10. 100-500 Women Travelers and Merchants on the Silk Roads

Paleo-anthropologists can track human evolution and migration in prehistory using the remains of women, which have provided some of the most important breakthroughs in our understanding of the past. There is great variation between hunter gatherer groups and the gender dynamics that emerged.

​Between the first century BCE and the third century CE, a vast network of trade routes emerged out of smaller regional trade zones and ultimately connected markets from China to the Mediterranean. The world became more multicultural than we have been taught to expect in ancient history. The trade network is known as the Silk Road, but it was never just one road and silk was far from the only trade good. Ideas, belief systems, arts, and disease accompanied the caravans as they crossed the continent. Since travel in any age can be dangerous, many of the merchants and migrants on these trade routes were men. However, women played lead roles every step of the way.


Han Dynasty China serves as the foundational state in the growth in trade during this era, though there were many other players, notably because the silk, which gave the roads their name, came from China. As far back as 3000 BCE the Chinese established a monopoly over silk production–ya know, like Amazon today. Women were important in the trade as producers and consumers of this precious commodity. The emergence of large, stable empires made long distance trade across Afro-Eurasia possible.

Large states offer a number of advantages that make trade possible. There were fortified cities and armies to offer protection. There were several established roads as well as other forms of infrastructure such as bridges and canals. Market towns dotted the route no matter which road you chose, and in the desert such towns emerged at oases where water was available. Have camel, will travel! Such towns boasted more than marketplaces—the weary traveler could find inns, stables, temples, and entertainment in towns such as Turfan and Dunhuang.  People tended to travel in great caravans including dozens or even hundreds of people—sometimes entire families migrated in this way. At the height of Silk Road traffic, it was possible to join a new caravan if you found one heading to a different city. The caravan left while you were in the powder room? No problem: One Sogdian woman awaiting family in Dunhuang in the 4th century wrote to a friend that at least five caravans had departed in one day. It was kind of like catching a bus at a rest stop! 

The Han emperors of China wanted to trade with the distant Parthian Empire of Persia (247 BCE-244 CE), especially due to their desire for horses that could help Chinese armies defend outlying towns from Xiongnu raids. Persian imperial warhorses; nothing says defense like an imperial. Merchants traveling to the west had to pass through uncontrolled areas in the steppe but also dealt with the Kushan Empire (30-334 CE) to the north of India. The Kushan were descended from another nomadic group called the Yuezhi. Beyond Persia, trade routes extended into the Roman Empire and the Mediterranean Sea. Silky Sea routes linked Indian Ocean trade (400 BCE-350 CE) to the Mediterranean via the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. There were times when silk and jade from China passed through the markets of five different empires and countless independent towns. Roman glass and olive oil made the return journey, traded from merchant to merchant, town to town. Kind of like today’s trade–Containers of Chinese goods fill our habors, and we send them debt? Persian gold and lapis lazuli adorned wealthy homes in every direction. Ivory and gold carried northward along the eastern coast of Africa were popular items everywhere. Indian cottons, coral, pearls, and spices rounded out the offerings. 

China gradually built up their military defenses, but force alone was never enough to ensure peace in central Asia. Diplomacy was also essential and the easiest way to seal a treaty with a Xiongnu or Mongolian chieftain was to offer a Chinese princess as a bride. But Daddy, what language do they speak in Xiongnu?  Note that the term ‘princess’ in this context does not necessarily mean the daughter of the emperor but might refer to any other lady of the palace. The first recorded princess bride was Liu Xijun, sent to marry the king of the Wusan tribe at the end of the second century CE. It seems she was not thrilled with her fate, writing in a poem, “My family sent me off in marriage to the end of the world. . .All day my heart aches with pains of home: Were only I a brown goose and could fly home!” 

Among the most famous such princesses was Wang Zhaojun who married the Khan of the Southern Xiongnu in 33 BCE.  There are many stories about Wang Zhaojun, praising her great beauty and sharp wit. It is said the Chinese emperor had never actually met her when he assigned her to marry the khan, and that he regretted his choice when he met her the night before her departure. If he liked it then, guess he shoulda put a ring on it, but  The treaty was too important to go back on his word. Wang Zhaojun had a son with the khan and, after her first husband’s death,  asked if she could return to China. But Xiongnu custom was for the khan’s widow to marry his successor, and Chinese Confucian ideals dictated that she stay with her late husband’s family. So, that is what Wang Zhaojun had to do.  She stayed and had additional children with the new khan. Her children would go on to help maintain friendly ties between the Chinese and the Xiongnu.  Wang Zhaojun became such a legend in Chinese culture that poetry, art, and even operas would be produced to honor her memory for centuries. To many Chinese people, Wang Zhaojun’s acceptance of her role represented a huge personal sacrifice, in part because they could not imagine it was possible to enjoy life among the nomadic clans of the steppe.

Another princess was Wencheng Gongzhu who was sent to marry the emperor of Tibet in 641 CE. Her marriage actually brought an immediate end to war between Tibet and the Tang Dynasty in China. Like other princesses before her, Wencheng became a legend in later China because she was said to have been the one to introduce many Chinese innovations to Tibet, thus enlarging the cultural impact of China on much of the Asian continent. In any case, she must have traveled with a great deal of wealth to pass on to her new husband as well as an entourage that included servants, educators, and inventors. A diplomatic caravan would have taken months to make the journey from the Imperial capital of China to the home of the royal bridegroom. Royal caravans would have been well guarded and would have needed to stop for days at a time to make sure the bride was not too taxed. But plenty waxed, no doubt.

The market towns and oases of the Silk Road were home to hundreds of sedentary peoples who ran the town and catered to the caravans. There would have been women running the inns and selling in the market. Buddhism flourished along the Silk Road and nuns were less likely to travel than Buddhist monks, so the towns were home to women who had taken vows–mostly princesses avoiding arranged marriages. Dunhuang alone was home to five nunneries by the 9th century, the largest of which was home to 200 nuns. Devout Buddhist women who had not taken vows were still able to support the stupas and nunneries with donations.

Some women served as entertainers and courtesans. A steady traffic of travelers made for eager audiences and the art of the Sogdian people was very popular in the oasis towns. The Sogdians occupied what is now Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. The trademark dance of the 3rd and 4th centuries was not the Stan-Stan but a swirling dance in which the dancer whirled inside of a circle to mesmerizing music. Enterprising entertainers also offered Indian-style operas and Chinese drumming.

Larishka is the best-known example of a Silk Road entertainer, though she lived in the 9th century CE, when much of the long distance trade had been temporarily interrupted. Regional markets were still thriving and Larishka started out as a singer and dancer in the town of Kucha. As Uyghur armies passed through, however, Larishka caught the eye of a general who took her into his protection. After that, along with other servants and enslaved people, she traveled with the army’s caravan. In Dunhuang, she was left behind by her patron but soon picked up by a Chinese general. Not to generalize, but those generals she kept getting stuck with were generally useless! Later in life, her fortunes changed again and for a time she ran a school in Chang ‘an where she trained girls to dance and sing. After a violent rebellion took the city, Larishka was forced to flee and she ended her days as a refugee, arriving back in Kucha with only the clothes on her back. 

Whatever else shaped life on the Silk Road, the trade goods themselves deserve a closer look. Silk itself dates back to the Neolithic era in China. According to legend, the princess Xi Lengshi discovered silk fibers when a silk cocoon dropped into her teacup as she relaxed under a mulberry bush. As she watched the cocoon unravel in the warm water, she realized that it was a delicate but strong fiber. For many centuries, China had a monopoly on silk production, and they profited handsomely. It was kinda the cocoon that laid the golden egg.  Silk can be easily dyed to almost any color and it can be woven into simple, light fabric or heavy, intricate patterns. 

Women were usually entrusted with caring for silkworms, processing of the fiber, and weaving the cloth. China was so invested in supporting this industry that families willing to dedicate even a small plot of land to mulberry bushes and silkworm farming earned tax exemptions and other benefits.  Thus, the work women did helped to support their families. 

Silk was an ideal trade product. It was as valuable as gold currency but was far lighter, so it was easy to carry. In many cases wages were paid in bolts of silk fabric. I can see the signs: Help wanted. 10 bolts a shift to start. Silk was also among the sapta vatna, or the “Seven Treasures” of Buddhism, and silk was central to Buddhist worship and the veneration of the Buddha. In Persian and Roman elite families, wearing silk was a mark of status and wealth. Romans loved the fabric so much that they often unwound heavier cloth to make sheer fabrics and increase their profit Conservative Romans were scandalized at the almost transparent outfits of the rich and famous women of the city–though doctors were particularly fond of this practice because it increased colds in paying patients... Pliny the Elder complained further that the eastern trade in luxury goods was bankrupting the great Roman families. Romans had no idea what silk was made of—they thought it was a plant. Persians were among the first to learn the secrets of silk; some stories suggest that a resentful princess bride hid silk cocoons in her elaborate headdress as a gift to her Persian husband. Eat it Confucius.

A pearl is formed when a microscopic irritant gets stuck inside a bivalve like a clam or an oyster. The bivalve will naturally protect itself by developing a smooth layer around the irritant. This layer is made of the same smooth and shiny layer that lines the shell as the creature grows. For thousands of years, natural pearls were harvested from the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Mannar in Sri Lanka. During the Han Dynasty, a pearl industry emerged in the South China Sea.

In India, the pearl industry employed both men and women. Though the pearl trade was highly profitable, the danger of pearl diving and the tedium of shucking oysters meant that the real labor was carried out by low-ranking people who rarely got rich from the pearl industry. 

Finally, the impact of women on the Silk Road came out of their activities as consumers. In many cases, it was women who bought the trade goods that made life sweet—silks to wear, art to ornament their homes, and spices to flavor their food. The 1st century Roman cookbook by Apicius includes pepper, ginger, turmeric, and other eastern ingredients in just about every recipe. While all elites could enjoy fine dining and beautiful clothing, Pliny the Elder blamed the expensive tastes of women for the money Romans wasted on eastern goods. He himself lived in a splendid oceanside estate but it was the pearls, gems, and silk worn by women that offended him. At the same time, Roman sources reveal that eastern trade goods appealed to many women for reasons deeper than vanity or decadence. 

As in Buddhist traditions further east, the traditional religions and mystery cults of the Roman Empire placed a high value on the incense and spices used in prayer. Spices were also used in medicine.

[Setting up the Inquiry] The Silk Road trade routes have shifted along with every political and economic change over time. Some parts of the network still exist today or are in the midst of being recreated. But for centuries, the great empires of Europe, Africa, and Asia did business with each other in ports and markets run by regular folk. What do you think life was like on the Silk Road? 

BACK

NEXT

Draw your own conclusions

Learn how to teach with inquiry.

Power Point for Teachers

Include the basics in what you already teach.

Bibliography

Brown, Peter. “The Silk Road in Late Antiquity” in Reconfiguring the Silk Road, ed. By Victor H. Mair & Jane Hickman. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014.

Fitzpatrick, Matthew P. “Provincializing Rome: The Indian Ocean Trade Network and Roman Imperialism.” The Journal of World History, Vol. 22, No. 1 (March 2011), pp. 27-54.
 
Hansen, Valerie. The Silk Road: A New History. Oxford University Press, 2015.
 
Holmgren, Jennifer. “A Question of Strength: Military Capability and Princess-Bestowal in Imperial China’s Foreign Relations (Han to Ch’ing).” Monumenta Serica, Vol. 39 (1990-1991), pp. 31-85.

Miles, Rosalind. The Women’s History of the World. London, UK: Harper Collins Publishers, 1988.
 
Pi-Wei Lei, Daphne. “Wang Zhaojun on the Border: Gender and Intercultural Conflicts in Premodern Chinese Drama.” Asian Theatre Journal, Vol. 13, No. 2 (Autumn, 1996), pp. 229-237.
 
Pollard, Elizabeth Ann. “Indian Spices and Roman ‘Magic’ in Imperial and Late Antique Indomediterranea.” The Journal of World History, Vol. 24, No. 1 (March 2013), pp. 1-23.

​​Strayer, R. and Nelson, E., Ways Of The World. 3rd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016.
 
Whitfield, Susan. Life along the Silk Road. University of California Press, 2015.

Wright, David Curtis. “A Chinese Princess Bride’s Life and Activism among the Eastern Turks, 580-593 CE.” Journal of Asian History, Vol. 45, No. ½ (2011), pp. 39-48.

Primary AUTHOR:

Dr. Nancy Locklin-Sofer

Primary Reviewer:

​Kelsie Brook Eckert

Consulting Team

Editors

Kelsie Brook Eckert, Project Director
Coordinator of Social Studies Education at Plymouth State University

Dr. Nancy Locklin-Sofer, Consultant
Professor of History at Maryville University. 

Chloe Gardner, Consultant
PhD Candidate in Religious Studies at Edinburgh University

Dr. Whitney Howarth, Consultant
Former Professor of History at Plymouth State University

Jacqui Nelson, Consultant
Teaching Lecturer of Military History at Plymouth State University

​Maria Concepcion Marquez Sandoval
PhD Candidate in History at Arizona University

Amy Flanders
Humanities Teacher, Moultonborough Academy
Ron Kaiser
Humanities Teacher, Moultonborough Academy
Chris Canfield
Humanities Teacher, Moultonborough Academy

Reviewers

Ancient:
Dr. Kristin Heineman
Professor of History at Colorado State University
Dr. Bonnie Rock-McCutcheon
Professor of History at Wilson College
Sarah Stone
PhD Candidate in Religious Studies at Edinburgh University
Medieval:
Dr. Katherine Koh
Professor of History at La Sierra University
Dr. Jonathan Couser
Professor of History at Plymouth State University
Dr. Shahla Haeri
Professor of History at Boston University 
Lauren Cole
PhD Candidate in History at Northwestern University
Modern:
Dr. Jack Gronau
Professor of History at Northeastern University