Through the Jade Gate- China to Rome: Volume I

John Hill's eagerly awaited second edition - in two volumes - of the annotated translation of the Hou Hanshu - renamed Through the Jade Gate - China to Rome - has been extensively revised. The book grew so big that it had to be published in two volumes. Readers will require both volumes. - Volume I includes the original Chinese text, a detailed introduction, maps and comprehensive notes to the text. - Volume II has 26 appendices which highlight extra fascinating information of special interest - such as Rhinoceroses, the Story of Sea-silk and the Significance and Use of Skull Cups - and the comprehensive bibliography. This updated, definitive English translation of the complete Chronicle on the Western Regions from the Hou Hanshu, presents an intriguing picture of this little-known period of history. It describes the origins of the Silk Routes using information collected from soldiers, merchants, envoys and spies. The text is based on the report to the Chinese Emperor An, circa 125 CE, by Ban Yong, his senior general in the Western Regions. The Chronicle contains the earliest geographical, historical, political, economic and cultural information in Chinese about the Roman Empire, Egypt, India, Parthia and many other kingdoms, and also describes the routes between East and West. Along these arteries travelled people, cultures, languages, philosophies, religions, technologies, animals, plants, countless precious and rare trade items, and the knowledge of distant places. These exchanges were critical for the development and flowering of the great civilizations of China, Rome, Parthia, the Kushans and India, and unquestionably laid the foundations of modern globalisation. The first edition of this work received critical acclaim from scholars world-wide and is widely quoted in academic works. This much expanded second edition should prove to be an even more useful guide and source-book on the early history of the Silk Routes. "This treasure house of remarkable facts and speculations should appeal to both scholars and the curious."


About the Author
I live with my long-time partner and editor, Jo Wynter, on a remote property in a beautiful tropical forest, west of Cooktown, Queensland, over 300 kilometers (186 miles) from the nearest traffic lights. Although I was born in Montréal, Canada (in 1943), I grew up in Port of Spain, Trinidad, West Indies. I am of English and French background with a dash of Beothuk - the natives of Newfoundland, who were hounded to extinction in the 1820s or 1830s. As a young man I trained as a Field Assistant and Laboratory Technician in virology in Trinidad. I attended the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. I began working in fisheries research in Alaska both at sea (for a full year) and ashore in Sandpoint in 1962-63. I moved to Australia in January 1964, and am now a citizen. I graduated as a Registered Psychiatric Nurse in Sydney in 1967, and have worked as a nurse in both Australia and Canada. I lived for more than three years in India in 1979-81 doing research on Indian and Tibetan history. I have worked for many years in remote Aboriginal communities in Australia. I am an independent scholar, and have been fascinated by the exchange of peoples, cultures, religions and trade between Asia, Europe and Africa since my youth. I have travelled extensively in Asia since 1973 exploring archaeological sites, museums and routes. I began translating Chinese texts while living in India and have continued gathering information, and communicating with historians, linguists, archaeologists and other specialists around the world ever since. Their many generous contributions have helped make it an authoritative and useful historical source. I published the first edition of this work in 2009 which received scholarly acceptance and compliments world-wide. I believe this revised and much-expanded edition will remain the definitive reference in its field for many years to come.