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| The Golden Peaches of Samarkand: A Study of T'ang Exotics | 
 enlarge | Author: Edward H. Schafer
Publisher: University of California Press
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (10 reviews)
Sales Rank: 233895
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 410
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.6 x 6.8 x 0.9
ISBN: 0520054628
Dewey Decimal Number: 380.0951
EAN: 9780520054622
ASIN: 0520054628
Publication Date: September 6, 1985
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
In the seventh century the kingdom of Samarkand sent formal gifts of fancy yellow peaches, large as goose eggs and with a color like gold, to the Chinese court at Ch'ang-an. What kind of fruit these golden peaches really were cannot now be guessed, but they have the glamour of mystery, and they symbolize all the exotic things longed for, and unknown things hoped for, by the people of the T'ang empire.
This book examines the exotics imported into China during the T'ang Dynasty (A.D. 618-907), and depicts their influence on Chinese life. Into the land during the three centuries of T'ang came the natives of almost every nation of Asia, all bringing exotic wares either as gifts or as goods to be sold. Ivory, rare woods, drugs, diamonds, magicians, dancing girls--the author covers all classes of unusual imports, their places of origin, their lore, their effort on costume, dwellings, diet, and on painting, sculpture, music, and poetry.
This book is not a statistical record of commercial imports and medieval trade, but rather a "humanistic essay, however material its subject matter."
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 A great book--unless you need the reference section July 25, 2007
When this book arrived yesturday I couldn't wait to dive into it. I'm doing a research project on medieval aviculture in China and had heard from a friend this book might have key information I was looking for. Sure enough, the information is golden. But the bibliography is NOT, so much that I have to downgrade from 5 stars to 3 stars. All over the notes section are abbreviations that you cannot readily find explained. Rather than just copying and pasting the names of the works, you get TTT and the like. hello, but what is that???
Bibliographies and notes have to be useful so that researchers like me can consult the same sources used in the work. This work is beautiful and reads well, but is terrible to check out. How can I check sources if there's no way to figure out what the sources used really are? How do I determine if there were rose breasted cockatoos in China if I cannot see the original for myself? Maybe this author doesn't know a cockatoo from a cockapoo! It's why I'm expected to check the bibliography and read the originals. So read the book but don't expect to get great research out of it.
Oh and one more thing: he doesn't use hanyu pinyin in this book. I don't know what romanization system he's using, but heck that I can figure out who, what, or where when it comes to Chinese language words and names! Again, this is important for a researcher!
Would it hurt to write "Beijing" instead of "Peking?"
A Scholarly Resource April 17, 2007
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
The Golden Peaches of Samarkand has been very well-beloved by professional Sinologists ever since it first came out in 1963. Happily, it still remains available, 44 years later, in this paperback incarnation. The book features an obsessivly complete listing, with judicious commentary, of nearly every trade product that came into Tang China by sea or land. Equally helpful, are the end notes which reference each such product to the Chinese sources that mention it.
However, general readers will want to know that this is a very detailed reference book that is mostly of interest to professionals. Don't be misled by the glowing (and deservedly so) scholarly reviews! An example:
"PATCHOULI
A Malayan mist yields the fragrant black oil which was called malabathron or phyllon Indikon, "Indian leaf," in the classical West. Its Sanskrit name is tamala-pattra, but we know it by a name derived from Tamil, paccilai, "green leaf." In Chinese, patchouli was called "bean-leaf aromatic," from its appearance..."
If the idea of reading 300 pages like this turns you on, hey, go for it :-)
 The Kunstkammer of the Tang Dynasty September 24, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I came by this book because of its tantalizing title: The Golden Peaches of Samarkand. Who can resist such a juicy exotic invitation? I couldn't, so I plunged into this intriguing essay on Tang exotics and I must say I emerged enriched.
Edward Schafer (1913-1991) was truly a great Chinese scholar because in an university scenario in which much had already been said on the Tang period and on the scientific and cultural life of Chine during the Early Middle Ages (that by the way for the Chinese represent what for Europe was the Renaissance if a similar comparison in proper) by major scholars such as Needham, he managed to create and original, interesting and nowadays indispensable reference book for that historical period. In a plethora of texts that all give a different view of the same topics endlessly repeating the known historical facts, this "microhistory" essay tangentially describes Tang civilization touching and exploring the lives and desires of rich men in another age.
The Tang Dynasty (618-907) ruled during a period in which China probably was the most advanced civilization of the world and as in all rich societies the search for the superfluous became a necessity. The development of commerce by land and see, the safety of the Silk Road to the West and the political necessity or at time the disinterested pleasure of foreign kings in sending gifts and tokens of gratitude to the Tang emperors all contributed to the afflux to Chang'an (the Tang capital of the times) of all the strangest, rarest and most expensive luxury goods. This stimulated the emperors' and the peoples curiosity giving way to more requests, descriptions in poetry, amazing tales, representations in art and downright falsifications of these exotic artefacts.
Kunstkammers have always been the expression of the culture and richness (remember Rudolph the II in Prague) and have represented a further stimulus to civilization. Reading this book we are amazed by the quantity and quality of foreign goods known by the Chinese. Schafer, with a beautiful prose, often interrupted by his own or A. Waverly's translation (translator of The Monkey) of Chinese poems by major Tang artists, leads us by categories to a deep knowledge of the period's reality and imagination. A apparently sterile catalogue of men, domestic and wild animals, birds, furs and feathers, plants, woods, foods, aromatics (spices), drugs, textiles, pigments, minerals, jewels, metals, secular and sacred objects and books in reality opens up like with a magical key an infinity of little rooms full of "mirabilia", each linked to stories, poems, sages and monks, pharmacists and alchemists, emperors and their wives and court men.
Other reviewers have suggested not to read the book cover to cover, but to skim through it following your curiosity. Actually I went through the book cover to cover, reading all the notes that represent more than one fifth of the text and I did not find it particularly heavy. Instead I was stimulated all along to consult other books for the illustrations, which unfortunately are missing for the major part. I received great help from the beautiful "Three Thousand Years of Chinese Painting" by Yang Xin and others, and I also from the old book on "China, a History in Art" by Bradley Smith and Wan-go Wen. For the historical reference I used J.A.G. Robert's the "A Concise History of China" that helps to understand the economical and political situation.
Naturally, this book would be best read with a solid preparation in Chinese history but I think it is enjoyable even without it. Surely it awakes curiosity for further study of that magnificent historical period.
A golden nugget in Chinese historiography.
Brilliant Work by the Best T'ang Scholar Yet August 2, 2005
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This work is brilliant. That said, don't pick this up expecting to read cover to cover. View it more as a thematically-organized encyclopedia of T'ang exotics and you'll enjoy the experience much more. A must-read for any student of the T'ang period.
Golden Peach of Literary and historic value February 27, 2003
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
... I haven't read any book like this for a long long time. The flowing texture of writing, the unique choice of organization, the depth of the author's knowledge in T'ang empire and its relation with city-states in Serindia as well as other peripheral states, the grasp of Chinese classical literary texts, of this book, clearly set a high standard that's hard to surpass. This is not a chronicle of events between 7 and 10th century. There is no clear time axis to the theme. Yet it reveals to us a vivid, alternative facade of T'ang empire. It is not an overstatement to say, for me, it is rather shocking to find out that so many things that are considered quintessentially Chinese are actually product of people of many origins. For example, in Chapter II Men | Musicians and Dancers, the most celebrated Chinese classic "Rainbow Chemise, Feathered Dress" was actually a rendition of Serindian song "Brahman". (This song is now lost. Once rediscovered by a lyricst of Sung era, 2-3 centuries later. Lost again later on). This once again strengthen my view of Sinic culture as a fruition of multi-cultural interation. I do wish author had put in the book a timetable of major political events. He had only one for dynasties timetable, and one succession table for T'ang Emporers. For example, when he repeatedly referred to the conquest by T'ang (Emporor Tai Chung) of Kogoryo, if he has a table for political events we wouldn't have to confer a history book to find it out what year that's and how that's related to other major events (such as Rebellion of Rokhsan). Except this tiny blemish, I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in history as well as cultures. To wrap up this petite review, I would like to put down a few footnotes to the book, for other intelligent readers: 1. The Grand Canal (referred to by the Author as "The River of Transport", a literal translation) was built in the reign of Emporer Young, Sui Dynasty which preceded T'ang. This one thousands odd miles long acquaduct contribute greatly to the nation's unity, prosperity. Perhaps, for the first time, the economy of the south and the north are truely united. 2. In the book, Author translated Chinese old names for Rome as "the Great Chin". This is correct only in modern times if one is to interpret the word "Da Chin"(Rome) literally. According to some scholar, Da Chin came from the ancient word "Dasina" which means "the one from the west". The other proper name for Rome is "Fu Lin" which derived from "FRome", a phonetic variant of "Rome". Enjoy the book
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