner
Mongol Empire: The Conquests of Genghis Khan and the Making of Modern China by John Man
Genghis Khan and the Quest for God: How the World's Greatest Conqueror Gave Us Religious Freedom by Jack Weatherford
The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire by Jack Weatherford
Does It Yurt? Travels in Central Asia or How I Came to Love the Stans by Stephen M. Bland
Lost Horizon by James Hilton
The Horse Boy: A Father's Quest to Heal His Son by Rupert Isaacson
The Travels of Marco Polo by Marco Polo, William Marsden (Translator) , Thomas Wright (Translator) , Peter Harris (Updated Translation) ,
Marco Polo: From Venice to Xanadu by Laurence Bergreen
The Marco Polo Expedition: Journey Along the Silk Road by Richard B. Fisher
Silk Riders: Jo and Gareth Morgan's Incredible Journey on the Trail of Marco Polo by Gareth Morgan
Tracking Marco Polo by Tim Severin
An Adventure On The Old Silk Road: From Venice To The Yellow Sea by John Pilkington
On the Trail of Marco Polo: Along the Silk Road by Bicycle by Brady Fotheringham
Where Three Empires Meet: A narrative of recent travel in Kashmir, western Tibet, Gilgit, and the adjoining countries by Edward Frederick Knight
The Long Old Road In China by Langdon Warner
Hunted Through Central Asia: On the Run from Lenin's Secret Police by Paul Nazaroff
Moved on! From Kashgar to Kashmir (1935) by Paul Nazaroff
Buried Treasures of Chinese Turkestan by Albert von Le Coq
Southern Silk Road: In the Footsteps of Sir Aurel Stein and Sven Hedin by Christoph Baumer
Wild West China: The Taming of Xinjiang by Christian Tyler
The Gobi Desert - The Adventures of Three Women Travelling Across the Gobi Desert in the 1920s by Mildred Cable & Francesca French
The Silk Road, Judy Bonavia
Across China’s Gobi, Linda K. Benson
The Gilgit Game, John Keay
Journey to Turkistan, Eric Teichman
Ballads and Stories from Tun-huang, Arthur Waley
The Road to Miran, Christa Paula
Peaks and Plains of Central Asia, Colonel R. C. F. Schomberg
Life Along the Silk Road, Susan Whitfield
Silk Dreams, Troubled Road, Jonny Bealby
Extremes Along the Silk Road, Nick Middleton
Karakorum, Sian Pritchard-Jones & Bob Gibbons
Xinjiang; China’s Central Asia, Jeremy Tredennick
The Silk Road (Insight Guides)
Asia Overland, Bijan Omrani
The Holy One, G. Mend-Ooyo
Khyber, Charles Miller

 

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