|
|
|
Horses, Silver, and Cowries: Yunnan in Global Perspective*
Bin Yang
Northeastern University
| Present-day Yunnan is a province in Southwest China. Historically, Yunnan maintained close relationships with Southeast Asia, India, and Tibet, as archaeological findings and other studies have confirmed.1 As an interaction zone among several civilizations, Yunnan was influenced by and had an impact on other cultures. Scholars of China have named a trade route connecting the above regions the "Southwest Silk Road."2 This international trade route geographically centered on Yunnan and Upper Burma. Yunnan's importance, however, was based on far more than simply its location. Like Upper Burma, Yunnan is rich in precious metals such as gold and silver as well as other minerals such as tin, lead, and copper, and other local resources. In addition, Yunnan's connections with the overland Silk Road and the maritime Silk Road greatly enhanced Yunnan's role in transregional interactions. |
1
|
|
This paper aims to demonstrate the global significance of Yunnan and to redraw the map of early Eurasian communication. While utilizing Chinese scholarship, I supplement Chinese scholars with non-Chinese sources to construct a more comprehensive picture of the Southwest Silk Road that in turn will add a new dimension to the Sino-foreign exchange and Eurasian communication. First, I will present a concise description of the road. Then, focusing on commercial items such as horses, silver, and cowries, I attempt to demonstrate the global importance of Yunnan by illustrating how Yunnan had shaped neighboring societies. Finally, the use of a world-system perspective will contribute to the ongoing world-system debates and add a new dimension to our understanding of Eurasian communications. |
2
|
| |
|
Yunnan and Its Trans-Regional Trade: A Critique | |
| Since the early twentieth century, scholarly investigations of the overland Silk Road and the maritime Silk Road have constructed a fundamental basis of the communication within the Eurasian supercontinent. While contributing a great deal to the understanding of ancient East-West exchange, studies of the above two silk routes have more or less overshadowed the third route, the so-called Southwest Silk Road from Southwest China via Burma to India.3 |
3
|
|
The earliest textual source of the Silk Road is Zhang Qian's exploration in the Western Regions (xiyu) in the late second century BCE, recorded by Sima Qian in his Shi Ji. Nevertheless, Zhang Qian's report indeed leads to another Silk Road: a road connecting Southwest China with India, where he found Sichuan cloth (Shubu) and bamboo cane (Qiongzhu) in Daxia (Bactria). Emperor Wu of Han (140–87 BCE) then dispatched his envoys and troops to pacify local polities around Yunnan, with the expectation that he could open this road for his sake. His efforts, unfortunately, failed. |
4
|
|
Because of Emperor Wu's attempts, scholars in China for long time have paid a great deal of attention to this road. Many fragmentary and obscure records in Chinese historical writings prior to the Tang dynasty (618–907 CE) referred to the exchange between China and India through jungles, forests, rivers, and mountains from Sichuan, Yunnan, Burma, and Assam to India. We have no firsthand accounts of anyone completing this journey from early periods. Chinese documents after the Tang have detailed records, but they could offer little help for purposes of drawing a map of regions far away from the Chinese empire. |
. . . |
There are about 16468 more words in this article.
Please log in (or, if you are not yet an
authorized user, please go to the
User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
|
