World Scientific Publishing Company On The Ancient History Of The Silk Road

The Silk Road was a network of trade routes which connected the East and West, and was central to the economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between these regions from the 2nd century BCE to the 18th century. This book studies various aspects of the ancient history of the silk road. The 16 chapters in the book are divided into three parts: Silk Road and The Nomads; The Sogdians, the Special Role on the Silk Road; Silk Road and the Spread of Religious Ideas. It studies the purpose and effects of silk exportation, the intermarriage between China and other ethnic groups, the origin of the Turks, the influence and domination of the Sogdians on the nomads, and the religious ideas, especially the Manicheism, spreading across the Silk Road.<\/p> About the Author <p><strong>Chuanming Rui</strong>&nbsp;is professor at Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences; visiting professor at National Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies, Fudan University. His main research fields include the history of Sino-foreign relations, the ancient history of Central Eurasia, the Silk Road, etc. He has published several books in Chinese including&nbsp;<em>A Comparative Study on the Symbols of China and the West</em>;&nbsp;<em>A History of Cultural Intercourses between China and Central Asia</em>;&nbsp;<em>Studies on Ancient Turkic Inscriptions</em>;&nbsp;<em>Studies on Manicheism in the East</em>;&nbsp;<em>Studies on the Ancient Silk Road,</em>&nbsp;etc. In addition, he also translated some English masterpieces into Chinese and published them in Chinese, such as&nbsp;<em>History of Civilizations of Central Asia Vol. 1</em>, edited by UNESCO, and&nbsp;<em>The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life</em>&nbsp;by Emile Durkheim.</p>