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• 1.What’s in it for me? See a new history of the world from the Silk Roads perspective.

  • Today,   I’d like to interpreta wonderfulbook for you, British historian Peter   Francopan's book "The Silk Road: A New History of the World."  
       
    Speaking of the Silk Road, we are very familiar with, in 139 BC, the   Chinese emperor of the Han Dynasty sent anambassador, Zhang Qian, who reach   out the Western Regions, opened up a trade channel,sold the Chinese silk to   Central Asia, Europe and other regions. Later, in 1877 the German geographer   Ferdinand von Richthofen introduced the name ‘Great Silk Road’ for a chain of   age-old trade routes through Central Asia that connected the Far East to the   West. For some 1,700 years, the Silk Road was the world’s largest trade   network. Caravans of up to a thousand camels, horses, oxen and donkeys crossed   deserts and high mountains to carry coveted goods from East to West and West   to East.
       
    So, today's book, is to talk about a history of the trade channel?   Obviously not. Is the Silk Road a visible artificial road? Definitely not.
       
    If you have a map of the world on hand, you will see the Silk Road just   across the entire Asian hinterland, opened up the Himalayas to the   Mediterranean Sea, the east coast of the Black Sea, so that the entire Asian   and European political, military, economic, cultural, religion, etc., all   these circulated up.To see itin a big picture, the Silk Road linked up a   whole East-West exchange network.
       
    With such a vision, let’s look at thisbook, the author's intention at a   glance. He believes that for thousands of years, the “Silk Roads” area   crossed the East and the West regions, is actually the operation axis of the   world. So he used the Silk Road as a starting point, speaking a new history   of the world by using Asian hinterland as the center rather than Europe as   the center.
       
    However, until today,can we say, the Asian hinterland with the most complex   situation and full of conflicts and contradictions, is the center of world   civilization? Is this argument right?
       
    Let's take a look. In the past, when it comes to world history, it is often   said that the Roman Empire perished, after a thousand years of dark medieval,   suddenly the Renaissance, the religious reform, the British bourgeois   revolution, and then the industrial revolution, and so on and on. Anyway, in   accordance with this order, we entered the modern society. In short, the   whole world history, is a European-centric history.
       
    However, we ignore an important historical fact: before the advent of the   great navigational eraand the Renaissance, the world's stage center is not in   Europe, the East and West civilization are gathered in the Asian hinterland.   That is, all the countries and regions along the Silk Road.
       
    Far more than a history of the Silk Roads, this book is truly a revelatory   new history of the world, promising to destabilize notions of where we come   from and where we are headed next. From the Middle East and its political   instability to China and its economic rise, the vast region stretching   eastward from the Balkans across the steppe and South Asia has been thrust   into the global spotlight in recent years. Frankopan teaches us that to   understand what is at stake for the cities and nations built on these   intricate trade routes, we must first understand their astounding pasts.  
         
    Frankopan realigns our understanding of the world, pointing us eastward. It   was on the Silk Roads that East and West first encountered each other through   trade and conquest, leading to the spread of ideas, cultures and religions.   From the rise and fall of empires to the spread of Buddhism and the advent of   Christianity and Islam, right up to the great wars of the twentieth century—this   book shows how the fate of the West has always been inextricably linked to   the East.
       
    Today is my first lecture to interpret this book, you willfind out:
       
    •Why it was the Greek mythology that changed and influencedBuddhism?
    •What’s the name of the last Persian before the rise of the Arab Empire?  
    •Why did Constantine the Great protectChristianity?

• 2.What’s in it for me? See a new history of the world from the Silk Roads perspective.

  • Today,   I’d like to interpreta wonderfulbook for you, British historian Peter   Francopan's book "The Silk Road: A New History of the World."   
        
    Speaking of the Silk Road, we are very familiar with, in 139 BC, the   Chinese emperor of the Han Dynasty sent anambassador, Zhang Qian, who reach   out the Western Regions, opened up a trade channel,sold the Chinese silk to   Central Asia, Europe and other regions. Later, in 1877 the German geographer   Ferdinand von Richthofen introduced the name ‘Great Silk Road’ for a chain of   age-old trade routes through Central Asia that connected the Far East to the   West. For some 1,700 years, the Silk Road was the world’s largest trade   network. Caravans of up to a thousand camels, horses, oxen and donkeys crossed   deserts and high mountains to carry coveted goods from East to West and West   to East.
        
    So, today's book, is to talk about a history of the trade channel?   Obviously not. Is the Silk Road a visible artificial road? Definitely not.
        
    If you have a map of the world on hand, you will see the Silk Road just   across the entire Asian hinterland, opened up the Himalayas to the   Mediterranean Sea, the east coast of the Black Sea, so that the entire Asian   and European political, military, economic, cultural, religion, etc., all   these circulated up.To see itin a big picture, the Silk Road linked up a   whole East-West exchange network.
        
    With such a vision, let’s look at thisbook, the author's intention at a   glance. He believes that for thousands of years, the “Silk Roads” area   crossed the East and the West regions, is actually the operation axis of the   world. So he used the Silk Road as a starting point, speaking a new history   of the world by using Asian hinterland as the center rather than Europe as   the center.
        
    However, until today,can we say, the Asian hinterland with the most complex   situation and full of conflicts and contradictions, is the center of world   civilization? Is this argument right?
        
    Let's take a look. In the past, when it comes to world history, it is often   said that the Roman Empire perished, after a thousand years of dark medieval,   suddenly the Renaissance, the religious reform, the British bourgeois   revolution, and then the industrial revolution, and so on and on. Anyway, in   accordance with this order, we entered the modern society. In short, the   whole world history, is a European-centric history.
        
    However, we ignore an important historical fact: before the advent of the   great navigational eraand the Renaissance, the world's stage center is not in   Europe, the East and West civilization are gathered in the Asian hinterland.   That is, all the countries and regions along the Silk Road.
        
    Far more than a history of the Silk Roads, this book is truly a revelatory   new history of the world, promising to destabilize notions of where we come   from and where we are headed next. From the Middle East and its political   instability to China and its economic rise, the vast region stretching   eastward from the Balkans across the steppe and South Asia has been thrust   into the global spotlight in recent years. Frankopan teaches us that to   understand what is at stake for the cities and nations built on these   intricate trade routes, we must first understand their astounding pasts.   
         
    Frankopan realigns our understanding of the world, pointing us eastward. It   was on the Silk Roads that East and West first encountered each other through   trade and conquest, leading to the spread of ideas, cultures and religions.   From the rise and fall of empires to the spread of Buddhism and the advent of   Christianity and Islam, right up to the great wars of the twentieth century—this   book shows how the fate of the West has always been inextricably linked to   the East.
        
    Today is my first lecture to interpret this book, you willfind out: 
        
    •Why it was the Greek mythology that changed and influencedBuddhism? 
    •What’s the name of the last Persian before the rise of the Arab Empire?   
    •Why did Constantine the Great protectChristianity?

本书作者About the Author

Peter Frankopan is a historian based at Oxford University. He is the author of The First Crusade: The Call from the East (2012).He has lectured at leading universities all over the world, including Cambridge, Yale, Harvard, Princeton, NYU, King's College London and the Institute of Historical Research. 

关于本书 About the book

For   the past two thousand years, the Silk Roads have had profound influence on   the evolution of human cultures.It was on the Silk Roads that East and West   first encountered each other through trade and conquest, leading to the   spread of ideas, cultures and religions.
   
From the rise and fall of empires to the spread of wealth, knowledge and   religions, right up to the great wars of the twentieth century—this book   shows how the fate of the West has always been closely linked to the East.