Ancient India and Ancient China: Trade and Religious Exchanges, AD 1-600 (Oxford India Collection) [Paperback]

Xinru Liu (Author)

Book Description

Series: Oxford India Collection | Publication Date: March 23, 1995

India and China are two of the most important civilizations of the ancient world. Looking at the relations between these empires before the 6th century A.D., Xinru Liu conclusively establishes the transmission of Buddhism from India to China, and describes the various items of commercial trade.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Liu has used a rich variety of literary, archaeological, epigraphic, and numismatic sources from both India and China. She has produced a solid study of luxury trade and of the speread of Buddhism to China. She writes in a straightforward manner. Her judgments are well balanced, and she throws more light than heat on the topic. Liu is a unique scholar who needs to be profusely commended for her worthy contribution to an important and neglected subject."--American Historical Review

About the Author

Xinru Liu, Director, Department of Ancient and Medieval History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing.

Product Details

• Paperback: 231 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (March 23, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195635876
• ISBN-13: 978-0195635874
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,987,771 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars India and China AD 1-600, June 24, 2000

By 

Mr. John E. Hill "John Hill" (Cooktown, Queensland, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ancient India and Ancient China: Trade and Religious Exchanges, AD 1-600 (Oxford India Collection) (Paperback)

Xinru Liu's book contains important material that is difficult to find elsewhere and any student of the period will discover in it items of interest.

She examines the connections between Buddhist institutions and trade in some depth and her analysis of the influence of cultural values on long-distance trade is pertinent and fresh.

This is, however, in the end, a somewhat unsatisfactory and uneven work containing serious gaps.

For example, it makes almost no mention of the extensive maritime trade between India and China at this period or of the massive expansion of Indian influence into southern China through Jih-nan and Chiao-chih, in what is now northern Vietnam.

She also seems to be unaware of some major sources on the early trade between India and China. There is, for example, no mention at all of the 3rd century Wei-lueh, or of the detailed notes by the French scholar, Edouard Chavannes, to his pioneering translations of this work and the sections of the Hou Han shu dealing with the "Western Regions".