Mark Meek's Ideas: Xian And The Silk Road

We are reading a lot today about China's revival of the Silk Road, the "Belt and Road Initiative". This means that it might be a good time to visit the city that was at the eastern end of the Old Silk Road.

Xian, once known as Chang An, is a Chinese city that is far inland, near the center of the country. Xian was the capital of China for a long time, for four of the dynasties during China's history. It became an important city in the 11th Century B.C., for a comparison with the Bible, this is about a century older than Jerusalem.

The city had a great influence and distant Kyoto, which was the capital of Japan for a thousand years, was actually modeled on Xian. Qin Shi Huang, considered as the first emperor of a united China, conquered all of the other states during the time known as the Warring States Period, and began the Qin Dynasty, which ruled China from Xian beginning in 221 B.C.

The Silk Road, although that was not what it was called at the time, operated as a great trade route between east and west, from ancient until medieval times. It was a network of trade routes, rather than one single route. We have already seen, in our visit to "Syria" that Aleppo was a great trading city at the western end of the Silk Road. Xian was at the opposite end, the eastern end.

It was much more than goods which moved along the Silk Road. Alexander's empire stretched so far to the east, bringing Greek influence to China and India, because it grew along the Silk Road. It was by the Silk Road that kingdoms to the east sent envoys to the Roman Empire. But silk clothing from the east became so popular in Rome that efforts were made to ban it, because so much money was being spent on it.

We usually do not think of Buddhism as being an Indian religion, but that is where it actually began. The wheel on the Indian flag of today is actually a Buddhist symbol. How did Buddhism spread across east Asia, where it predominates today? Along the Silk Road.

We saw in "The House Of Holy Wisdom, Where The Modern World Began", January 2016, that the Nestorian Christians sent representatives to China. Alopen met with Emperor Taizong, and some Nestorian Christian communities were established in western China. This is recorded on a famous monument, known as the Nestorian Stele, from the year 781, that is in a museum in Xian. These two images are from the Wikipedia article "Xian Stele".

The end of the Mongol Empire brought the Silk Road into decline and, in the following centuries, Europeans found sea routes to the east, which largely replaced the Silk Road. While silk was always popular in Europe, spices became the primary product being sought from the east.

But now, the Chinese Government is putting a lot of effort into creating a modern version of the Silk Road. This time transportation of goods will focus on high-speed trains and ships, rather than pack animals.

In the center of Xian are two towers, both built around 1380, the Bell Tower and the Drum Tower. Bells in the Bell Tower were rung at sunrise, and drums in the drum tower were sounded at sunset. These three images, from Google Street View, are of the Bell Tower.

These two images, from Google Street View, are of the Drum Tower.

The following scenes begin at the Drum Tower. Being so far westward in China means that Xian has a significant Moslem population, and a major mosque is located adjacent to the Drum Tower.

There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow, ^, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow, >. After clicking the up arrow, you can then hide the previews of successive scenes, if you wish.

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.2609867,108.942245,3a,75y,86.37h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-7rhlW8EvNaM%2FUtN3nrksMgI%2FAAAAAAABWSs%2FDU4ul3rdxCYTmywCfo2kvfL0OPse3N68wCJkC!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh4.googleusercontent.com%2F-7rhlW8EvNaM%2FUtN3nrksMgI%2FAAAAAAABWSs%2FDU4ul3rdxCYTmywCfo2kvfL0OPse3N68wCJkC%2Fw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya63.1061-ro-0-fo100%2F!7i3584!8i1792

Two other landmarks of Xian are the Large and Small Wild Goose Pagodas. These are far older than the Drum and Bell Towers. The Large Wild Goose Pagoda was built in 652, and the small one about fifty years later. These are both Buddhist temples, remembering that Buddhism came to Xian along the Silk Road.

This image of the Large Wild Goose Pagoda is from Google Street View.

These two images of the Small Wild Goose Pagoda are from Google Street View.

Daming Palace, in Xian, was the home of the Tang Dynasty emperors. This was considered as a "Golden Age" in China, and Xian was believed to have been the most populous city in the world. This image is from the Wikipedia article "Daming Palace".

Tang Paradise is a reconstruction of Tang Dynasty architecture in Xian. It is believed to be on the site of a Tang Dynasty garden. These two images are from Google Street View.

One of the greatest archeological discoveries of modern times was certainly the Terracotta Army of China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang. This is amazing life-size soldiers, and other figures, to guard and accompany the emperor after death. There are around ten thousand in all. The world has never seen anything like this. The Terracotta Army was completed before 200 B.C. I can remember from my early teens the news that this was discovered. These three images of the Terracotta Army are from Google Street View.