Reflections | International trade in ancient China and the surprisingly brief existence of the Silk Road
- The exchange of goods and capital across international borders is not a new phenomenon
- But it has never been without complications, whether in the ancient or modern world
The inaugural China International Import Expo opened to great fanfare in Shanghai earlier this month, attracting some 3,000 companies and traders from around the world to peddle their wares and, more importantly, establish relationships and build awareness for their businesses.
The week-long event was deemed sufficiently important for Chinese President Xi Jinping to grace the opening ceremony with a keynote speech that underlined China’s commitment to free trade and openness. It will be interesting to see if Xi’s speech, or the event itself, will change perceptions that foreign companies doing business in China are not given a level playing field.
While we may think of international trade as a recent phenomenon, intercontinental trade networks have existed for several thousand years, the most famous of which being the Silk Road. Criss-crossing the Eurasian land mass via several passages, it connected the most culturally and economically developed regions at the time – China, the Indian subcontinent and the Mediterranean region – to form one of the most significant international commercial routes in the ancient world.
Describing the eponymous commodity traded via the Silk Road, Roman philosopher, geographer and naturalist Pliny the Elder (AD23–79) said: “The Seres [Chinese] are famous for the woollen substance obtained from their forests; after a soaking in water, they comb off the white down of the leaves … So manifold is the labour employed, and so distant is the region of the globe drawn upon, to enable the Roman maiden to flaunt transparent clothing in public.”
He grumbled: “At the lowest computation, India and Seres and the [Arabian] Peninsula together drain our empire of one hundred million sesterces every year. That is the price that our luxuries and our womankind cost us.”
The ancient Greek and Roman names for Chinese and China, “Seres” and “Serica”, gave us the word “sericulture”, or silk farming and production.