| China used to be called "Seres" by the Europeans in the past years, because silk was one of the most important commodities in ancient China. The silk trade and road was up to the peak in the Tang Dynasty, which was meaningful to research the silk trade activities in this period. The silk trade in the Prosperous Tang (712-755) represent the highest level of Tang Dynasty and Chinese feudal era. September and October in 2013, the national president Xi Jinping proposed to promote the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-century Maritime Silk Road, short for the Belt and Road, or B&R. This is not only an important strategy for China to integrate into the development of globalization, but also an important support to achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese Dream. For all, it is very important to research the silk trade and road in the Prosperous Tang (712-755), which would be the reference for the the Belt and Road.There are seven parts to develop the significance of this articleChapter one is the introduction of the background, significance of the article, the review of previous research, and the explanation of basic concepts. Chapter two to six investigate the silk trade from five aspects including production land, administration, output & input, trade routes and currency circulation.Chapter two studies the distribution of silk origin in the Prosperous Tang (712-755). The research summarizes the distribution of silk origin and silk variety by collating the data in Tongdian, Tang Liudian, Yuanhe junxian tuzhi and Xintangshu. We obtain a conclusion that the silk was wide-produced and high-production, but also unbalanced in product origins.Chapter three studies the management of the silk trade in the Prosperous Tang (712-755). In Tang Dynasty, silk trade had strict restriction for the silk was not only a strategic goods but also used as currency. Especially for advanced silk. The government has established a complete management system by laws, specialized management departments, Shi Bo system and so on. For all, Tang government monopolied the silk trade strictly, which seemingly benefit for the govenment to control the silk trade, but harm for the development of silk manufacture in the long run.Chapter four studies the output & input of the silk trade in the Prosperous Tang (712-755). Fristly, the research primarily summarizes the records of the silk trade of Tang Dynasty in Ce Fu Yuan Gui, about 60 volumes. And calculates the output of silk in the Prosperous Tang (712-755) percentage of the entire Tang Dynasty. Secondly, reviews the modes of the silk output, including tribute presenting trade, frontier trade, folk trade and smuggle. All in all, in the Prosperous Tang (712-755), the silk trade is controlled by the government and with maximum quantity in Tang Dynasty. Lastly, studies the kinds of input product in the silk trad in the Prosperous Tang (712-755). It is worth mentioning that, the value of the input product is much lower than the output of silk, and that is an unequal exchange.Chapter five studies the routes of silk trade in the Prosperous Tang (712-755). The routes including silk road on land and sea. The Silk road on land started from Chang'an, via Dunhuang, Yangguan, Yumenguan, Yiwu, then divided into Suiye and Congling but all arrived at west Asia, middle Europe and south Asia. Martime Silk road has two main roads:started from Dengzhou, arrived in Korea and Japan called east route, and started from Guangzhou, via Malacca, Arabian sea, arrived in west Asia and east Europe called south route. With the development of the silk road, the Arabian area, south Asia and southeast Asia were linked together. Chang'an, Luoyang,Guangzhou and Xizhou became the commercial center of China.Chapter six studies the currency circulation in silk trade. In this part, investigates the system of both copper coins and silk using as currency. In the Prosperous Tang (712-755), the silk also play the part of currency. Collating the data of archaeological sources and references, the currency in the Prosperous Tang (712-755) not only including commodity, copper coins, but also foreign coins and national coins possiblely. Particularly, there was no uniform currency along the silk road.Chapter seven studies the practical significance of silk trade in the Prosperous Tang (712-755). Although there are differences in backgrounds of time, the silk trade in the Prosperous Tang (712-755) and current strategy of B & R has the similar trade routes, which can contact the two great times. This chapter sum up the situation of the silk trade in the Prosperous Tang (712-755), and try to provide a reference for the Belt and Road. |
PDF Full Text Request