Academic literature on the topic 'Shu xue xi'

Zvi Ben-Dor Benite has contributed an important piece to the history ofMuslims in imperial China, centered on a seventeenth-century Muslimgenealogy known as the Jing Xue Xi Chuan Pu (hereinafter Genealogy),which has been recently discovered, punctuated, and printed as the Jing XueXi Chuan Pu (Xining: Qinghai Renmin Chubanshe, 1989). His book followsSachiko Murata’s study of Confucian Muslim texts and teachers (namely,Chinese Gleams of Sufi Light: Wang Tai-Yu’s Great Learning of Pure andReal and Liu Chih’s Displaying the Concealment of the Real Realm [Albany,NY: State University of New York, 2000]) and illuminates many aspects ofthe Muslims’ cultural life in imperial China.The book consists of an introduction, four chapters, and a conclusionwith tables and illustrations. The first chapter decodes the Genealogy andoutlines the trajectory of the Chinese Muslims’ educational network in centraland coastal China. The second chapter explores the “social logic”behind the practices of the Muslim literati (p. 74) – that is, how they envisionedand understood the educational system, their roles, and Islam in referenceto imperial China’s existing sociocultural categories. This chapterreveals how Muslim educational institutions enabled and empoweredMuslim intellectuals to convert “Islam” and “Muslim” into valid social categoriesof school (xuepai) and to envision themselves as “literati” (shi) thatwere as much Chinese as Muslim.The third chapter analyzes the transformation of Islamic knowledge from“orality” to “texuality” (p. 158) and the formation of the Chinese Islamicschool, which was patterned on contemporary Chinese schools of scholarship.The fourth chapter explains how Confucian Muslims interpreted Islam,Prophet Muhammad, and Islamic canons as equivalents and counterparts ofConfucianism (enumerated in the Han Kitab as “Dao,” “Sage,” and “Classic”),and how the Muslim literati embraced Confucianism. In the ...

RESUMENEl propósito de este artículo es analizar cómo las parias: tributos pagados por los musulmanes, en este caso de las taifas de Zaragoza, Lérida y Tortosa principalmente al conde de Barcelona, tienen un papel esencial a la hora de situar a este condado en un lugar preeminente en Cataluña durante el gobierno del conde Ramón Berenguer I (1035-1076). Después de una pequeña introducción veremos cómo mediante la inclusión de ciertas cláusulas en los juramentos de vasallaje el conde barcelonés se aseguraba el monopolio de los ingresos de parias y cómo formaba una red clientelarredistribuyendo el dinero que recibía. También utilizaba el dinero procedente de las parias para expandir su territorio: por un lado compraba condados de manera directa y por otro incentivaba el establecimiento de nobles en peligrosas zonas fronterizas.PALABRAS CLAVE: Parias, Barcelona, Siglo XI, Ramón Berenguer I, taifas.ABSTRACTThe aim of this article is to analyse how the parias, which are tributes paid by the Muslims, in this example from the taifas of Zaragoza, Lérida and Tortosa, mainly to the Count of Barcelona, played an essential role in establishing this county’s prominence during the government of Count Ramón Berenguer I (1035-1076). After an introduction, we will see how by including certain terms and conditions in the vows of vassalage the Count ensured the monopoly of the income produced by theparias and how he redistributed the money among his vassals, thereby creating patronage networks. The Count also used the money from the parias to expand his territory: on the one hand he bought counties directly, and on the other and he used the money to help nobles establish themselves in dangerous frontier zones.KEY WORDS: Parias, Barcelona, Siglo XI, Ramón Berenguer I, Taifas. BIBLIOGRAFÍA:Balañá i Abadía, P., Els musulmans à Catalunya (713-1153): assaig de síntesi orientativa, Sabadell, Ausa, 1993.Balari Jovany, J., Orígenes Históricos de Cataluña, San Cugat del Vallès, Instituto internacional de cultura románica, 1964, (1º ed. 1899).Baraut, C., “Els documents, dels anys 1051-1075, de l’Arxiu Capitular de la Seu d’Urgell” en Urgellia, 6 (1983), p. 239Bonnassie, P., La Catalogne du milieu du Xe a la fin du XIe Siècle, Croissance et mutations d’une sociètè, Tome II, Tolouse, Université de Tolouse-Le Mirail, 1975.Bonnassie, P. Cataluña mil años atrás (siglos X-XI), Barcelona, Península, 1988.Chesé Lapeña, R., Col·lecció diplomàtica de Sant Pere d’Ager fins 1198, Volum I, Barcelona, Fundación Noguera, 2011Dèbax, H., “Les feudalitats al Llenguadoc i Catalunya. Algunes observacions sobre les divergències de l’evolució”, L’Avenç, 202, 1996, pp. 30-35.Falqué, E. (trad,), “Chronicón Compostellanum”, Habis, 14 (1983), pp. 73-84.Feliú de la Peña, N., Puyol, J. y Sobrequés i Callicó, J., Anales de Cataluña, Barcelona, Base, 1999.Feliu i Montfort, G. y Salrach, J.M., Els pergamins de l’Arxiu Comtal de Barcelona de Ramon Borrell a Ramon Berenguer I, Lérida, Fundación Noguera-Pagés, 1999.Fité i Llevot, F. y González i Montardit, E., Arnau Mir de Tost: Un señor de frontera al segle XI, Lérida, Universidad de Lérida.Joranson, E., The Danegeld in France, Rock Island (Illinois), Augustana Printers, 1923.Kosto, A.J., Making agreements in medieval Catalonia: power, order and the written world, 1000-1200, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2001Laliena, C., La formación del Estado feudal: Aragón y Navarra en la época de Pedro I, Huesca, Colección de estudios Altoaragoneses, 1996.Mínguez Fernández, J. M., La España de los siglos VI al XIII: guerra, expansión y transformaciones, Nerea, Pamplona, 2004.Negro Cortés, A. E., “Las parias abonadas por el reino de Granada (1246-1464). Aproximación a su estudio”, Roda da Fortuna, 2, 1-1 (2013), pp. 382-396.Negro Cortés, A.E., “Las parias: una introducción general” en F. Sabaté y J. Brufal (ed.) Investigar l’edat mitjana, Lérida, Pagés Editors, 2018, pp. 43-53.Negro Cortés, A. E., “Las parias en la historia medieval española” en M. Urraco y S. López (ed.) Catálogo de Investigación Joven de Extremadura, Cáceres, Universidad de Extremadura, 2017, pp. 255-258.Negro Cortés, A. E., “Explotación económica de los musulmanes del valle del Ebro: parias y almotexenas abonadas a los reinos de Aragón y Navarra durante el siglo XI”, Aragón en la Edad Media, 28 (2018), pp. 4-17.Puig i Cadafalch, J., Falguera, A. y Goday i Casals, J., L’Arquitectura romanica a Catalunya, Vol II, Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barberà del Vallés, 2001, (ed. facsímil).Rosell, F. M., Liber Feudorum Maior: cartulario real que se conserva en el Archivo de la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona, CSIC, 1945.Ruiz-Doménec, J. E., “Cataluña en 1025: los orígenes de una organización social”, Estudi General, 1-1 (1996), pp. 93-98.Ruiz-Domènec, J. E., L’Estructura feudal: sistema de parenitu i teoria de l’aliança en la societat catalana (c. 980-c. 1220), Edicions del Mall, Sant Boi de Llobregat, 1985.Sabaté, F., La feudalización de la sociedad catalana, Granada, Universidad de Granada, 2007.Sabaté, F., Història de Lleida. Volum 2: Alta Edad Mitjana, Pagès, Lérida, 2003.Salrach, J. M., Història de Catalunya, Volum II: El procés de feudalització (segles III-XII), Barcelona, Edicions 62, 1987.Sobrequés, S., Els grans comtes de Barcelona, Barcelona, Vincens Vives, 1961.Villanueva, J., Viage literario á las iglesias de España, Tomo 10, Madrid, Real Academia de la Historia, 1821,Zimmermann, M., “Et je t’empouvoirrai (potestativum te farei), à propos des relations entre fidélité et pouvoir en Catalogne au XIe siècle”, Mediévales, 10, 1986, pp, 17-36.Zurita, J., Anales de Aragón, (ed. A. Canellas), Institución Fernando el Católico, CSIC, Zaragoza, 1976.

Introdução: O manejo no atendimento odontológico infantil torna-se fatigante quando não há cooperação por parte da criança e/ou dos responsáveis. A fim de minimizar esses quadros, quando não existe sucesso das técnicas de abordagem comportamental tradicionais, métodos terapêuticos alternativos têm sido amplamente estudados, em especial a sedação consciente com óxido nitroso associada ou não a fármacos sedativos. Objetivo: Dessa forma, objetivou-se realizar uma revisão crítica da literatura norteando o cirurgião-dentista sobre o uso do óxido nitroso e sua associação a fármacos, esclarecendo suas indicações, vantagens e desvantagens. Métodos: Foi realizada uma busca integrativa da literatura nacional e internacional, entre 2004 a 2019, nas bases Bireme e PubMed, utilizando os descritores: sedação consciente, ansiedade no tratamento odontológico e óxido nitroso. Resultados: No total, 43 artigos foram incluídos nesse estudo. O óxido nitroso tem sido bastante utilizado na odontologia, especialmente na odontopediatria. Este atua no sistema nervoso, promovendo uma leve depressão do córtex cerebral e não deprime o centro respiratório, sendo considerado seguro. A técnica pode ser combinada a outros fármacos, como Midazolam e Prometazina, sendo que cada abordagem medicamentosa apresenta suas indicações e vantagens específicas. Conclusão: A sedação consciente mostra-se como um método viável, e quando bem indicada é considerada segura. Seu papel na Odontologia vem sendo consolidado com o tempo, em decorrência dos inúmeros benefícios encontrados. No entanto, ainda existe certa resistência na utilização da mesma, tanto por parte dos responsáveis como também de alguns profissionais. Descritores: Sedação Consciente; Ansiedade ao Tratamento Odontológico; Óxido Nitroso. Referências Jain S. Sedation: A Primerfor Pediatricians. Pediatr Ann. 2018;47(6):254-58. Ashley PF, Chaudhary M, Lourenço-Matharu L. Sedation of children undergoing dental treatment. Cochrane Database Syst Rev.2018;12:1-152 Mozafar S, Bargrizan M, Golpayegani MV, Shayeghi S, Ahmadi R . Comparison of nitrous oxide/midazolam and nitrous oxide/promethazine for pediatric dental sedation: A randomized, cross-over, clinical trial. Use of nitrous oxide for pediatric patients. Dent Res J (Isfahan). 2018;15(6):411-19. Johnson C, Weber-Gasparoni K, Slayton RL, Qian F. Conscious sedation attitudes and perceptions: a survey of american academy of pediatric dentistry members. Pediatr Dent. 2012;34(2):132-37. Hand D, Averley P, Lyne J, Girdler N. Advanced paediatric conscious sedation: an alternative to dental general anaesthetic in the U.K. SAAD Dig. 201;27:24-9. Holroyd I. Conscious sedation in pediatric dentistry. A short review of the current UK guidelines and the technique of inhalational sedation with nitrous oxide. Paediatr Anaesth. 2008;18(1):13-7. Naudi AB, Campbell C, Holt J, Hosey MT. An inhalation sedation patient profile at a specialist paediatric dentistry unit: a retrospective survey. Eur Arch Paediatr Dent. 2006;7(2):106-9, Blumer S, Iraqui R, Bercovich R, Peretz B. Oxygen saturation and pulserate change in children during sedation with oral midazolam and nitrous oxide. J Clin Pediatr Dent. 2018;42(6):461-64. Choi SC, Yang Y, Yoo S, Kim J, Jeong T, Shin TJ. Decelopment of a web-based nationwide Korean pediatric dental sedation registry. J Clin Pediatr Dent. 2017;41(6):478-81. Wilson S, Houpt M . Project USAP 2010: use of sedative agents in pediatric dentistry- a 25- yar follow up survey. J Pediatr Dent.2016;38(2):127-33. Wilson S, Gosnell ES. Survey of American academy of pediatric dentistry on nitrous oxide and sedation: 20 years later. J Pediatr Dent. 2016;38(5):385-92. White J, Wells M, Arheart KL, Donaldson M, Woods MA. A questionnaire of parental perceptions of conscious sedation in pediatric dentistry. J Pediatr. Dent. 2016;38(2):116-21. Nelson TM, Xu Z. Pediatric dental sedation: challenges and opportunities. Clin Cosmet Investig Dent. 2015;7:97-106. Czlusniak GD, Rehbein M, Regattieri LR. Sedação consciente com oxido nitroso e oxigênio (NO2/O2): avaliação clínica pela oxime Publ. UEPG Ci Biol Saúde. 2007;13(4):23-8. Bham F, Perrie H, Scribante J, Lee CA. Paediatric dental chair sedation: An audit of current practice in Gauteng, South Africa. S Afr Med J. 2015;105(6):461-64. Diedericks BJ. Paediatric dental sedation: Will your child return home unharmed? S Afr Med J. 2015;105(6):453. Wilson S, Gosnell ES. Survey of American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry on Nitrous Oxide and Sedation: 20 Years Later. J Pediatr Dent. 2016;38(5):385-92. Levering NJ, Welie JVM. Current status of nitrous oxide as a behavior management practice routine in pediatric dentistry. J Dent Child (Chic). 2011;78(1):24-30. Ashley PF, Chaudhary M, Lourenço-Matharu L. Sedation of children undergoing dental treatment. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2018;12:3877. Hariharan S, Hosey MT, Bernabe E . Comparing the profile of child patients attending dental general anaesthesia and conscioussedation services. Br Dent J. 2017;222(9):683-87. Miranda-Remijo D, Orsini MR, Corrêa-Faria P, Costa LR. Mother-child interactions and young child behavior during procedural conscious sedation. BMC Pediatr. 2016;16(1):201. Morin A, Ocanto R, Drukteinis L, Hardigan PC . Survey of Current Clinical and Curriculum Practices of Postgraduate Pediatric Dentistry Programs in Nonintravenous Conscious Sedation in the United States. J Pediatr Dent. 2016;38(5):398-405. Woolley SM, Hingston EJ, Shah J, Chadwick BL. Paediatric conscious sedation: views and experience of specialists in paediatric dentistry. Br Dent J. 2009;207(6):280-81. Hosey MT, Makin A, Jones RM, Gilchrist F, Carruthers M. Propofol intravenous conscious sedation for anxius children in a specialist pediatric dentistry unit. Int J Pediatr Dent. 2004;14:2-8 Nathan JE .Effective and safe pediatric oral conscious sedation: philosophy and practical considerations. Alpha Omegan. 2006;99(2):78-82. Wilson S, Houpt M. Project USAP 2010: Use of Sedative Agents in Pediatric Dentistry-a 25-year Follow-up Survey. Amer Acad of Ped Dent. 2016;38(2):127-33. Paterson SA, Tahmassebi JF. Paediatric dentistry in the new millennium: 3. Use of inhalation sedation in paediatric dentistry. Dent Update. 2003;30(7):350-58. Wilson S. A survey of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry membership: nitrous oxide and sedation. Pediatr Dent. 1996;18(4):287-93. Zhong T, Hu D. Technology of nitrous oxide/oxygen inhalation sedation and its clinical application in pediatric dentistry. Hua Xi Kou Qiang Yi Xue Za Zhi. 2014;32(1):101-4. Levering NJ, Welie JVM. Ethical considerations in the use of nitrous oxide in pediatric dentistry. J Am Coll Dent;77(2):40-7 American academy of pediatric dentistry: recommendations- best practices. Reference manual. 2018;40(6):281-86. American academy of pediatric dentistry. Guideline on use of nitrous oxide for pediatric dental patients. 2011;33(6):181-84. Wilson KE. Overview of paediatric dental sedation: 2. Nitrous oxide/oxygen inhalation sedation. Dent Update. 2013;40(10):822-29. Foley J. A prospective study of the use of nitrous oxide inhalation sedation for dental treatment in anxious children. Eur J Paediatr Dent. 2005;6(3):121-28. Paterson SA, Tahmassebi JF. Paediatric dentistry in the new millennium: 3. Use of inhalation sedation in paediatric dentistry.Dent Update. 2003;30(7):350- Veerkamp JS, Gruythuysen RJ, Van Amerongen WE, Hoogstraten J. Dental treatment of fearful children using nitrous oxide. Part 2: The parent's point of view. ASDC J Dent Child.1992;59(2):115-19. Veerkamp JS, Van Amerongen WE, Hoogstraten J, Groen HJ. Dental treatment of fearful children, using nitrous oxide. Part I: Treatment times. ASDC J Dent Child.1991;58(6): 453-457. Muller TM, Alessandretti R, Bacchi A, Tretto PHW. Eficácia e segurança da sedação consciente com óxido nitroso no tratamento pediátrico odontológico: uma revisão de estudos clínicos. J Oral Invest. 2018;7(1):88-111. Woolley SM, Hingston EJ, Shah J, Chadwick BL. Paediatric conscious sedation: views and experience of specialists in paediatric dentistry. Br Dent J. 2009;207(6):280-81. Kotz S. Withdrawal symptoms in long-term conscious sedation exposure of pediatric intensive care patients. Kinderkrankenschwester. 2012;31(8):330-32. Fuhrer CT 3rd, Weddell JA, Sanders BJ, Jones JE, Dean JA, Tomlin A.Effect on behavior of dental treatment rendered under conscious sedation and general anesthesia in pediatric patients. J Pediatr Dent. 2009;31(7):492-97. Holroyd I. Conscious sedation in pediatric dentistry. A short review of the current UK guidelines and the technique of inhalational sedation with nitrous oxide. Paediatr Anaesth. 2008;18(1):13-7. Alexopoulos E, Hope A, Clark SL, McHugh S, Hosey MT.A report on dental anxiety levels in children undergoing nitrous oxide inhalation sedation and propofol target controlled infusion intravenous sedation. Eur Arch Paediatr Dent. 2007;8(2):82-6.

The curtain rose. The howling of desert wind filled the performance hall in the Shanghai Grand Theatre. Into the center stage, where a scenic construction of a mountain cliff and a desert landscape was dimly lit, entered the character of the Daoist priest Wang Yuanlu (1849–1931), performed by Chen Yizong. Dressed in a worn and dusty outfit of dark blue cotton, characteristic of Daoist priests, Wang began to sweep the floor. After a few moments, he discovered a hidden chambre sealed inside one of the rock sanctuaries carved into the cliff.Signaled by the quick, crystalline, stirring wave of sound from the chimes, a melodious Chinese ocarina solo joined in slowly from the background. Astonished by thousands of Buddhist sūtra scrolls, wall paintings, and sculptures he had just accidentally discovered in the caves, Priest Wang set his broom aside and began to examine these treasures. Dawn had not yet arrived, and the desert sky was pitch-black. Priest Wang held his oil lamp high, strode rhythmically in excitement, sat crossed-legged in a meditative pose, and unfolded a scroll. The sound of the ocarina became fuller and richer and the texture of the music more complex, as several other instruments joined in.Below is the opening scene of the award-winning, theatrical dance-drama Dunhuang, My Dreamland, created by China’s state-sponsored Lanzhou Song and Dance Theatre in 2000. Figure 1a: Poster Side A of Dunhuang, My Dreamland Figure 1b: Poster Side B of Dunhuang, My DreamlandThe scene locates the dance-drama in the rock sanctuaries that today are known as the Dunhuang Mogao Caves, housing Buddhist art accumulated over a period of a thousand years, one of the best well-known UNESCO heritages on the Silk Road. Historically a frontier metropolis, Dunhuang was a strategic site along the Silk Road in northwestern China, a crossroads of trade, and a locus for religious, cultural, and intellectual influences since the Han dynasty (206 B.C.E.–220 C.E.). Travellers, especially Buddhist monks from India and central Asia, passing through Dunhuang on their way to Chang’an (present day Xi’an), China’s ancient capital, would stop to meditate in the Mogao Caves and consult manuscripts in the monastery's library. At the same time, Chinese pilgrims would travel by foot from China through central Asia to Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, playing a key role in the exchanges between ancient China and the outside world. Travellers from China would stop to acquire provisions at Dunhuang before crossing the Gobi Desert to continue on their long journey abroad. Figure 2: Dunhuang Mogao CavesThis article approaches the idea of “abroad” by examining the present-day imagination of journeys along the Silk Road—specifically, staged performances of the various Silk Road journey-themed dance-dramas sponsored by the Chinese state for enhancing its cultural and foreign policies since the 1970s (Kuang).As ethnomusicologists have demonstrated, musicians, choreographers, and playwrights often utilise historical materials in their performances to construct connections between the past and the present (Bohlman; Herzfeld; Lam; Rees; Shelemay; Tuohy; Wade; Yung: Rawski; Watson). The ancient Silk Road, which linked the Mediterranean coast with central China and beyond, via oasis towns such as Samarkand, has long been associated with the concept of “journeying abroad.” Journeys to distant, foreign lands and encounters of unknown, mysterious cultures along the Silk Road have been documented in historical records, such as A Record of Buddhist Kingdoms (Faxian) and The Great Tang Records on the Western Regions (Xuanzang), and illustrated in classical literature, such as The Travels of Marco Polo (Polo) and the 16th century Chinese novel Journey to the West (Wu). These journeys—coming and going from multiple directions and to different destinations—have inspired contemporary staged performance for audiences around the globe.Home and Abroad: Dunhuang and the Silk RoadDunhuang, My Dreamland (2000), the contemporary dance-drama, staged the journey of a young pilgrim painter travelling from Chang’an to a land of the unfamiliar and beyond borders, in search for the arts that have inspired him. Figure 3: A scene from Dunhuang, My Dreamland showing the young pilgrim painter in the Gobi Desert on the ancient Silk RoadFar from his home, he ended his journey in Dunhuang, historically considered the northwestern periphery of China, well beyond Yangguan and Yumenguan, the bordering passes that separate China and foreign lands. Later scenes in Dunhuang, My Dreamland, portrayed through multiethnic music and dances, the dynamic interactions among merchants, cultural and religious envoys, warriors, and politicians that were making their own journey from abroad to China. The theatrical dance-drama presents a historically inspired, re-imagined vision of both “home” and “abroad” to its audiences as they watch the young painter travel along the Silk Road, across the Gobi Desert, arriving at his own ideal, artistic “homeland”, the Dunhuang Mogao Caves. Since his journey is ultimately a spiritual one, the conceptualisation of travelling “abroad” could also be perceived as “a journey home.”Staged more than four hundred times since it premiered in Beijing in April 2000, Dunhuang, My Dreamland is one of the top ten titles in China’s National Stage Project and one of the most successful theatrical dance-dramas ever produced in China. With revenue of more than thirty million renminbi (RMB), it ranks as the most profitable theatrical dance-drama ever produced in China, with a preproduction cost of six million RMB. The production team receives financial support from China’s Ministry of Culture for its “distinctive ethnic features,” and its “aim to promote traditional Chinese culture,” according to Xu Rong, an official in the Cultural Industry Department of the Ministry. Labeled an outstanding dance-drama of the Chinese nation, it aims to present domestic and international audiences with a vision of China as a historically multifaceted and cosmopolitan nation that has been in close contact with the outside world through the ancient Silk Road. Its production company has been on tour in selected cities throughout China and in countries abroad, including Austria, Spain, and France, literarily making the young pilgrim painter’s “journey along the Silk Road” a new journey abroad, off stage and in reality.Dunhuang, My Dreamland was not the first, nor is it the last, staged performances that portrays the Chinese re-imagination of “journeying abroad” along the ancient Silk Road. It was created as one of many versions of Dunhuang bihua yuewu, a genre of music, dance, and dramatic performances created in the early twentieth century and based primarily on artifacts excavated from the Mogao Caves (Kuang). “The Mogao Caves are the greatest repository of early Chinese art,” states Mimi Gates, who works to increase public awareness of the UNESCO site and raise funds toward its conservation. “Located on the Chinese end of the Silk Road, it also is the place where many cultures of the world intersected with one another, so you have Greek and Roman, Persian and Middle Eastern, Indian and Chinese cultures, all interacting. Given the nature of our world today, it is all very relevant” (Pollack). As an expressive art form, this genre has been thriving since the late 1970s contributing to the global imagination of China’s “Silk Road journeys abroad” long before Dunhuang, My Dreamland achieved its domestic and international fame. For instance, in 2004, The Thousand-Handed and Thousand-Eyed Avalokiteśvara—one of the most representative (and well-known) Dunhuang bihua yuewu programs—was staged as a part of the cultural program during the Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece. This performance, as well as other Dunhuang bihua yuewu dance programs was the perfect embodiment of a foreign religion that arrived in China from abroad and became Sinicized (Kuang). Figure 4: Mural from Dunhuang Mogao Cave No. 45A Brief History of Staging the Silk Road JourneysThe staging of the Silk Road journeys abroad began in the late 1970s. Historically, the Silk Road signifies a multiethnic, cosmopolitan frontier, which underwent incessant conflicts between Chinese sovereigns and nomadic peoples (as well as between other groups), but was strongly imbued with the customs and institutions of central China (Duan, Mair, Shi, Sima). In the twentieth century, when China was no longer an empire, but had become what the early 20th-century reformer Liang Qichao (1873–1929) called “a nation among nations,” the long history of the Silk Road and the colourful, legendary journeys abroad became instrumental in the formation of a modern Chinese nation of unified diversity rooted in an ancient cosmopolitan past. The staged Silk Road theme dance-dramas thus participate in this formation of the Chinese imagination of “nation” and “abroad,” as they aestheticise Chinese history and geography. History and geography—aspects commonly considered constituents of a nation as well as our conceptualisations of “abroad”—are “invariably aestheticized to a certain degree” (Bakhtin 208). Diverse historical and cultural elements from along the Silk Road come together in this performance genre, which can be considered the most representative of various possible stagings of the history and culture of the Silk Road journeys.In 1979, the Chinese state officials in Gansu Province commissioned the benchmark dance-drama Rain of Flowers along the Silk Road, a spectacular theatrical dance-drama praising the pure and noble friendship which existed between the peoples of China and other countries in the Tang dynasty (618-907 C.E.). While its plot also revolves around the Dunhuang Caves and the life of a painter, staged at one of the most critical turning points in modern Chinese history, the work as a whole aims to present the state’s intention of re-establishing diplomatic ties with the outside world after the Cultural Revolution. Unlike Dunhuang, My Dreamland, it presents a nation’s journey abroad and home. To accomplish this goal, Rain of Flowers along the Silk Road introduces the fictional character Yunus, a wealthy Persian merchant who provides the audiences a vision of the historical figure of Peroz III, the last Sassanian prince, who after the Arab conquest of Iran in 651 C.E., found refuge in China. By incorporating scenes of ethnic and folk dances, the drama then stages the journey of painter Zhang’s daughter Yingniang to Persia (present-day Iran) and later, Yunus’s journey abroad to the Tang dynasty imperial court as the Persian Empire’s envoy.Rain of Flowers along the Silk Road, since its debut at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on the first of October 1979 and shortly after at the Theatre La Scala in Milan, has been staged in more than twenty countries and districts, including France, Italy, Japan, Thailand, Russia, Latvia, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and recently, in 2013, at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York.“The Road”: Staging the Journey TodayWithin the contemporary context of global interdependencies, performing arts have been used as strategic devices for social mobilisation and as a means to represent and perform modern national histories and foreign policies (Davis, Rees, Tian, Tuohy, Wong, David Y. H. Wu). The Silk Road has been chosen as the basis for these state-sponsored, extravagantly produced, and internationally staged contemporary dance programs. In 2008, the welcoming ceremony and artistic presentation at the Olympic Games in Beijing featured twenty apsara dancers and a Dunhuang bihua yuewu dancer with long ribbons, whose body was suspended in mid-air on a rectangular LED extension held by hundreds of performers; on the giant LED screen was a depiction of the ancient Silk Road.In March 2013, Chinese president Xi Jinping introduced the initiatives “Silk Road Economic Belt” and “21st Century Maritime Silk Road” during his journeys abroad in Kazakhstan and Indonesia. These initiatives are now referred to as “One Belt, One Road.” The State Council lists in details the policies and implementation plans for this initiative on its official web page, www.gov.cn. In April 2013, the China Institute in New York launched a yearlong celebration, starting with "Dunhuang: Buddhist Art and the Gateway of the Silk Road" with a re-creation of one of the caves and a selection of artifacts from the site. In March 2015, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s top economic planning agency, released a new action plan outlining key details of the “One Belt, One Road” initiative. Xi Jinping has made the program a centrepiece of both his foreign and domestic economic policies. One of the central economic strategies is to promote cultural industry that could enhance trades along the Silk Road.Encouraged by the “One Belt, One Road” policies, in March 2016, The Silk Princess premiered in Xi’an and was staged at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing the following July. While Dunhuang, My Dreamland and Rain of Flowers along the Silk Road were inspired by the Buddhist art found in Dunhuang, The Silk Princess, based on a story about a princess bringing silk and silkworm-breeding skills to the western regions of China in the Tang Dynasty (618-907) has a different historical origin. The princess's story was portrayed in a woodblock from the Tang Dynasty discovered by Sir Marc Aurel Stein, a British archaeologist during his expedition to Xinjiang (now Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region) in the early 19th century, and in a temple mural discovered during a 2002 Chinese-Japanese expedition in the Dandanwulike region. Figure 5: Poster of The Silk PrincessIn January 2016, the Shannxi Provincial Song and Dance Troupe staged The Silk Road, a new theatrical dance-drama. Unlike Dunhuang, My Dreamland, the newly staged dance-drama “centers around the ‘road’ and the deepening relationship merchants and travellers developed with it as they traveled along its course,” said Director Yang Wei during an interview with the author. According to her, the show uses seven archetypes—a traveler, a guard, a messenger, and so on—to present the stories that took place along this historic route. Unbounded by specific space or time, each of these archetypes embodies the foreign-travel experience of a different group of individuals, in a manner that may well be related to the social actors of globalised culture and of transnationalism today. Figure 6: Poster of The Silk RoadConclusionAs seen in Rain of Flowers along the Silk Road and Dunhuang, My Dreamland, staging the processes of Silk Road journeys has become a way of connecting the Chinese imagination of “home” with the Chinese imagination of “abroad.” Staging a nation’s heritage abroad on contemporary stages invites a new imagination of homeland, borders, and transnationalism. Once aestheticised through staged performances, such as that of the Dunhuang bihua yuewu, the historical and topological landscape of Dunhuang becomes a performed narrative, embodying the national heritage.The staging of Silk Road journeys continues, and is being developed into various forms, from theatrical dance-drama to digital exhibitions such as the Smithsonian’s Pure Land: Inside the Mogao Grottes at Dunhuang (Stromberg) and the Getty’s Cave Temples of Dunhuang: Buddhist Art on China's Silk Road (Sivak and Hood). 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