The Luscious Silk Roads

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After watching the video the Silk Road: Where East Met West and reading Chapter 16 The Awakening by Patrick S. Bresnan introduced the importance and the background of the famous Silk Road. "From Alexander the Great to Genghis Khan, emperors and princes fought to control the Silk Road" because it was worth fighting for due to the many miles of money to be made (Silk,1:38-1:43).
Image result for silk road map"
Silk Road Map
In the video, I learned that "Xi'an has always been seen as the beginning of the Silk Road"(Silk,7:45-7:47). People of the region traded, bought goods, exchanged ideas and techniques with other traveling merchant. Many of them became an influence vital source to "Western Europe such as paper, gunpowder and musical instruments"(Silk, 2:01-2:03). It was interesting that Zhang Qian would lay a foundation of the Silk Road when he traveled to find the unique and dominate "heavenly horses" that were far superior to the ones in China(Silk,19:11-19:13).

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Zhang Qian's Statue
at Yangguan Pass

 One topic that was treated differently from the two sources was what was traded among the Silk Road. The video mentions trading/exchanging goods, ideas, and techniques whereas the book emphasizes the trade of ideas and religion. "Buddhist ideas, Buddhist books, even Buddhist monks entered the flow and moved with the Silk Road"(Bresnan 330). Basically, silk wasn't the only thing that was important that was traded on the Silk Road. From East to West, back and forth the continuous trading has long been the importance of the surrounding countries and empires.

Something new or surprising to me was the scene in the video about a nomad owning 100 horses. It was fascinating to see someone having a livestock of horses and one that was a heavenly horse. Sadly, the horses are "sold for horse meat and smoked in the winter"(Silk, 46:02-46:03). I would imagine from having a pony size horses than seeing a magnificent size horse would strive you to own one.

Work Cited:
Bresnan, Patrick. Awakening: An Introduction to the History of Eastern Thought. Upper Saddle  River,   N.J: Prentice-Hall, 1999. Print.
The Silk Road: Where East Met West

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