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By Richard C. Foltz

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John Major

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by John Major

Good ideas and innovation travel easily-and far. Historically, these ideas spread along trade routes. This essay looks at the great Eurasian Silk Roads as a transmitter of people, goods, ideas, beliefs and inventions.

Good ideas travel easilyand far along trade routes, and the Silk Road was no exception to that rule. A famous example of a Chinese invention that helped to transform the world is paper. Paper was invented during the Han dynasty, probably just at the time the Silk Road trade was beginning to flourish. (Many accounts ascribe the invention of paper to a Latter Han official at the beginning of the 2nd century CE, but actual paper at least two centuries older than that has been archaeologically excavated from Han tombs.) Far superior to the narrow wooden strips or hard-to-handle rolls of silk that the Chinese had previously used for writing, paper soon became the writing material of choice throughout China and East Asia. It was found also in the Buddhist temples of China's northwest, but seemed not to make inroads beyond that for a long time, perhaps in part because the Chinese tried to protect the secret of its manufacture, and perhaps in part also because other writing materials, such as parchment and papyrus, were well established in the west.

But under the Mongols in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, a group of Chinese workmen set up a papermaking establishment in Samarkand. Their product quickly spread by trade and imitation, and paper soon supplanted other writing materials in most of western Eurasia.

In China, the invention of paper stimulated the invention of printing, sometime during the 6th century CE-a development energetically supported by Buddhism, according to which the duplication of sacred texts was an act of religious merit. The re-invention of printing in Europe centuries later did not employ East Asian-style printing technology, but it may have been stimulated by accounts of Chinese printing that could have circulated in the Middle East.

Another invention that spread entirely across Eurasia was the noria, or irrigation waterwheel. This simple, ingenious device, invented in Roman Syria, consists of a vertical waterwheel to the rim of which are attached a series of pots or tubes. As the current of a river rotates the wheel, the pots fill with water at the bottom of the cycle and empty into a chute at the top; a large noria can lift water as much as forty feet with no input of human or animal energy. This inspired invention was obviously a good idea, and rapidly spread along the Silk Road and its tributaries. There is a famous example in Toledo, Spain, others along the upper reaches of the Yellow River in China, and many more in between.

Foodstuffs also count in this category of the travel of ideas and techniques Apples spread, in prehistoric times via the steppe belt, in both directions from the region of modern-day Kazakhstan; oranges went (via the maritime route) from China to the Mediterranean world; grapes went from the western reaches of the Silk Road to China.

These examples and dozens more that could be mentioned make the point clear: ideas, inventions, devices and techniques spread readily and far along the Silk Road, and the traffic was very much a two way, or perhaps one should say a multi-way, street. In the process the Silk Road enriched not just the merchants who carried and exchanged goods, but the people of countries and cultures all across Eurasia.

It is perhaps worth noting, however, that long-distance trade can have unexpectedly bad side effects as well as direct beneficial effects. For example, the Black Death plague that devastated Europe in the 14th century is believed to have come via the Silk Road from Central Asia, where plague is endemic among local rodents. One theory holds that a load of marmot pelts (destined to be used on fur-trimmed garments), contaminated with plague-bearing flea eggs, was brought from somewhere in Central Asia to a Middle Eastern port. There the eggs hatched into fleas that infested some local rats; some of the rats eventually went on shipboard and were carried to port cities in Italy. There the plague spread, via fleas, to other rats, and then to people; and a disaster was in the making.

Additional Background Reading on Asia

Why were there so many Chinese fans in the bleachers at this year's FIFA World Cup, when the Chinese team wasn't even on the field? Student Jerry Tian gives us his perspective.

by John Major
Good ideas and innovation travel easily-and far. Historically, these ideas spread along trade routes. This essay looks at the great Eurasian Silk Roads as a transmitter of people, goods, ideas, beliefs and inventions.

Good ideas travel easilyand far along trade routes, and the Silk Road was no exception to that rule. A famous example of a Chinese invention that helped to transform the world is paper. Paper was invented during the Han dynasty, probably just at the time the Silk Road trade was beginning to flourish. (Many accounts ascribe the invention of paper to a Latter Han official at the beginning of the 2nd century CE, but actual paper at least two centuries older than that has been archaeologically excavated from Han tombs.) Far superior to the narrow wooden strips or hard-to-handle rolls of silk that the Chinese had previously used for writing, paper soon became the writing material of choice throughout China and East Asia. It was found also in the Buddhist temples of China's northwest, but seemed not to make inroads beyond that for a long time, perhaps in part because the Chinese tried to protect the secret of its manufacture, and perhaps in part also because other writing materials, such as parchment and papyrus, were well established in the west.

But under the Mongols in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, a group of Chinese workmen set up a papermaking establishment in Samarkand. Their product quickly spread by trade and imitation, and paper soon supplanted other writing materials in most of western Eurasia.

In China, the invention of paper stimulated the invention of printing, sometime during the 6th century CE-a development energetically supported by Buddhism, according to which the duplication of sacred texts was an act of religious merit. The re-invention of printing in Europe centuries later did not employ East Asian-style printing technology, but it may have been stimulated by accounts of Chinese printing that could have circulated in the Middle East.

Another invention that spread entirely across Eurasia was the noria, or irrigation waterwheel. This simple, ingenious device, invented in Roman Syria, consists of a vertical waterwheel to the rim of which are attached a series of pots or tubes. As the current of a river rotates the wheel, the pots fill with water at the bottom of the cycle and empty into a chute at the top; a large noria can lift water as much as forty feet with no input of human or animal energy. This inspired invention was obviously a good idea, and rapidly spread along the Silk Road and its tributaries. There is a famous example in Toledo, Spain, others along the upper reaches of the Yellow River in China, and many more in between.

Foodstuffs also count in this category of the travel of ideas and techniques Apples spread, in prehistoric times via the steppe belt, in both directions from the region of modern-day Kazakhstan; oranges went (via the maritime route) from China to the Mediterranean world; grapes went from the western reaches of the Silk Road to China.

These examples and dozens more that could be mentioned make the point clear: ideas, inventions, devices and techniques spread readily and far along the Silk Road, and the traffic was very much a two way, or perhaps one should say a multi-way, street. In the process the Silk Road enriched not just the merchants who carried and exchanged goods, but the people of countries and cultures all across Eurasia.

It is perhaps worth noting, however, that long-distance trade can have unexpectedly bad side effects as well as direct beneficial effects. For example, the Black Death plague that devastated Europe in the 14th century is believed to have come via the Silk Road from Central Asia, where plague is endemic among local rodents. One theory holds that a load of marmot pelts (destined to be used on fur-trimmed garments), contaminated with plague-bearing flea eggs, was brought from somewhere in Central Asia to a Middle Eastern port. There the eggs hatched into fleas that infested some local rats; some of the rats eventually went on shipboard and were carried to port cities in Italy. There the plague spread, via fleas, to other rats, and then to people; and a disaster was in the making.

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by John Major Good ideas and innovation travel easily-and far. Historically, these ideas spread along trade routes. This essay looks at the great Eurasian Silk Roads as a transmitter of people, goods, ideas, beliefs and inventions. Good ideas travel easilyand far along trade routes, and the Silk Road was no exception to that rule.

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An Interview with author Richard C. Foltz.

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Language (Connections)
Main language used was from Iran and is still spoken today in Tajikistan while the main Iranian language spoken today became Persian. Qur'an language condemned "idol-worshippers" like the Buddhists. Which fuelled competition.
Religions Spread (History)
Much of Silk Road economy was handled by Buddhist traders, in direct competition with Muslim traders beginning in the 7th Century. Muslim merchants operated under protection from Muslim rules, which allowed them to preach in rural areas with little knowledge of religious belief. Non-Chinese Traditions such as Buddhism were altered to meet Chinese needs when trading. There was a lot of compromise over religious customs to communicate over different civilisations.

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The Geographical Setting of the Silk Roads

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The Geographical Setting of the Silk Roads

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by John Major

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The geo-political settings of one of the greatest trade and exchange conduits in human history.

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good ideas travel easily and far

the invention of the waterwheel was invented in Rome which rapidly spread along the silk roads

development of paper and printing would be invented in the east and spread to the west

inventions were stimulated in Asia and recreated in Europe

such as printing was created in China and spread to Europe where it was re-created and widely spread

One of the first irrigation technologies that didn't require either animal nor human effort after being made

Travel ideas and techniques spread

goods traveled in both directions: grapes from Europe to Asia and oranges from Asia to the Mediterranean

the silk road enriched not just the merchants who carried and exchanged goods but the people of countries and cultures spread along Eurasia

Side effects such as the black death plague that devastated Europe are the effect of such rapid long-distance movement of people, goods, ideas, and inventions

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Silk roads=transmitter of people, ideas, goods, beliefs and inventions

There were side effects as well as beneficial effects that rapid, long distance travel carries

The silk roads were multiway streets

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denotes a network of trails and trading posts

connects east asia to the mediterranean

branch routes led to different destinations

there were always competing or alternative routes by land and sea

the geographical context of the silk road must be thought of in the broadest of terms

The Concept of Asia

asia is thought of as the major part of the larger physical territory of eurasia

also though of as a collection of smaller entities

regions interacted through trade, religion, and other factors

wide range of cultural differences and geographical boundaries have separated them

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"The Silk Road network is generally thought of as stretching from an eastern terminus at the ancient Chinese capital city of Chang’an (now Xi’an) to westward end-points at Byzantium (Constantinople), Antioch, Damascus, and other Middle Eastern cities. Trade along the Silk Road waxed or waned according to conditions in China, Byzantium, Persia, and other regions and countries along the way. There were always competing or alternative routes, by land and sea, to absorb long distance Eurasian trade when conditions along the Silk Road were unfavourable"

"Once Eurasia is seen as a whole, erasing the ancient but artificial and geographically meaningless division of the land mass into “Europe” and “Asia,” it becomes possible to visualize the important geographical and cultural regions into which the continent is subdivided, and the trade routes that linked them together, sometimes over very extensive distances and across formidable physical barriers."

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by John Major

Good ideas and innovation travel easily-and far. Historically, these ideas spread along trade routes. This essay looks at the great Eurasian Silk Roads as a transmitter of people, goods, ideas, beliefs and inventions.

Good ideas travel easilyand far along trade routes, and the Silk Road was no exception to that rule. A famous example of a Chinese invention that helped to transform the world is paper. Paper was invented during the Han dynasty, probably just at the time the Silk Road trade was beginning to flourish. (Many accounts ascribe the invention of paper to a Latter Han official at the beginning of the 2nd century CE, but actual paper at least two centuries older than that has been archaeologically excavated from Han tombs.) Far superior to the narrow wooden strips or hard-to-handle rolls of silk that the Chinese had previously used for writing, paper soon became the writing material of choice throughout China and East Asia. It was found also in the Buddhist temples of China's northwest, but seemed not to make inroads beyond that for a long time, perhaps in part because the Chinese tried to protect the secret of its manufacture, and perhaps in part also because other writing materials, such as parchment and papyrus, were well established in the west.

But under the Mongols in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, a group of Chinese workmen set up a papermaking establishment in Samarkand. Their product quickly spread by trade and imitation, and paper soon supplanted other writing materials in most of western Eurasia.

In China, the invention of paper stimulated the invention of printing, sometime during the 6th century CE-a development energetically supported by Buddhism, according to which the duplication of sacred texts was an act of religious merit. The re-invention of printing in Europe centuries later did not employ East Asian-style printing technology, but it may have been stimulated by accounts of Chinese printing that could have circulated in the Middle East.

Another invention that spread entirely across Eurasia was the noria, or irrigation waterwheel. This simple, ingenious device, invented in Roman Syria, consists of a vertical waterwheel to the rim of which are attached a series of pots or tubes. As the current of a river rotates the wheel, the pots fill with water at the bottom of the cycle and empty into a chute at the top; a large noria can lift water as much as forty feet with no input of human or animal energy. This inspired invention was obviously a good idea, and rapidly spread along the Silk Road and its tributaries. There is a famous example in Toledo, Spain, others along the upper reaches of the Yellow River in China, and many more in between.

Foodstuffs also count in this category of the travel of ideas and techniques Apples spread, in prehistoric times via the steppe belt, in both directions from the region of modern-day Kazakhstan; oranges went (via the maritime route) from China to the Mediterranean world; grapes went from the western reaches of the Silk Road to China.

These examples and dozens more that could be mentioned make the point clear: ideas, inventions, devices and techniques spread readily and far along the Silk Road, and the traffic was very much a two way, or perhaps one should say a multi-way, street. In the process the Silk Road enriched not just the merchants who carried and exchanged goods, but the people of countries and cultures all across Eurasia.

It is perhaps worth noting, however, that long-distance trade can have unexpectedly bad side effects as well as direct beneficial effects. For example, the Black Death plague that devastated Europe in the 14th century is believed to have come via the Silk Road from Central Asia, where plague is endemic among local rodents. One theory holds that a load of marmot pelts (destined to be used on fur-trimmed garments), contaminated with plague-bearing flea eggs, was brought from somewhere in Central Asia to a Middle Eastern port. There the eggs hatched into fleas that infested some local rats; some of the rats eventually went on shipboard and were carried to port cities in Italy. There the plague spread, via fleas, to other rats, and then to people; and a disaster was in the making.

Additional Background Reading on Asia

Why were there so many Chinese fans in the bleachers at this year's FIFA World Cup, when the Chinese team wasn't even on the field? Student Jerry Tian gives us his perspective.

by John Major
Good ideas and innovation travel easily-and far. Historically, these ideas spread along trade routes. This essay looks at the great Eurasian Silk Roads as a transmitter of people, goods, ideas, beliefs and inventions.

Good ideas travel easilyand far along trade routes, and the Silk Road was no exception to that rule. A famous example of a Chinese invention that helped to transform the world is paper. Paper was invented during the Han dynasty, probably just at the time the Silk Road trade was beginning to flourish. (Many accounts ascribe the invention of paper to a Latter Han official at the beginning of the 2nd century CE, but actual paper at least two centuries older than that has been archaeologically excavated from Han tombs.) Far superior to the narrow wooden strips or hard-to-handle rolls of silk that the Chinese had previously used for writing, paper soon became the writing material of choice throughout China and East Asia. It was found also in the Buddhist temples of China's northwest, but seemed not to make inroads beyond that for a long time, perhaps in part because the Chinese tried to protect the secret of its manufacture, and perhaps in part also because other writing materials, such as parchment and papyrus, were well established in the west.

But under the Mongols in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, a group of Chinese workmen set up a papermaking establishment in Samarkand. Their product quickly spread by trade and imitation, and paper soon supplanted other writing materials in most of western Eurasia.

In China, the invention of paper stimulated the invention of printing, sometime during the 6th century CE-a development energetically supported by Buddhism, according to which the duplication of sacred texts was an act of religious merit. The re-invention of printing in Europe centuries later did not employ East Asian-style printing technology, but it may have been stimulated by accounts of Chinese printing that could have circulated in the Middle East.

Another invention that spread entirely across Eurasia was the noria, or irrigation waterwheel. This simple, ingenious device, invented in Roman Syria, consists of a vertical waterwheel to the rim of which are attached a series of pots or tubes. As the current of a river rotates the wheel, the pots fill with water at the bottom of the cycle and empty into a chute at the top; a large noria can lift water as much as forty feet with no input of human or animal energy. This inspired invention was obviously a good idea, and rapidly spread along the Silk Road and its tributaries. There is a famous example in Toledo, Spain, others along the upper reaches of the Yellow River in China, and many more in between.

Foodstuffs also count in this category of the travel of ideas and techniques Apples spread, in prehistoric times via the steppe belt, in both directions from the region of modern-day Kazakhstan; oranges went (via the maritime route) from China to the Mediterranean world; grapes went from the western reaches of the Silk Road to China.

These examples and dozens more that could be mentioned make the point clear: ideas, inventions, devices and techniques spread readily and far along the Silk Road, and the traffic was very much a two way, or perhaps one should say a multi-way, street. In the process the Silk Road enriched not just the merchants who carried and exchanged goods, but the people of countries and cultures all across Eurasia.

It is perhaps worth noting, however, that long-distance trade can have unexpectedly bad side effects as well as direct beneficial effects. For example, the Black Death plague that devastated Europe in the 14th century is believed to have come via the Silk Road from Central Asia, where plague is endemic among local rodents. One theory holds that a load of marmot pelts (destined to be used on fur-trimmed garments), contaminated with plague-bearing flea eggs, was brought from somewhere in Central Asia to a Middle Eastern port. There the eggs hatched into fleas that infested some local rats; some of the rats eventually went on shipboard and were carried to port cities in Italy. There the plague spread, via fleas, to other rats, and then to people; and a disaster was in the making.

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by John Major Good ideas and innovation travel easily-and far. Historically, these ideas spread along trade routes. This essay looks at the great Eurasian Silk Roads as a transmitter of people, goods, ideas, beliefs and inventions. Good ideas travel easilyand far along trade routes, and the Silk Road was no exception to that rule.

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Paper was a famous product invented by the Chinese that was a popular trading product during the time of the Silk Road. Even Under the Mongols in teh 13th Century, Chinese workmen had a paper making company in Samarkand. This allowed it to spread and be imitated as paper soon began appearing all over western Eurasia. Even grapes, apples and oranges were traded and spread all across the silk road from modern-day Kazakhstan to China to finally the Mediterranean world. While trade was plentiful thanks to the silk road, disease was unfortunately spread at the same rate which resulted in hundreds of deaths across the route. For example, the Black Death plague that killed thousands in Europe is believed to have come from Central Asia where it was prominent in rodents.

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I don't think that it should be called the "Silk Road" because no where in the articles does it mention silk as the main product of trade across the entire "road". It explains that the exchange of culture, religion, language was far more common than the trade of actual silk, and the movement of new fruits and vegetables were also prominent integration between the different civilizations.

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"Silk Road" is not an appropriate name for this trading route as silk was not the main focus of the Silk Roads. The movement of goods, people, ideas, religion and technology was the general focus of the Silk Road. The Silk Road is a relatively recent term and for the majority of their long history, these ancient roads had no particular name. In the mid-nineteenth century, the German geologist, Baron Ferdinand von Richthofen, name the trade and communication network Die Seidenstrasse (the Silk Road). Silk is a textile of ancient Chinese origin, woven from fibre produced by a silk worm. Chinese silk has been found in Egypt, northern Mongolia, and elsewhere. Silk was soon introduced to the Roman Empire, where it was considered an exotic luxury. This luxury item was one of the earliest impetuses in the development of trading routes from Europe to the Far East. Silk was a contributing factor or could have been the basis for the creation of the "Silk Road". As silk played an incredibly important part in establishing these trading routes, the "Silk Road" is an incredibly practical name for these routes.

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We should not call it the silk roads because the focus of these roads is not on silk but the movement of goods, people, ideas, religion, technology, inventions, ect. The silk roads were much more than roads to transport silk. They were the first and largest conjoining of continents at the time and were a large step towards globalization in these continents. These roads were the first compilation of collective learning over such a broad distance and spiked economic stability among these areas. As the movement of art, culture and religion was shared through these long-distance exchanges.

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Silk Road Handicraft ,Silk Road Culture , Silk Road Cultural Exchanges

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Home China Tours Private Transfers Yangtze Cruises Travel Guide Travel Deals Flights China Trains China Culture

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A rich diversity of handicrafts were exchanges on the silk road

Lifestyle of the Han people was influenced by these imports via the Silk Road.

The Chinese’ interest in foreign commodities is manifested in the list of collectables of the Late Ming & Early Qing Dynasties period.

The Chinese civilization used to lead the world for a fairly long period in history, with influential contributions in the areas of science and technology to other cultures on the Silk Road.

China boasts a Cuisine Culture that is paralleled perhaps by no other country than France.

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China’s major exports included silk, porcelain, lacquer ware, ironware, gold & silver ware, and other luxuries.

In return, the Silk Road transmitted back to China a wider range of handicrafts. Items of any aspect of everyday use were traded, some becoming integrated in the lives of the Chinese. Emperor Lingdi of Han Dynasty was addicted to clothes, tent, bed, stools, konghou , flute, dancing etc. from the ethnic minority peoples in the north and west, and the whole aristocracy and all men of standing in the capital followed suit.

Among the most important contributions were ancient China’s greatest inventions: compass, dynamite, paper-making & printing techniques, water well drilling, cast iron technologies, alchemy, sericulture, Chinese medicine (in particular, acupuncture), etc.

China’s contribution to world’s food culture is tea. The Dutch East India Company made tea available to the Europeans in 1610, and the food culture of almost all Western countries were influenced by it. Nowadays, Europe is the most important market for tea.

Spice was another import that came to China via the Silk Road. In China, it has been widely used in various fields as medicines, cosmetics, scent, etc.