Along the Silk Road: Conquerors, Traders and Explorers - ARTS2458
Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
School: School of International Studies
Course Outline: School of International Studies Course Outlines
Campus: Kensington Campus
Career: Undergraduate
Units of Credit: 6
EFTSL: 0.12500 (more info)
Indicative Contact Hours per Week: 3
Enrolment Requirements:
Prerequisite: 30 units of credit at Level 1
Equivalent: HUMS2001, CHIN2310
Excluded: GENT0420, HUMS2001
CSS Contribution Charge: 1 (more info)
Tuition Fee: See Tuition Fee Schedule
Further Information: See Class Timetable
Available for General Education: Yes (more info)
View course information for previous years.
Description
Subject Area: Chinese Studies
The course focuses on modes of contact and exchange along the Silk Road. At its high time this was the most important connection between East Asia and the West. We will take trade as the starting point. In the Silk Road region, ecological factors made trade desirable and necessary. Trade had lasting cultural, economic, and social effects. Chinese culture and civilization were created in a process of exchange with the culture and civilization of its neighbours to the west. In this subject we will approach relations between cultural and political entities, and in particular between the Chinese Empire and the oasis cities and nomad populations along the Silk Road from the perspective of commerce with the aim of clarifying basic conditions for international relations. The spread of religions as for instance Buddhism and Islam was among the most tangible and long lasting results of contacts established along the Silk Road.