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Miszellen
Anthropos 86.1991
International Conference on the Silk Roads. -
At the close of the “Desert Route Expedition” launched
by UNESCO in the framework of its “Silk Roads Proj
ect” an international seminar on “Land Routes of the
Silk Roads and the Cultural Exchanges between East
and West before the 10th Century” was organized by
the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences from August
19th to 21st, 1990, in Urumqi (Xinjiang, China).
41 papers were presented: most of them in English,
some in Chinese; they can be divided into the follow
ing seven categories: (1) Geography, (2) Network of
routes, (3) Cultural exchange with West and South Asia,
(4) Impact on the East, (5) Archaeology and history
of Xinjiang, (6) Art and architecture, (7) Scripts and
languages.
Nevertheless, because of their rather general na
ture, three of the papers remained outside the frame
work. In his paper entitled “Continuity amidst Change:
Preserving Cultural Identity,” R. B. Stamps proposed a
model to “identify the cultural sub-systems or variables
that are potentially important in helping the group to
survive in changing times.” Two papers tried to link
the “Silk Roads” with an economically defined “World
System” which, according to S. Amin, originated as a
result of European expansion during the last five hun
dred years; A. G. Frank, on the other end, traces it back
around five thousand years emphasizing the “centrality
of Central Asia.”
(1) In the two papers related to the changing geo
graphical features of the Chinese section of the “Silk
Roads,” Zhang Qingsong stressed climatic and environ
mental factors while Li Jiancho put more emphasis on
the destructive effects of the “human activities which
make unreasonable distribution of the water resources.”
(2) Several papers dealing with different sections
and time horizons of the “Silk Roads” were presented.
After listening to the communications of Xu Pingfang,
Duojie Caidan, Lin Zhichun, Chu Shibin, A. A. Aska
rov, E. Lubo-Lesnitchenko, and V. Kryukov it became
obvious that the network of routes was infinitely more
complex than originally thought. Some of the papers
also clearly showed the existence of diverse routes long
before the time of Zhang Qian. The historical impact on
the areas covered and the changing course of the routes
were illustrated by archaeological evidence and written
sources.
(3) Different waves of cultural exchange between
Central Asia and its neighbours across the Himalayan
Range were mentioned by a number of scholars. Some
of them, such as A. H. Dani, P. G. Paul, and M. Singh
on the basis of iconological comparisons stressed the
eastward expansion of art motives. Kushan coins found
in Xinjiang and Pakistan and referred to by N. Odani in
dicated the existence of exchanges in the same direction.
C. Paula concentrated on the contacts with the Hellenis
tic West where she sees mutual exchange exemplified
by the garland motif. Reciprocity was also illustrated in
T. Homayoun’s paper on intercultural relations between
Iran and China.
(4) Due attention was also given to the exten
sions of the “Silk Roads” to the Northeast, East, and
Southeast. Relations were identified, mostly based on
archaeological data, with South Siberia (J. S. Houdja-
kov), Mongolia (J. Ganbold), Korea (Kwon Young-pil),
Japan (T. Higuchi), and Thailand (T. Srisuchat). Koh
Byong-ik illustrated the activities of Korean monks and
generals in Central Asia.
(5) The major importance of Xinjiang and its
neighbouring areas was underlined in six papers ranging
from protohistory to modem times. Two of them pre
sented by Wang Binghua and Chen Ge dealt mainly with
the results of the archaeological surveys and excavations
carried out during the last years. Two others by Chen
Dezhi and Qian Boquan concentrated on the historical
role of two Turkic speaking groups, the Qarluq and the
Uygur. The period after the Mongol invasion to the end
of the 18th century was covered by Kim Ho-dong and
I. A. Togan with special emphasis on the relationship
between nomads, merchants, and oasis people.
(6) Several papers dealt with art, art techniques,
and architecture. While An Jiayao and Han Wei concen
trated on glass beads and liuli vessels respectively, Wang
Xu introduced his “Preliminary Study of the Dyeing
with Cinnabar on Woven and Embroidered Articles
during the Han Dynasty.” Two art objects discovered
in Tibet were presented by Su Bai, and of these, a
group of carved stone models of the “Buddha Gaya
Temple” which was “passed on from ancient India to the
Ming court” before being sent to Tibet, was particularly
interesting. N. Diyarbekirli traced the shape of the turhe
(tomb) back to that of the tents commonly used by
Turkish nomads in Central Asia. J. Gies presented the
“ ‘Image’ of the Avatamsaka Sutra according to the
So-Called ‘Nine Assemblies in Seven Places’.”
(7) Religions were also touched on by Geng Shi-
min, such as Buddhism, Manichaeism, and Nestorian-
ism. He presented an overview of manuscripts written
in different scripts and languages which were found
during the last few years in Xinjiang. More detailed
papers on Sudani, Uygur, and Chinese texts were given
by Lin Meicun, S. Raschmann, Qian Wenzhong, and
T. O. Hollmann.
The papers will be published jointly by UNESCO
and the “Chinese Academy of Social Sciences” in En
glish and Chinese.
Thomas O. Hollmann and Kim Ho-dong
Erratum. - Dans l’impression du compte rendu de
l’ouvrage d’Anna-Maria Brandstetter, «Herrscher liber
tausend Hügel», une phrase a été mutilée (Anthropos
85.1990: 581, 2e par. / 7e ligne). Lire correctement:
«Néanmoins, l’interprétation sociologique gardant
ses droits, l’auteur se sert elle-même avec succès d’un
concept comparatif en jaugeant le développement de
l’Etat rwandais au XIXe siècle à l’aune de l’idéal-type
patrimonial de Max Weber.»
