Mapping Civilizations Across Eurasia

ISBN-13: 9789819976409 / Angielski

H. K. Chang

Spis treści

Part I. Introduction.- 1. Mapping Civilizations.- Part II. Studies on Civilization.- 2. From Movable Type to the World Wide Web.- 3. Speaking of Mesopotamia.- 4. My Take on the Middle East.- 5. Cultural Conflict & Integration Throughout History.- 6. Tracing the Footsteps and Influence of Xuanzang and Ibn Battuta.- 7. My Views on Orientology, Area Studies and Silk Road Research.- Part III. Silk Road.- 8. Cultural Interaction Along the Silk Road.- 9. The New Silk Road: Strategic Thinking.- 10. Frankincense, Oil and Geopolitics.- 11. China and Pakistan: A Historical View.- 12. Tempest in Eurasia: Russia, Ukraine and Georgia.- Part IV. Survey of Greater Central Asia.- 13. Greater Central Asia and the New Silk Road.- 14. Migration of Populations Within Greater Central Asia.- 15. Greater Central Asia: A Cultural Mosaic.- 16. My Journeys to Xinjiang: From Dream to Reality.- Part V. Portrait of India.- 17. Experiencing Emerging India.- 18. Getting Acquainted with the Indian Elephant.- 19. India’s “Special Administrative Region”—Pondicherry.- 20. India’s Take on “Belt and Road”.- Part VI. Persian Cultural Sphere.- 21. Early Civilizations on the Iranian Plateau.- 22. Renascence of Persian Culture.- 23. Islam & the Invaders.- 24. Persian Poetry & Painting.- 25. Shia Islam and the Safavid Dynasty.- 26. Persian Civilization & Iran's Modernization.- Part VII. Caucasus.- 27. Ethnographic Museum on the Border Between Europe and Asia.- 28. Musical Chairs in the Caucasus.- 29. North Caucasus: Russia's Southern Frontier.- 30. The Post-Soviet South Caucasus.- 31. South Caucasus: International Machinations.- Part VIII. Turkish March.- 32. Westward Migration of the Turkic-speaking People.- 33. The Road to Republicanism.- 34. Toward a Modern Republic.- 35. European Turkey: The Bosphorus and Edirne.- 36. Anatolian Turkey: Trabzon and Konya.- 37. Emergence of Neo-Ottomanism.- Part IX. Conclusions.- 38. The Ancient Silk Road: “Geography as Destiny”.- 39. The New Silk Road: Eurasia’s Historical Destiny.

O autorze

Professor H. K. Chang is a Foreign Member of the Royal Academy of Engineering (UK) and a Chevalier of France’s L’ordre national de la Légion d’honneur. A renowned scholar in biomedical engineering, he served as Dean of Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh and President of City University of Hong Kong. During more than a half century of travel, he has set foot in some 105 countries, and been a visiting professor at the University of Paris, Cairo University, Istanbul's Bosporus University, and University of Delhi. He is the author of a dozen books on civilizations, Silk Road history, and education. His academic interest is now engaged in cultural exchanges across Eurasia.

Blurb

This book is a history reader and cultural primer for students and aspiring scholars of past and contemporary interactions among civilizations over the Eurasian landmass. Tracing a human journey that spans several million years, this general survey of civilizations comprises seven sections: Studies on Civilization, Silk Road, Survey of Greater Central Asia, Portrait of India, Persian Cultural Sphere, Caucasus, and Turkish March. The first section introduces methodologies and perspectives for civilization studies. The second focuses on the concept and connotations of the ancient Silk Road as well as China's 21st-century strategic Belt & Road Initiative. In the remaining five sections, the trilingual, peripatetic author, based on his experiences and reflections, provides introductions to and comments on the history, literature, art, social tensions, and future development of five key areas along the Silk Road, i.e., Central Asia, India, Iran, Caucasus, and Turkey.

Professor H. K. Chang is a Foreign Member of the Royal Academy of Engineering (UK) and a Chevalier of France’s L’ordre national de la Légion d’honneur. A renowned scholar in biomedical engineering, he served as Dean of Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh and President of City University of Hong Kong. During more than a half century of travel, he has set foot in some 105 countries, and been a visiting professor at the University of Paris, Cairo University, Istanbul's Bosporus University, and University of Delhi. He is the author of a dozen books on civilizations, Silk Road history, and education. His academic interest is now engaged in cultural exchanges across Eurasia.