Silk and Religion

Xinru Liu studies the silk trade in Eurasia between the seventh and twelfth centuries to explore how religious ideas affected economic behavior. Long-distance silk trade was established for centuries in ancient Eurasia, well before the state in Tang China and the Byzantine Empire set up statesilk industries and clothing codes to regulate the trade and consumption of silk textiles. Silk textiles were invested with symbolic meaning and their use restricted to bureaucratic and religious hierarchies in both regions.