The Maritime Silk Road and Cultural Communication between China and the West

Yan Chen (1916–2016) was Professor of Oriental Studies at Peking University and played an active role in advancing Mainland Chinese scholarship on the maritime silk trade after the Cultural Revolution. This book is the English translation of eleven well-researched articles that Chen published from the late 1980s. While each essay is a stand-alone chapter based onChen’s careful reading of archaeological findings and Chinese literary sources, one common thread that links all eleven chapters is the transformation of multiple maritime trading and logistics routes that connected China with Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Europe... Chen’s portrayal of the Maritime Silk Road as a cosmopolitan frontier is of great importance at a time when China has weaponized a nationalistic perception of its maritime legacy, viewing control over the sea lanes and the possession of a blue-ocean navy as essential symbols of a rising power, confronting neighbors over disputed waterways, and cutting off rival states’ access to the ocean. The escalation of maritime sovereignty disputes in recent years has prompted a reimagining, in both academic and political circles, of Asia as an oceanic space with greater humanistic connections and partnerships, not regional
competitions and conflicts.

* Acta Via Seri