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<h2>Joe Englander Photography Workshops and Photo Tours</h2>
<h2>
Silk Road of China</h2>
<h3>The Silk Road</h3><p>The Silk Road is unique in history. It has played a role in foreign trade,
political development, international relations, and the development and interaction
of religions. Its effects have been felt far beyond its limited boundaries.
Clearly it left its mark on civilizations on both ends of the Asian continent,
but also on both sides of the world. It would not be too far fetched to observe
that the search for an alternate route to riches led to the discovery of new
worlds. Nor would it be too much to predict that the importance of the region
is about to surge again with the price, not of silk or spice, but of oil.</p>
<p>The Silk Road was never only a single trade route and even after maps were
in wide use, it was recognized as having northern and southern extensions looping
around the inhospitable Taklimakan desert. Although it was the route for many
things, perhaps most importantly Buddhism, its romantic name probably originates
with the Romans who were enchanted by the distinctive exotic diaphanous fabric
produced by the supposedly unsophisticated eastern Seres people. The codification
of the name is attributed to the German scholar von Richthofen, but the Romans
saw the route as the singular source of silk as well as other better known commodities
such as ivory, gold, and so forth.</p>
<p>The Route reached is pinnacle of importance during the period of peaceful unification
brought by the Tang dynasty. It was during this time that Buddhism came to China
from India along the northern route. Xuan Zhuang used the northern route to
get to India, bringing back a vast library of Buddhist scriptures that he later
stored at the Great Goose Pagada he constructed Xi’an. Preceding Maro
Polo’s tales, Zhuang dramatized his travels in the popular Chinese classic
“Tales of a Journey to the West.”</p>
<p>Some 500 years later, Marco Polo traveled the southern route via Khotan to
Kubilai Khan’s summer palace of Xandu in Beijing. Trade along the route
was already being adversely affected by strife between the Christians and Moslems
but the demise of the Silk Road probably owes much more to the development of
a technology of boat construction that allowed the establishment of spice routes
by sea.</p>
<p>But after a long period of decreasing prominence, the Silk Road has been increasing
in importance due to new changes in technology. The Chinese have supervised
the construction of a vast system of paved roads in order to ease access to
the vast oil reserves of the Taklimakan region. Coincidentally, trade along
the route is also increasing, especially with the Soviet Union.</p>
<p>Although archeological remains, especially of the Buddhist Grottos and ruined
cities, are a significant attraction, it is the large number of minority peoples
and their ancient cultures that attract most photographers. There are thirteen
different races of people in the region, some famous, some not: Han Chinese,
Tibetans, Mongolians, Tajik, Kazakhs, Uzbeks, and more. And there are the mysterious
cities of Khotan, Kucha, and especially Kashgar with their famous markets and
minarets.</p><hr>
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