Civilizations of the Silk Road

Professor H. K. Chang, well known as a biomedical engineering expert, 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. He is one of those rare personalities who first excelled in the hard sciences but went on to devote himself as an educator and to the humanities. He was dean of engineering at the University of Pittsburgh and served City University of Hong Kong as president 1996–2007. In recent years, Professor Chang has lectured or taught general education courses at University of Paris, Cairo University, Bosphorus University (Istanbul), Bilkent University (Ankara), University of Delhi, Peking University, Tsinghua University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, China Europe International Business School, and Shandong University. His academic interests now focus on cultural exchanges across the Eurasian landmass, particularly along the Silk Road. Author of a dozen books on civilizations and education, he has interwoven his 40 years of travel experiences along the Silk Road—from China’s northwest to India, Central and West Asia, Caucasus, Asia Minor, and the Mediterranean—into this tome.

1. "Civilization": Origins, Diversity & Continuity 2. Alexander’s Eastern Campaigns, Hellenism & Gandharan Art 3. Mysteries of the Western Regions: Pioneering Zhang Qian & Han Dynasty Explorers 4. Buddhism’s Genesis: To the West Is a Deity, Buddha Is His Name 5. Buddhism’s Spread in China: Contemporaries Kumarajiva and Faxian— The Encounter that Didn’t Happen 6. Sogdians along the Silk Road 7. Golden Peaches of Samarkand 8. Silk & Paper 9. Printing Migrates West, Alphabets Migrate East 10. Origins and Spread of Islamic Civilization 11. Islam in China 12. Rise of the Turkic-speaking Peoples and their Westward Migration 13. Westward Migration of the Turkic Peoples: From the Syr Darya to the Danube 14. Eurasia under Mongol Rule 15. The Timurid Empire & the Ming Treasure Voyages