In this paper, I will explore (a) the “Silk Road” as an abstract concept, (b) the focus of Silk Road exhibitions and arts events around the world, and (c) ask the question “how important is the silk in Silk Road exhibitions”?
The Silk Road as an abstract concept - The term “Silk Road” was coined in 1877 by the German scholar Baron von Richthofen to describe the land communications and trading networks between the ancient empires of East and West. It is a highly evocative term, conjuring up a rosy image of long-distance trade in luxury goods. Silk is China’s most famous invention and export commodity, and represents luxury, beauty and strength. It has very positive associations. The most basic function of a road is to link one place to another, in real terms of as metaphor. In this way, the word “road” conveniently skirts the more complex issues of political authority, military frontiers and religious, ethnic and cultural diversity. The abstract concept of the “Silk Road” is so universally acceptable that it has been translated word-for-word into almost all languages (Wang, Money on the Silk Road , 2004).
Silk Road exhibitions–Richthofen conceived of the “Silk Road” in terms of land communications and trading networks between the ancient empires of East and West. The 1870s was an era of phenomenal growth in communications. The laying of railways and telegraph cables caught the public imagination – think, for example, of travel agent Thomas Cook’s world tour (1872), and Jules Verne’s novel Around the World in Eighty Days (1873). The second half of the twentieth century also saw the growth of world expositions, which focussed on agriculture, trade, industry, arts and education: London 1851, Paris 1855, London 1862, Paris 1867, Vienna 1873, Philadelphia 1876, Paris 1878, Melbourne 1880, Barcelona 1888, Paris 1889, Chicago 1893, Brussels 1897.
Did the “Silk Road” have a place in these exhibitions? Or was the reality more like Rudyard Kipling’s famous words “East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet” (1889)? In the nineteenth century, Central Asia was an unmapped and dangerous part of the world.
In the 1870s, Richtfhofen had mapped a plan for a railroad connecting China and Europe, but it was his student Sven Hedin who popularised the “Silk Road” in the 1920s to 1940s. And it was Hedin who devised a “Plan for the Revival of the Silk Road” and who wrote the international bestseller The Silk Road (1936). Were there Silk Road exhibitions at this time?
From the 1950s to 1970s the “Silk Road” was adopted in China to describe Chinese diplomatic and economic ties with Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Middle East, in particular, framing new developments within a revival of historical links. After 1979, this use of the “Silk Road” was extended to the USA, Japan and Europe (Tamara Chin, The Invention of the Silk Road , 2013).
Does the adoption of the “Silk Road” by China mark the beginning of “Silk Road” exhibitions? And the opening up of the world in the 1980s and 1990s mark the beginning of international “Silk Road” exhibitions?
Following the enormous political changes of the late twentieth century, including China’s “open-door policy”, the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the dissolution of the former Soviet Union, the “Silk Road” became a positive and
potent symbol for peaceful international co-operation and commercial and cultural communication. Today, there are “Silk Road” exhibitions and arts events all over the world. In many cases, they have nothing to do with “Silk” or “Road” - in many cases “Silk Road” means little more than “international” (in a friendly, welcoming way).
However, the concept of the “Silk Road” has shifted in the last 141 years: from history, geography and geology, to railways and geo-politics, to cultural diplomacy, archaeology and art history and many other fields. In the 21st century, there has been the development of Xi Jinping’s “Belt Road Initiative”.
How important is the silk in Silk Road exhibitions? - Clearly, silk objects are not always the most important part of Silk Road exhibitions and arts events. The abstract concept, the metaphor, the “feel-good factor”, will probably always be the most important thing.
But silk was, and is, real - in China, and in the rest of the world. And it was, and still is, more than a beautiful luxury fabric. We can research the production, history, science and technology of silk. We can look at the role of silk in religion, fashion, warfare, economic history, and so on. But there is something very special about silk that runs through history and that continues today. It is the wonder of the silkworm, and of human ingenuity to turn the silk thread into such fine fabric, and its qualities and applications of silk that continue to inspire us today. Throughout history, silk has been something to treasure. As members of the International Association for the Study of Silk Road Textiles, we are in a position to share what we know of the past and the present, and to preserve it as best we can for future generations to treasure.