Walls and Frontiers in Inner-Asian History: Proceedings from the Fourth Conference of the Australasian Society for Inner Asian Studies (A.S.I.A.S): Macquarie University November 18-19 2000 PDF
Preview Walls and Frontiers in Inner-Asian History: Proceedings from the Fourth Conference of the Australasian Society for Inner Asian Studies (A.S.I.A.S): Macquarie University November 18-19 2000
SILK ROAD STUDIES VI Edited by an international committee R.E. EMMERICK (Hamburg [D]) G. GNOU (Roma [1]) S. KuASHTORNYJ (Sankt Petersburg [CIS]) S.N.C. LIEU (Sydney [AUS]) B.A. LITVINSKY (Moskva [CIS)] R. MESERVE (Bloomington (IN) [USA]) G. PINAULT (Paris [F]) A. SARKÔZI (Budapest [H]) A. VAN TONGERLOO (Leuven [B] Editor-in-chief S. WHITFIELD (London [GB], Director of the Dunhuang Monograph Series P. ZIEME (Berlin [D] SILK ROAD STUDIES VI Walls and Frontiers in Inner-Asian History PROCEEDINGS FROM THE FOURTH CONFERENCE OF THE AUSTRALASIAN SOCIETY FOR lNNER ASIAN STUDIES (A.S.I.A.S.) Macquarie University November 18-19 2000 Edited by Craig Benjamin & Samuel N.C. Lieu BREPOLS ANCIENT HISTORY DOCUMENTARY RESEARCH CENTRE MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY NSW AUSTRALIA © 2002, Brepols Publishers n.v., Turnhout, Belgium. Ail rights reserved. No part ofthis publication may be reproduced stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. D/2002/0095/ 80 ISBN 2-503-51326-3 Printed in the E.U. on acid-free paper TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION i PART 1: CHINA RUSSIA AND CENTRAL ASIA §l SAMUEL LIEU 1 Nestorian Angels from Central Asia and Other Christian and Manichaen Remains at Zaitun (Quanzhou) on the South China Coast §2 COLIN MACKERRAS 19 Xinjiang at the Tum of the Century, and the Causes of Separatism §3 DAVID CHRISTIAN Tsarist Russia in the Context of World History 49 §4 FELIX PAT RIKEEF An Elaboration of Empire: Russia's Eastward Expansion 79 and the Imperia[ Military, 1584-1917 PART 2: POLITICS, CONFLICT AND THE PERCEPTION OF EMPIRE §5 CRAIG BENJAMIN The Origin of the Yuezhi 101 §6 JONATHANMARKLEY Gaozu Confronts the Shanyu: The Han Dynasty's First Clash 131 with the Xiongnu §7 GEOFF WATSON Images of Central Asia in the 'Central Asian Question' 141 c. 1826-1885 §8 KlRILL NOURZHANOV The Politics ofH istory in Tajikistan: Reinventing the 159 Samanids TABLE OF CONTENTS PART 3: CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS EXCHANGES ALONG THE SILK ROADS §9 ERICA C.D. HUNTER 183 Converting the Turkic Tribes § 10 FIONA KIDD 197 The Chronology and Style of a Group of Sogdian Statuettes §11 KEN PARRY 215 Japan and the Silk Road Legacy § 12 DEE COURT 225 Concealing and Revealing Women in Central Asia: A Case Study of the Paranja A PP END IX FOURTH A.S.l.A.S. CONFERENCE PROGRAM (2000) 239 W ALLS AND FRONTIERS IN INNER-ASIAN HISTORY IN1RODUCTION The twelve papers in this volume were first presented at the Fourth Conference of the 'Australasian Society for Inner Asian Studies' (ASIAS), held at Macquarie University in Sydney from 18-19 November 2000. Papers delivered at the Second ASIAS Conference (held from September 21-22, 1996) were published in David Christian and Craig Benjamin (eds), Worlds of the Silk Roads: Ancient and Modern Silk Roads Studies II (Brepols, Turnhout 1998). Papers presented at the Third ASIAS Conference (held from September 18-20, 1998) were subsequently published in David Christian and Craig Benjamin (eds), Realms of the Silk Roads: Ancient and Modern Silk Roads Studies IV (Brepols, Turnhout 2000). In all three volumes essays have been published with minimal editorial interference. This means, for example, that we have not insisted on uniformity in transliteration or spelling. As was the case in the previous volumes, this third collection highlights the range and depth of Australasian scholarship on Inner Asia. The ASIAS conferences attempt to deliberately exploit this variety by bringing together specialists from different fields of historical and cultural enquiry who share a common interest in the region. In the first of the three volumes David Christian offered a deliberately vague definition of Inner Asia as the 'heartland' of Eurasia, 'those lands that have linked the major agrarian civilisations of Eurasia, from China to India to the Mediterranean and Europe, since the late Neolithic period'. Such a definition suited a conference which somewhat uniquely presents research of very different kinds and areas, in the hope of generating an intellectual synergy similar to the cultural syncretism achieved in Inner Asia itself. More than almost any other area of historical enquiry, Inner Asian studies has much to gain from such a broad-perspective approach. The complex technical difficulties faced by primary researchers in the field are formidable, and ail too often linguistic, numismatic and archaeological specialists have been forced to work in increasingly narrow and isolated sub-specialist enclaves, with little contact between them. This reflects the wider experience of academic li Silk Roads Studies VI research generally, where intense, precise specialisation has undoubtedly led to an enormous increase in the amount of knowledge available, yet has correspondingly resulted in a fragmentation of that information that seems chaotic, unrelated and almost meaningless in the broader context of Eurasian history. Both founding ASIAS President David Christian, and Secretary Craig Benjamin, are World Historians and make no apologies for the fact that ASIAS Conferences, and the books that have resulted from them, deliberately attempt to highlight common experiences across cultures and regions, in the hope of presenting a more unified view of lnner Asian history. Even a casual glance at the papers in this volume will illustrate this essential unity and coherence. There are striking similarities between the politics and 'use' of historiography by both the Han Chinese and the government of Tajikistan in the year 2000 CE, for example. Similarly, the motivation for imperialist expansion exhibited by the pre-Common Era Chinese, Xiongnu and Yuezhi, which drove them all relentlessly into the heartland of Eurasia, is almost indistinguishable from that of the Russians of the seventeenth century or the Victorian British. The 'Silk Roads' network of trade and migration routes have a history stretching back at least five thousand years, and has functioned as a vehicle for the dissemination and transformation of profound artistic and religious ideas, as several of the papers in this volume amply testify. Other essays show how ruling dynasties have resorted to a variety of methods in their attempts to control potentially restive minority groups within their borders, including the physical concealment of women and the military repression of lslamic spirituality. We hope, therefore, that readers of the book will not just focus on those papers closest to their own interests, but will read more widely in order to enhance the opportunity these papers provide to identify patterns and experiences common to ail chronologies and subjects. To that end the papers have been arranged thematically rather than chronologically, grouped around several lose themes based on approach and subject. There is nothing particularly rigid or even illuminating about the themes, and some papers could just as easily have been placed in other parts of the book, but hopefully this arrangement will help readers identify common themes across large regions of time and space.
The list of books you might like
