• Acta Via Serica
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.25-32
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• 2016

Iran's relations with the Far East date back to the Parthian Period. Despite this, the collapse of the Sasanian Empire and the escape of Yazdgird's survivors is currently being re-evaluated as the beginning of a new chapter in bilateral ties, especially between Iran and China and Iran and Silla. In a chapter of $Ku{\check{s}}-n{\bar{a}}meh$ (KN), the text describes Silla (an individual's name) as the father of the people of Silla (toponym). In this paper, I have tried to give a reasonable interpretation for this narration by KN. Also I have frequently referred to other texts to present a comparative study that supports my claim.

• Acta Via Serica
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.15-23
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• 2016

The main aim this paper is to investigate the "Bayt al-Hikma" ("The House of Wisdom"), an important medieval centre for translation and science. In this paper, the author attempts to define the establishment, tasks and development of this institution and its place in medieval civilization. In addition, considerable attention is given to the scientific activity of the Central Asian scholars in Baghdad, who migrated there when caliph al-Ma'mun shifted his court from Marw to Baghdad in 819 CE. The paper describes "Bayt al-Hikma" as an important institution for translation and science and describes some of the Central Asian scholars' activities in Baghdad. Despite its brevity, this short overview shows that these scholars had an important influence on the development of medieval sciences.

• Acta Via Serica
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.51-67
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• 2016

This article examines the nature of geopolitics and its impact on the international political economy of Eurasia/Silk Road. The research questions are exploratory and aim at revealing the differing geopolitical perceptions of the Russian Federation, the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the former Soviet Central Asian countries-Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan-within the context of an emerging "New Silk Road". Consequently, the main goal of this article is to contribute to a better understanding of what factors constrain and shape Silk Road initiatives in Eurasia. To this end, the article focuses on geopolitics and regional integration theories through a consideration of the Silk Road initiatives of a number of Eurasian countries.

• Acta Via Serica
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.69-88
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• 2017

Since the beginning of the human world, man has tried to prove his presence on the earth. Wherever he moved, he left his marks in different forms. Whether he lived in caves, in open spaces or in-built structures, he left evidence in art form, the earliest of which are the cave paintings found in various regions of the world. These transformed into open spaces where man carved and painted images and writings on rock faces and boulders. Although Pakistan provided an early home to such art forms, they have been discovered in Kashmir for the first time and will be revealed in this paper. In the present survey, a great number of rock art sites were found and documented in detail. These rock art sites display the earliest communities who settled down or traveled through the region, highlighting their thoughts, beliefs and practices. The tentative chronology of these rock art sites ranges from Neolithic to Hindu periods, creating an interesting mosaic in the historic profile of Kashmir.

• Acta Via Serica
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.113-132
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• 2017

Several theories about the ancestry of the Khazars and the origins of the Khazar state have been suggested to date. None of them provides a comprehensive solution for the controversial data of the written sources on the early history of the Khazars. This article investigates a possible link between the title of Kagan-Bek of the Deputy Kagan of the Khazars and a similar title Ellac/Ilek of the Akatsir-Huns. This study of the title argues for statehood and political culture connections between the earliest Turkic tribes of Western Eurasia and the Khazars and Turks of Central Asia.

• Journal of the Speleological Society of Korea
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• no.74
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• pp.1-10
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• 2006

한 러 국제협력 시대 - 냉전의 철벽이 무너지고 사회주의 종주국이었던, 구소련이 개방주의를 천명한지 어언 10여년이 흘러간 오늘, 나는 홀연히 서서 그 동안 시장경제를 부르짖으며 개방화에 박차를 가해 경제대국의 꿈을 이뤄보려고 13억 인구가 뒤엉켜 붙은 밀가루 반죽 같은 중국대륙을 거쳐, 러시아 및 CIS 국가사회를 드나들며 오로지 자신만이 인정하는 소위 학술문화교류협력활동이라는 유명무실한 명분 앞에서 조용히 자신을 돌이켜보는 소중한 시간으로, 시베리아방문탐사 활동에 참여해 서로를 믿고 돕는 마음으로 국익을 위해 활동하는 우리 조사단원들과 함께 웃으며 지내던, 그 날들을 회고해 보는 틈새를 만끽해보고자 과감히 붓을 들어 키보드를 때리면서 조용히 변화하는 운율의 감상에 젖어보며, 한 러 문화협력 강화시대의 문을 열어 한국동굴학회가 추구하는 "동북-중앙아시아지역 동굴과학정보망 구축"의 국제화사업이 성공적으로 추진되기를 희망하며, 한국동굴학회의 발전을 기원합니다.

• Acta Via Serica
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.1-27
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• 2019

Beginning in the northwestern region of India, and spreading through Central Asia and the rest of Asia along the Silk Road, the making of colossal Buddha statues has been a major theme in Buddhist art. The colossal Buddha statues predominantly feature Śākyamuni (the Historical Buddha), Maitreya (the Future Buddha), and Vairocana (the Transcendant Buddha), and they were fashioned out of religious devotion and frequently in conjunction with notions of Buddhist kingship. This paper examines the religious, social and political circumstances under which these colossal statues were made, focusing on examples from Central and East Asia made during the first millennium CE. Beginning in the 1990s, there was a revival of making colossal Buddha statues across China and elsewhere. The paper also briefly compares the current wave of building colossal Buddha statues with historical examples.

• Acta Via Serica
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.79-95
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• 2019

This article presents a brief reconstruction of the historic journey of Benedict the Pole and John of Pian de Carpine, the first known Europeans after A.D. 900 who completed a successful return journey east of Baghdad and gave surviving accounts of their travels. The article, which focuses mainly on the role of Benedict the Pole, is divided into five parts: the reasons and organization of the deputation sent to the Mongols by Pope Innocent IV from 1245-1248, the route travelled by the Papal envoys, the existing versions of the two surviving accounts of the mission, the role of Benedict the Pole as the secretary and translator to the papal legate Pian de Carpine, and the outcome of the journey as seen from the perspective of Europe-Asia contacts.

• Acta Via Serica
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.97-118
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• 2019

This study presents a new conceptualization of the history of Islamic astronomy. Islamic history is an embedded global cultural phenomenon and will be analyzed at different levels: a) the history of institutional aspects (observatories, including buildings), b) instruments, c) manuscripts, and d) scholars. This phenomenon will be analyzed as a multi-lingual phenomenon with Arabic as the language of sciences as a starting point. Although this is not a study of a geographical region in a narrow sense, it is a historical note on the entanglement of research written in Arabic, Persian and other languages and contextualized in a framework reaching geographically far beyond the confines of the Islamic world and being part of global history.

• Acta Via Serica
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.49-64
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• 2017

During the seventeenth century, Amsterdam experienced unprecedented growth and affluence, and the city developed into the world's staple market playing an indispensable role in Silk Road trade. This era, which coincides with post-reformation Dutch society, also allowed artists to produce art works depicting objects from everyday life, moving away from the earlier religious subject matter. This paper intends to look into seventeenth century Dutch paintings from their social setting, especially focusing on the influence of the Silk Road in the art making process. The paper also looks into the Chinese side of Silk Road interaction and discusses how Chinese porcelain reflects cultural influence from the Dutch. The paper incorporates Silk Road as a methodology to discuss art works departing from earlier practices in art history. This approach allows us to understand art as a product of multi-disciplinary, multi-cultural experience. The methodology invites more discussion on numerous art forms which emerged along the Silk Road trading route to expand and explore the history of East-West cultural exchange.