408 pp. March 2003
cloth, ISBN 978-0-8248-2593-5, $57.00
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Keywords: |
South Asia
China
history
religion
Buddhism |
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Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade: The Realignment of Sino-Indian Relations, 600-1400
by Tansen Sen
Asian Interactions and Comparisons
Published with the Association for Asian Studies
“One usually hesitates to pronounce a work a landmark in its field, but Tansen Sen’s book certainly deserves this title. It is a major achievement in the field of Sino-Indian studies, and also contributes significantly to the realm of Chinese studies and Buddhist studies. This is exemplary scholarship at every level. It fills a major gap in our understanding of the historical development of relations between India and China. It breaks new ground and is quite awesome in its scope and reach. It has a bold central argument, lucidly presented, that is never lost sight of in all the immense wealth of detail that is marshalled in its support.” —China Report
“Challenging and timely.” —Journal of Asian Studies, February 2004 “Rich in detail and referencing.” —New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies 6 (2004) “Forcefully argued, well documented, and clearly written.” —John Kieschnick, Academia Sinica “Overall, this is a remarkable book. It is a real tour de force of religious and diplomatic history and has put forward a new and convincing historical interpretation. It is the most thorough book on the subject of Sino-Indian relations and Buddhism in medieval China and India yet written and will certainly become the standard book on the subject.” —China Review International, Fall 2003 (Download full review) “This is a work which will make details of Buddhist doctrine interesting to economic historians and trade links interesting to students of religion.” —Dannyreviews.com
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. He 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. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, however, secular bulk and luxury goods replaced Buddhist ritual items. Moreover, policies to encourage foreign trade instituted by the Chinese government and the Indian kingdoms transformed the China-India trading circuit into a key segment of cross-continental commerce.
Tansen Sen is associate professor of Asian history and religions at Baruch College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.
Read the introduction (PDF).
table of contents
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