Trade is a vital activity, and the Sogdians played a major role in the trans-Asian trade. The Sogdians were of Iranian heritage and occupied the region of Transoxiana. The Sogdians location enabled them to excel at trading and play an important role along the Silk Road. The Sogdians were important in terms of the transferring of ideas, goods, languages etc. which illustrates the effect trade can have on a peoples. For example the Sogdians learned a number of different languages in order to communicate with consumers along the Silk Road. This illustrates that trade forces people to learn about different cultures and improves communication. Another outcome of trade is migration. In an article by Luo Fen it states that the Sogdians eventually inhabited northwest China. Luo Feng uses Sogdian immigrant burial tombs to show the effect Chinese culture had on the Sogdians. There is still much debate on how much the Sogdians were assimilated into Chinese culture however some of their burial practices reflect a Chinese influence. For example the Sogdians adopted the practice of burying their dead in ground, and “the Chinese Sogdians also followed the Han custom of burying objects such a mingqi, and ceramic vessels that are similar to those in “Chinese” tombs.” (Luo Feng, 243) Therefore the Sogdians changed some of their customs, in this case burial customs, to Chinese customs because of where trade lead them.

The Sogdians were not the only major players along the Silk Road trade route. The Sasanians also participated in the trade along the Silk Road. In Sasanian society different professions are ranked and merchants are among the lower professions. This is interesting because I would assume being a merchant and participating in trade would be considered a worthy profession, because the merchants control goods and goods equal wealth, as well as goods were not in abundance and easy to obtain therefore you would assume a merchant would be more powerful and be a sought after profession.

Travel and Religion

After reading chapters one through four in Xuanzang: A Buddhist Pilgrim on the Silk Road, it can be concluded that travel is an important activity in terms of religion. These religious missions, that people like Xuanzang went on, had an impact on the religions they were trying to pursue. For example, as Xuanzang was traveling he encountered many kings with whom he formed relationships. Through these relationships, in this case a Buddhist monk and kings, the particular religion has a greater effect because it was supported by powerful rulers such as kings. Travel is extremely important and is a constant theme when speaking of religion. In chapter three, it states according to Xuanzang, two merchants, Trapusa and Bhallika brought Buddhism to Balkh. If not for these two merchants and their travels, who knows when Buddhism would have reached Balkh? Again, this reinforces the importance of travel in terms of religion. Buddhism is not the only religion to benefit from travel, Hinduism, Christianity, etc. have all benefited from travel, and the movement of people like Xuanzang. Travel adds and expands religions and all religions depend on it to spread that particular religion. Therefore using Xuanzang’s journey to India as an example, one can fully comprehend the importance of travel in terms of the spread of a religion and in terms of enhancing and learning more about a particular religion.

The Kushan Empire

Both articles examine art in the Kushan Empire and the influence from other cultures on the art. For example both articles mention a Hellenistic influence on Gandharan Buddhist art. Also both articles deal with the implications scholars today face when trying to retrieve information from Kushan art. In Czuma’s article it states that scholars today have trouble composing a chronological order of Kushan art during the era of Muthura and Gandhara sculpture schools because both schools flourished at the same time in different parts of the Empire. Similarly in Liu’s article it discusses that the artwork (more specifically the sculptures) does not reveal Kushan physical characteristics. When historians analyze art to learn facts about a culture it can be problematic. Art can be interpreted in many different ways and can mean different things to many different people. However art can also be very helpful to scholars as well. For example when a culture was mostly oral and hardly wrote anything down art become vital to scholars trying to decode an ancient culture.

The presence of Buddhism in the Kushan Empire was significant. Lui’s article states that there was a large amount of Buddhist art; this shows the popularity of the religion. This popularity also enhanced prestige of horses and horse riding. Horses are associated with Buddhism including many legends of early Buddhist missionaries. The popularity of horse riding also lead to changes in clothing, “women wearing hats with hanging veils along with attire that combined a tight-sleeved blouse with riding pants was a common scene on the streets of the capital at Chang’an” (Liu, 286). Therefore Buddhism influenced changes in Kushan culture. Buddhism however was not the only religion in the Kushan Empire. There were many religions present in the Kushan Empire which means that there was not one religion that all the people of the Kushan Empire believed in such as Catholicism at one point in Rome.

The Han

 The Western Regions under the Hsiung-Nu and the Han gives an overview of the conditions of the communities dispersed in the Western Regions, which is the area in the Turfan basin, west of Lop Nor and  along the northern end of the Kunlun and Altai Mountain ranges. These communities are also known as ‘Walled-City States of the Western Regions’. The Han wanted to control these ‘Walled-City States’ however the Hsiung-Nu had control over them. Eventually the Han gained control of these communities.
            Under Han rule the Western Regions excelled at textile making. According to the article the textiles produced were of very high quality. This is no surprise considering the people of the Western Regions had direct access to the Silk Road. The article also mentions a robe found in a tomb that is embroidered with characters that state “Good luck for 10,000 generations”. This theme of good luck or good fortune is still a prominent theme in Chinese culture.
            Also during Han rule trade between the Western Regions and China expanded and the speed at which things were being transported increased. For example the article mentions that paper was found in the Western Regions shortly after it was invented in China. Does this speed indicate that the Western Regions and China had an exceptional trading system where goods can travel effectively from place to place? Or does this mean that the Western Regions and China depended on each other for trade therefore the trading between them had to be effective?

 Myth and the Construction of Foreign Ethnic Identity in Early and Medieval China by Bret Hinsch deals with the idea of manipulating myths associated with different ethnic groups. Hinsch gives many examples of how Chinese historians use myths to either change the way a specific group is viewed or to be used when China wants to expand. The idea that myths have the power to determine how an entire ethnic group is perceived, used to assimilate foreigners, or to justify expansion is an entirely new concept to me. Hinsch does illustrate the many ways the Chinese manipulated myths in order to gain or to change the ethnicity of a certain group with good examples, however I feel as though something is missing. Can changing a myth about a certain group’s ancestors really be that effective?

Culture, Ethnicity, Religion

Culture, ethnicity and religion are all important things when defining and learning about people of the past, and more specifically the ancient people of Eurasia. The Silk Road dominated Eurasia’s trade and helped Eurasia flourish. Culture, ethnicity, and religion played a key role in the Silk Road and the way it was used. Through history culture, ethnicity, and religion have all had different meanings and definitions. For years anthropologists have formulated theories about these three things and how they affect our lives and the views of other people. In an article by David Levinson and Melvin Ember it discusses culture, ethnicity, and religion and their impact on the world and different theories associated with them. In the article an anthropologist was mentioned, Edward B. Tylor. In the nineteenth century the common belief among some anthropologists such as Edward B. Tylor, was that the more advanced a society was in art, technology and so on, the more culture they had. The societies that were seen as having less culture were often labelled as being primitive. This is obviously a bad assumption because it is an ethnocentric assumption. Would Tylor think the people of Eurasia who used the Silk Road as being primitive? In my opinion from the readings I have done for this class so far I would not label them as being primitive. I believe the people of Eurasia had a lot of culture and how could they not; they were constantly in contact with other cultures because of the Silk Road, and aspects of different cultures spread and get inherited by different cultures. Also in an article by David Crystal it mentions all the different languages that were spoken in Eurasia like Hittite, Greek and so on. If the people were not advanced culturally and had primitive brains how would they be able to learn to communicate with people along the Silk Road because there were so many languages. However we will never know what Tylor thought of the Eurasian people. 

Levinson and Ember also mention ethnicity. The article states that to be part of an ethnic group, individuals must have something in common, like a language. In Crystal`s article about languages it states that all the languages spoken in Eurasia come from a parent language called Proto-Indo-European. Therefore does this mean that because all of the languages spoken in Eurasia all come from a parent language that the people of Eurasia are part of the same ethnic group? It states that there is evidence to support this, however it doesn’t reference any evidence.

Also in the article by Levinson and Ember it mentions that religion affects all aspects of life. This is no different when speaking about the people who used the Silk Road. Religion affected the Silk Road and how it was used. For example in another article by Liu Xinru, it mentions that silk became an important item in Buddhist temples and was used in ritual robes. The reason why silk was a prominent item in Buddhist temples was because it was traded along the Silk Road and there were many people living along the Silk Road who were Buddhist. Silk reached these Buddhist temples because the people of Eurasia could supply it and trade it. Therefore religion affected the way the Eurasian people lived and did business.

What I do not understand is that in the Levinson and Ember article culture, ethnicity, and religion are all separated however in my opinion ethnicity and religion are parts of culture, not separated. Culture could not exist without ethnicity and religion.