Includes bibliographical references (p. [329]-371) and index.
關鍵詞
Sino-Indian; Trade; Diplomace; Tang dynasty; Song dynasty; History
摘要
中印關係在7-15世紀間，從以佛教為主導轉變為以商業為重心。本書透過檢視其間之發展，分析二者互動情況，進而對唐代中印關係提出新見，認為唐代之所以著稱於世，不僅是因宗教交流與外交得利，也是因此時中國乃佛教學術. 修持與朝聖的中心，並據以主張宗教交流足與商業交易匹敵。10世紀前，中印貿易與譯經習習相關；11~12世紀時，佛教的法物為奢華的物資取代，加以中印外交政策，成兩國間貿易循環轉變為兩塊大陸間商業交流之關鍵所在。 Relations between China and India underwent a dramatic transformation from Buddhist-dominated to commerce-centered exchanges in the seventh to fifteenth centuries. The unfolding of this transformation，its causes, and wider ramifications are examined in this masterful analysis of the changing patterns of interaction between the two most important cultural spheres in Asia. Tansen Sen offers a new perspective on Sino-Indian relations during the Tang dynasty (618-907)，arguing that the period is notable not only for religious and diplomatic exchanges but also for the process through which China emerged as a center of Buddhist learning，practice，and pilgrimage. Before the seventh century，the Chinese clergy--given the spatial gap between the sacred Buddhist world of India and the peripheral China--suffered from a "borderland complex." The emergence of China as a center of Buddhism had profound implications on religious interactions between the two countries and is cited by Sen as one of the main causes for the weakening of China's spiritual attraction toward India. At the same time，the growth of indigenous Chinese Buddhist schools and teachings retrenched the need for doctrinal input from India. A detailed examination of the failure of Buddhist translations produced during the Song dynasty (960-1279) demonstrates that these developments were responsible for the unraveling of religious bonds between the two countries and the termination of the Buddhist phase of Sino-Indian relations. Sen proposes that changes in religious interactions were paralleled by changes in commercial exchanges. For most of the first millennium，trading activities between India and China were closely connected with and sustained through the transmission of Buddhist doctrines. The eleventh and twelfth centuries, however，witnessed dramatic changes in the patterns and structure of mercantile activity between the two countries. Secular bulk and luxury goods replaced Buddhist ritual items, maritime channels replaced the overland Silk Road as the most profitable conduits of commercial exchange，and many of the merchants involved were followers of Islam rather than Buddhism. Moreover，policies to encourage foreign trade instituted by the Chinese government and the Indian kingdoms contributed to the intensification of commercial activity between the two countries and transformed the China-India trading circuit into a key segment of cross-continental commerce.
