• Acta Via Serica
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.119-135
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• 2016

The initial phase of the Mongol invasion resulted in the establishment of relative political stability in the vast expanses of Eurasia, which came under the control of a single political entity - the Mongol realm. This contributed to a fairly rapid restoration of the commercial links and trade routes between the East and the West. During this period, Chinese silk again became available in large quantities in the Western markets. At the same time, the beginning of silk production and manufacturing of silk fabrics in Italy and the fashion flash for these goods in Western countries affected trade between Europe and the Muslim world. The centers of silk production in the Ilkhanid Empire were some provinces of Azerbaijan and Persia, where from it was exported in large numbers along the trade routes of Anatolia and Syria to the Mediterranean ports and further to the west. There are numerous testimonies of European travelers, and Muslim authors related the international silk trade in 13th-15th centuries, ie in the era from the Mongol Ilkhanid Empire till the reign of the Turkman Aqqoyunlu dynasty. One of the most informative documentary sources on this issue are the legislative codes (kanuname) of sultan Uzun Hasan from the Aqqoyunlu dynasty regarding the eastern provinces of the Asia Minor. This article presents and analyzes the information from these documents concerning the whole range of goods related to silk and silk fabrics trade in the period under the consideration.

• Acta Via Serica
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.73-90
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• 2018

The Silk Road tied the globe together for the first time by producing an early globalization phenomenon. Some consider that the ancient Silk Road disintegrated around the $18^{th}$ century CE due to the fall of the Muslim empires and the kingdoms between Asia and Europe. However, the maritime trade among East Asia and the Spanish dominion on the American continent reactivated the ancient Silk Road on some levels, and maintained trade dynamics until the $19^{th}$ century. This was possible because of Mexican silver and trade spots. Notwithstanding its historical background, Mexico seems so far away from the new Silk Road, or the Belt and Road Initiative in the $21^{st}$ century. Thus, this paper analyzes Mexico's historic and current role concerning the Silk Road. First, I conceptualize and compare the ancient Silk Road and Belt and Road Initiative through the lens of complex interdependence theory. I propose that, unlike the ancient Silk Road, the Belt and Road Initiative is a case of an induced complex interdependence. Second, I study the Manila Galleons' dynamics in order to trace the ancient ties with the Silk Road. I emphasize Mexican silver's contribution to East Asian economies and the importance of Mexico's role in the East Asia-Spanish trade. Consequently, I analyze Mexico's position in the Belt and Road Initiative. Finally, I present some concluding remarks about Mexico's role in the Silk Road.

• Acta Via Serica
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.91-116
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• 2021

India has had a rich and diverse textile tradition since the 3rd millennium BCE. The origin of Indian textiles can be traced back to the Harappan period. Owing to the hot and humid climate in most parts of India, cotton has remained India's favourite choice of fabric for normal use. Thus, India is supposed to be the first nation to have grown, woven, and patterned cotton fabrics. Moreover, India is one of the leading cotton-growing countries in the world. The earliest occurrence of cotton thread in India is roughly datable to 4000 BCE and of dyed fabrics to about 2500 BCE. Large numbers of needles and spindle-whorls found in Harappa and other early historic sites in India reveal the prosperous state of textile production and its trade in the early period. The textile producers used a wide range of skills to process raw materials and make regionally idiosyncratic dyes, weaves, prints, and embroideries. Additionally, the silk from wild indigenous forms of silkworms was known in the Indian sub-continent roughly contemporary with the earliest clear archaeological evidence for silk in China. The analysis of thread fragments found inside a copper bangle and ornament from Harappa and steatite beads from Chanhu-daro, have yielded silk fibers dating to 2500-2000 BCE. Apart from other products, cotton and silk textiles were important export materials from India right from the Harappan period. Actually, the sea-borne trade had played an important role in the economic growth and prosperity of the Harappan civilization. Several ancient seaports in the entire coastline of India played a vital role in the maritime trade during the Harappan period and cotton and silk textiles of Indian origin have been found in various countries. The contemporary writings and epigraphy have also attested to the vast maritime trade network of India and the export of textile materials. The paper discusses in detail the origin and development of cotton and silk textile production in India through the ages and its role in maritime trade networks.

• 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.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.780-791
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• 2013

This paper is concerned with the development of the silk trade and in particular with silk-ikat production. Early origins are explained and issues relating to the development of long-distance trade are discussed. The principal trading participants are identified and the focus is turned to silk-ikat production in Central Asia. It is recognised that the vast bulk of trade, along what became known as the 'Silk Route' (or 'Silk Road'), did not involve straight-forward or direct exchange between powers to the far east of the route and powers to the far west, but rather was done in stages between adjacent or not too distant locations. Diffusion of ideas was not therefore immediate and operational at one eastern or western extreme of a trading network but, rather, was a gradual process influencing adjacent participants, at stages between the geographic extremes over a long period of time.

• Acta Via Serica
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.95-124
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• 2023

Over the past 30 years, intense archaeological research has revealed a great increase in regional and transregional object mobility across the South China Sea during its Iron Age (500 BCE to 500 CE). Some objects had moved from a long distance: intaglios, seals, fine ceramic, glass containers, and gold coins of Mediterranean origin; and large bronzes, mirrors, and lacquerware connected to central East Asia. This evidence has given rise to larger-scale explanations, among which the most prominent has been the growth of (maritime) Silk Road trade. Scholars are divided as to whether the Silk Road is a suitable concept, with some emphasizing its orientalist overtones and colonial baggage and others finding it useful for the investigation of interregional networks trading in silk and other commodities. This paper explores how productive the Silk Road concept or metaphor really is for understanding transregional connectivity and social change in Iron Age Southeast Asia.

• Acta Via Serica
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.33-50
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• 2016

The article studies the new situation in international long distance trade after the emergence of new superpower - Arab Caliphate - in Eurasian overland tracks of the Great Silk Road. The stages of Arab advancement along trade routes and outcomes of their contestation with the strong tribal confederations of Turkic nomads in Central Asia and the Caucasus are highlighted. A special focus is made upon the relationship of Arabs with Khazar Turks who have endured severe clashes with strongest army of the time in the region. Khazar kingdom survived and even expanded its control over the tracks of international trade in the western part of Eurasia. The research describes the way how trade partnership between Arabs and Turks was shaped in the aftermath of military clashes. Existing scholarly views on the role of Khazar in Silk Road are reviewed and unattended evidence of Arab sources are involved to support concluding points that Khazar state managed to consolidate various actors for maintenance of international trade such as so called Rus warriors and merchants in the west of Volga, nomadic tribes in Eurasian steppes, and Jewish trading gild named ar-rahdaniyya in Arab sources. It is asserted that Khazar state since the second half of 9th century through its decline in mid 10th century not only served as transit space for goods of exporting countries but also exported goods of its own crafts and natural resources.

• Acta Via Serica
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.23-48
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• 2018

The Silk Road usually implies a network of trade and communications that stretched from east to west and connected China and the countries of the Far East via Central Asia and the Middle East to the eastern Mediterranean, or through the northern coast of the Caspian Sea and the Volga basin to the Black Sea coast. However, at certain historical stages, a network of maritime and overland routes stretching from north to south, commonly called the Volga-Caspian trade route, also played a significant role in international trade and cultural contacts. The geopolitical realities of the early Middle Ages relating to the relationship of Byzantium, the Sassanid Empire, and the West Turkic Khaganate, the advance of the Arab Caliphate to the north, the spread of Islam in the Volga region, the glories and fall of the Khazar State, and the Scandinavian campaigns in the Caucasus, closely intertwined with the history of transport and communications connecting the north and south through the Volga-Caspian route. In a later era, the interests of the Mongolian Uluses, and then the political and economic aspirations of the Ottoman Empire, the Safavid State, and Russia, collided or combined on these routes. The article discusses trade contacts existing between the north and the south in the 15th and first half of the 17th century along the routes on the western coast of the Caspian Sea.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.770-787
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• 2021

This study examines the types of cotton, silk, and woollen products imported from Japan during the port-opening period and explores the characteristics of import trade related to these textile products. Data were obtained from the Japanese trade statistics published by the Japanese government between the late 19^th and the early 20^th centuries. Several key findings were made from these data. First, at least 24 types of cotton fabrics, 13 silk fabrics, and 16 woollen fabrics imported from Japan were identified. Several types of weaves that can be found in the present day were also identified. Second, the total import of textiles during the port-opening period made up 33.7% of the total imports from Japan, indicating that textiles were an important aspect of import trade with Japan. The value of textile imports from Japan tended to increase overall during this time. Cotton fabrics and silk fabrics showed a tendency to increase continuously, while woollen fabrics showed a trend of gradual increase over repeating periods of increase and decrease. It is apparent from examining the ratio of Japanese and foreign products that cotton fabrics, silk fabrics, and woollen fabrics show different characteristics.

• Acta Via Serica
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.155-174
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• 2023

Trade along the Silk Routes reached its zenith during the Pax Mongolica, a period of relative stability in Eurasia that was created by the Mongol empire in the 13th and 14th centuries. It is generally believed that the Silk Routes declined after the disintegration of the Mongol empire in the second half of the 14th century and that they fell into disuse after the 1453 Ottoman conquest of Constantinople as the Europeans sought alternative maritime routes to Asia. This paper examines the aftermath of the Mongol-era overland and maritime Silk Routes from a non-Eurocentric perspective. Seen from the standpoint of various successors to the Mongol empire, such as the Timurid empire, the Mughal empire, the Uzbek khanate, the Ottoman empire, Manchu Qing, and Russia, the overland and maritime Silk Routes did not really collapse or sharply decline during the post-Mongol period. These Mongol successor states maintained close and thriving overland trade relations with each other or some important maritime trade relations with Southeast Asia. It may be argued that the Silk Routes in the post-Mongol world functioned rather independently of European seaborne commerce.