Xinjiang The Silk Road

In this superb photographic study, film-maker Peter Yung presents a breath-taking view of one of the most exotic areas of China: Xinjiang province, the westernmost region of the country. It was here, over 2,000 years ago, that the Silk Road first linked China to the outside world. Once the main thoroughfare for the exchange of goods, culture and art between China, the Middle East and Europe, it was also along this route that the great religions of Buddhism and later Islam were to enter China. Even today, Xinjiang is still a stronghold of Islam. Yung has had the rare opportunity to travel extensively throughout Xinjiang and to penetrate some of its remotest landscape, dominated by vast expanses of desert and spectacular mountain ranges, but also the colorful lifestyles of its minorities' population. The province is home to over ten different tribes, as well as Han Chinese, and in a brief but fascinating text, he describes the rich history and customs of the Uygur people and the nomadic Kazak and Tajik.

The Silk Road and Cultural Exchanges Between East and West, originally written in Chinese by Rong Xinjiang and now translated into English, provides insights into previously unresolved issues concerning the interactions among the societies, economies, religions and cultures of the “Western Regions”, and beyond, during the first millennium.

One of the least known but culturally rich and complex regions located at the heart of Asia, Xinjiang was a hub for the Silk Roads, serving international links between cultures to the west, east, north and south. Trade, artefacts, foods, technologies, ideas, beliefs, animals and people traversed the glacier covered mountain and desert boundaries.

This book presents outstanding articles addressing various aspects related to the ancient Silk Road, in particular the cultural, political, and economic interactions that took place among the civilizations and cultures on the Eurasian continent. In addition, the articles help to reveal the hallmark features of cultural communication in Inner Asia in different historical periods. The book develops a new approach to studying the civilizations of the Silk Road, promotes interdisciplinary and multi-dimensional research, sets a new direction for Chinese ancient classics and western sinology, and presents the latest discoveries, including both archaeological finds and historical documents.