An interesting approach to the topic; different point of view. Well organized into chapters focusing on specific key locations or sections of the trading routes, examining archaeological evidence. Also an interesting chapter devoted to the Sogdians, who seem to really be the only people who actually moved along the whole eastern end of the route, from Khorasan to China, and even further afield. Some very interesting suggestions regarding the nature of this trading route:
- mostly short, local trading
- silk moved along it chiefly as a way of paying the Chinese troops stationed on the route as far as wester Xinjiang
- troop payments and supplies were the chief driving engine of the route.
Well-written, generally a happy medium between scholarly and popular. Good reference text.
To find:
The Silk Road, Sven Hedin 1936
Life of Hiuen-Tsiang, trans. Samuel Beal
A Biography of the Tripitaka Master, trans. Li Rongxi
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