Historian-in-Residence Programme: Dr Joseph S.P. Ting, Talk on Merchants on the Waves: Vietnam’s trading ties with countries along the Maritime Silk Roads

Language: Cantonese

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Programme details
The Silk Roads, the theme of PolyU’s first-ever Historian-in-Residence Programme, have existed for thousands of years, passing through and connecting cultures, empires, societies and peoples in Asia and Europe. Routes across land and sea allowed merchandise, commodities, knowledge, ideas and beliefs to be exchanged, leaving a profound historical and cultural legacy for humanity.
 
The Maritime Silk Roads took shape in the Qin and Han dynasties, flourishing in the Sui and Tang dynasties. Vietnam, one of the countries along the Maritime Silk Roads, came to be increasingly exposed to new cultures from both east and west. Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty, who took a keen interest in expanding the empire’s Silk Roads, established a series of prefectures along the northern Vietnamese coast, subordinate to a new city called Giao Chi. For the next thousand years, the Vietnamese transacted with the Chinese and Sinicized indigenous peoples for a variety of goods. In fact, Emperor Wu sent Viet ambassadors into southern seas to gather information and search the sea markets for precious items, bringing with them gold and various silks to establish trade relations with other kingdoms.
 
Dr Joseph Ting, PolyU’s Historian-in-Residence 2018/19 and former Chief Curator of the Hong Kong Museum of History, will shed light on Vietnam’s trading ties with countries along the Maritime Silk Roads over the course of history. Dr Ting will also explore how Vietnam and its surrounding countries have shaped each other economically and culturally through the myriad encounters made possible by the Silk Roads.