SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The Silk Road has been the subject of scientific interest ever since archaeologists, linguists and adventurers began to investigate its ancient and mediaeval monuments and documents in the late 19th century. In volume 63 of the Central Asiatic Journal – titled Sources from the Tangut Era: the Silk Road and Beyond during the Middle Ages, produced with Yu Xin and Kirill Solonin as guest editors – newly discovered archival fragments will be explored, alongside re-interpretations of commercial and religious texts. In this context, the focus is on Buddhist sutras: in Tibetan, Chinese, Uyghur and not least Tangut script. For the time period which this volume attempts to characterise, predominantly on the 9th to the 12th centuries, largely coincides with the Tangut (Xixia) empire. Contacts with Christian clerics and officials from China are also scrutinised, as well as aspects such as the physical consistence of the paper used for creating these historical sources. The energy arising out of the constant commercial and diplomatic encounters between different civilisations from all over Asia inspired cultural change, which in due course would influence the most monumental of all civilisations in Asia, namely China. This volume will appeal to all readers with an interest in the premodern 'Greater Central Asia', from India and Samarkand to Tang China.