Abstract
The evolution of transportation is an important aspect of Chinese history. At every stage of a growing civilization, progress in transportation can always be observed. The conditions of transportation determine the geographical scope of a civilization and affect its contacts with other civilizations.
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Notes
- 1.
For further details about Xuanzang, see below. Jianzhen (688–763 AD) was originally a native of Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province. From 743 to 754 AD, he made six attempts to cross the sea to Japan in order to propagate Buddhism there. Only the last one – undertaken when he had already gone blind – found him reach his intended destination.
- 2.
Xuanyuan can be translated into English as “carts.”
- 3.
For further information on these mythical or semi-mythical rulers, see Chap. 1 of the present book.
- 4.
A Chinese mountain range extending north to south along the eastern edge of the Loess Plateau in Shanxi, Henan, and Hebei Provinces.
- 5.
A major east–west mountain range in southern Shaanxi Province.
- 6.
The Tribute of Yu is actually one section of the Classic of History (Shangshu). It describes the deeds of Yu the Great carried out through the nine provinces: Ji, Yan, Qing, Xu, Yang, Jing, Yu, Liang, and Yong. Although it was purportedly a product of the Shang Dynasty, the fifth century BC now appears a more plausible date for composition.
- 7.
Wang Zijin, The Script of History of Transportation in the Qin and Han Dynasties (Party School Press of the Central Committee of CPC, 1994), pp. 28–37, pp. 99–125, and pp. 132–66.
- 8.
Zhang Zeduan’s (1085–1145 AD) famous depiction of the annual festival as it appeared in Bianjing (now known as Kaifeng).
- 9.
Lou Zuyi, The History of Chinese Post Development (Chinese Publishing House, 1940), pp. 205–88.
- 10.
Wang Zijin, The Script of History of Transportation in the Qin and Han Dynasties, pp. 6–7.
- 11.
The Leftover Documents of Zhou (or more literally the Lost Book of Zhou) is a fragmentary historical compendium of documents dealing with the Western Zhou Period. Its textual history is contentious leading it to be labeled as “unofficial history” (zashi) – meaning it was excluded from the canon of the 24 other dynastic history books. Another spurious tradition, which no doubt contributed to its maligned status, was the anecdote that consists of those Zhou documents which Confucius deemed to be of such dubious provenance that he excluded them from the Classic of History (Shangshu).
- 12.
The full title of the work is Youxuan shizhe juedai yu shi beiguo yangfan, translatable as Local speeches of other countries in times immemorial explained by the light-carriage Messenger.
- 13.
Located in what is now northern Xinjiang. It forms a part of the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, being the only prefecture in modern-day China in which the majority of the population belongs to the Kazakh ethnic group.
- 14.
King Mu (reigned 976–922 BC), who reigned during the peak of the Zhou Dynasty, reportedly traveled some 90,000 km to the west and lived to 105.
- 15.
The Queen Mother of the West eventually became an important deity in Taoism, even though references to her go back as far as the Shang Dynasty. She is an important celestial figure characterized as being female, powerful, and from the west. Association with her (as in the case of King Mu and Yu the Great, who is said by some sources to have been her pupil) has been seen to confer legitimacy (specifically the Mandate of Heaven – Tian) upon a ruler.
- 16.
The Complete Works of Liu Shipei, Volume 2 (Party School Press of the Central Committee of CPC, 1997), p. 542.
- 17.
Wei Juxian, “The Research on Mu Tianzi Zhuan,” The Study of Ancient History, Volume 2 (Commercial Press, 1934).
- 18.
Miu Wenyuan, “What Kind of Book Is Mu Tianzi Zhuan?,” Chinese Literature and History, 1985 (11).
- 19.
Gu Jiegang, “Mu Tianzi Zhuan and Year of Its Composition”, Literature, History and Philosophy, Volume 1, No. 2, July 1951.
- 20.
The Complete Works of Liu Shipei, Volume 2, p. 546.
- 21.
In China, Dr. Sun is usually referred to by the name Sun Zhongshan. For more details of his career, see Chap. 14.
- 22.
Gu Shi, “Ten Points on Reading Mu Tianzi Zhuan: Mu Tianzi Zhuan Discovered the Artery between the East and West in Ancient Times”, Lectures on the Westward March in Mu Tianzi Zhuan (Commercial Press, 1934, Chinese Bookstore, 1990), pp. 23–4.
- 23.
Qin Shihuang was fanatical in his fear of death. Believing in the Taoist legend, he thought that the elixir of life could be obtained from Mount Penglai, located on a mysterious island somewhere in or beyond the Bohai Sea. Xu Fu took 3,000 virgin boys on his final journey to find that place, from which he did not return. One explanation contends that they did not perish, but landed in Japan, where they helped to establish early civilization.
- 24.
The Pazyryk Valley in the Ukok Plateau of the Altay Mountains in Siberia contains a number of burials dating back to the Iron Age and belonging to nomads. Barrows number 2–5 were excavated in 1947–1949 by Sergei Ivanovich Rudenko, an archaeological project that was considered groundbreaking in that it confirmed the great mobility of the Pazyryk people.
- 25.
Shen Fuwei, The History of Cultural Exchanges between China and the West (Shanghai People’s Press, 1985), p. 22.
- 26.
The Dayuan, as described in Records of the Grand Historian and the History of the Han Dynasty, is generally taken to correspond to the Fergana Valley on the border of the Kyrgyz Republic and Uzbekistan.
- 27.
Also known as Kucha or Kuche. It was a Buddhist state.
- 28.
Shanshan was situated close to Lop Nur, the once huge inland salt lake, which is now largely dried up.
- 29.
Yanqi was also known as Karasahr. It was a Buddhist state.
- 30.
The historian John Foster described the Daqin as “the Roman Empire, or rather that part of it which alone was known to the Chinese, Syria” (John Foster, The Church in the Tang Dynasty (London: SPCK, 1939), p. 3). Somewhat confusingly, the characters Da and Qin are the same as those that can be used for the “Great Qin Empire” of China.
- 31.
Liang Qichao, “Biography of the Great Chinese Navigator Zheng He,” Ice-Drinking Room Collective Works, Volume 3; Selected Materials of Research on Zheng He (People’s Transportation Press, 1985), pp. 20–8.
- 32.
Du Mu, “Drinking Alone at Junzhai,” A Complete Collection of Poetry of Tang, Volume 520.
- 33.
Shen Fuwei, The History of Cultural Exchanges between China and the West, pp. 70–2.
- 34.
Li Shimin, “Meeting the Cabinet on the Right Day,” A Complete Collection of Poetry of Tang, Volume 1.
- 35.
Cui Lizhi, “Looking at the Censer of Hanyuan Palace Hall”, A Complete Collection of Poetry of Tang, A Complete Collection of Poetry of Tang, Volume 347.
- 36.
Wu Han, “The History of Ming Dynasty,” Lectures on the Ancient Chinese History, Volume 2 (Qiushi Press, 1987), p. 382.
- 37.
By Russian scholar Вичурин, see The Ancient World History, trans. Ri Zhi (Teaching Materials Compiling and Examining Section, Ministry of Higher Education Central People’s Government, 1954), p. 224.
- 38.
Lu Xun, “Reflections on Looking at the Mirror”, “Grave”, The Complete Works of Lu Xun, Volume 1 (People’s Literature Press, 1981), p. 197.
- 39.
Zhang Qizhi ed., The History of Chinese Thoughts (Northwest University Press, 1993), p. 196.
- 40.
Lianyungang City Museum, “Reports on Moyan Images, Kongwang Mountain, Lianyungang,” Cultural Relics, 1981 (7); Yu Weichao and Xin Lixiang, “The Investigation of Years of Moyan Images at Kongwang Mountain,” Cultural Relics, 1981.
- 41.
Tang Yongtong (1893–1964) was one of the earliest Chinese to receive a university education in the USA. Together with Wu Mi and Chen Yinke, he became known as one of the “Three Outstanding Persons of Harvard.”
- 42.
Tang Yongtong, The History of Buddhism in the Han, Wei, Western and Eastern Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Volume 1 (Chinese Publishing House, 1983), p. 42.
- 43.
A. Mazallieri, The Silk Road: History of Sino-Persian Cultural Communications, trans. Geng Yi (Chinese Publishing House, 1993), p. 162.
- 44.
Edward Schafer, Golden Peaches of Samarkand: A Study of T’ang Exotics, trans. Wu Yugui (Chinese Social Science Press, 1995), pp. 47–66. Originally published in English by the University of California Press, 1963.
Reference
Shen Fuwei. (1985). History on cultural exchange between the west and the east. Shanghai: Shanghai People’s Publishing House.
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Zhang, Q. (2015). Transportation Systems and Cultural Communication in Ancient China. In: An Introduction to Chinese History and Culture. China Academic Library. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-46482-3_4
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