ABSTRACT
U pon my first arrival in Xian in the spring of 1983, besides the remnants of its Ming Dynasty (1368–1643) wall, the place looked no different from any other Chinese city. It had endless rows of low-rise apartment buildings interrupted only by large and already decaying Soviet-style buildings. However, upon making my way to the area north of the city’s Drum Tower, which is a warren of narrow streets and alleys filled with small shops, I discovered a magnificent looking structure created exquisitely in traditional Chinese style; it was the city’s grand mosque, originally built in 742 CE. Unlike other monasteries and temples that the government had reconstructed in the 1980s to earn tourist dollars and demonstrate Communist religious tolerance, the mosque was a functioning place of worship that devout Chinese Muslims zealously guarded and maintained. This building, with its venerable age and once-foreign religion, brought home that Xian had been the storied Silk Road’s eastern terminus. The Silk Road was a series of caravan routes that traversed the steppes and deserts of Eurasia and linked together East Asia, South Asia, and West Asia. Its eastern terminus attracted foreigners from across Eurasia who brought not only their splendid goods but also exotic religions.
