Nomads, traders and holy men along China's Silk Road : papers presented at a symposium held at The Asia Society in New York, November 9-10, 2001

This collection of papers formed part of the symposium, “Nomads, Traders and Holy Men Along China’s Silk Road”, held at the Asia Society in New York on November 9-10, 2001. Although the Silk Road has inspired several important museum exhibitions, none had focused on the Hexi Corridor nor attempted to analyze the complexity of the cross-cultural relationships within China’s borders. Nor had any exhibition focused on the nearly four hundred years of political disunity, nomadic incursions and social upheaval, brought about by the collapse of the great Han dynasty (206 B.C.E.-220 C.E.), that then, after a series of short-lived dynasties, culminated in the reunification of China under the Tang empire (618-906) Introduction -- What Is Dunhuang Art? / Wu Hung -- Central Asia From The Third To The Seventh Century / Boris I. Marshak -- Strange Beasts In Han And Post-han Imagery / Jessica Rawson -- The Nomads Of The Fifth Century: The Tuoba Xianbei / Shing Müller -- Buddhist Steles From The Gansu/ningxia Region / Dorothy Wong -- The Merchant World Of The Sogdians / Richard N. Frye -- The Role Of The Sogdians As Translators Of Buddhist Texts / Guanuda Zhang -- When Glass Was Treasured In China / An Jiayao -- Iranian Luxury Vessels In China From The Late First Millennium B.c.e. To The Second Half Of The First Millenium C.e. / Prudence O. Harper -- Waisted Drums In Ancient China And Eurasia / Bo Lawergren -- Musical Intersections: Local Festivals As Cosmopolitan Centers Of Exchange / Sue Tuohy. Edited By Annette L. Juliano And Judith A. Lerner. Includes Bibliographical References.