“A Silk Road Legacy: The Spread of Buddhism and Islam*” is written by Xinru Liu, a professor at the College of New Jersey. Xinru Liu is an associate professor of history on that campus. He has written many other peer reviewed history journals in his past. This specific article of his that I chose was a part of The Journal of World History in 2011 and was published by The University of Hawai’i Press. It was first presented at the 2009 Numata Conference “Buddhism and Islam,” in May of 2009 at McGill University, Montreal, Canada. A professor by the name of Lynda Shaffer has been Liu’s coauthor and the first reader of his writings for the past decade. She also edited, revised this article as well. This article endeavors the challenge of examining …show more content…
Liu’s purpose is to explain Islamization before and after for Central Asian people’s religious and social lives. He addresses how Tukharistan and Sogdiana became the homeland of Central Asian Buddhists, some of which played a major role in the spread of Buddhist faith from South Asia to China. He explains how a unique and robust central Asian culture was created from the arrival of other cultures such as Indian, Chinese and Persian. Liu then says “Central Asia would produce so many outstanding, politicians, religious leaders, and scientists during its transition from Buddhist religious sphere to an Islamic domain the years between 700 and 1100 C.E.” The Sodgians taught and spread Buddhism throughout China, after they first learned about the religion in India. During the sixth and seventh centuries, Sogdians, Turkharians and Turks followed the tenets of a variety of religions, especially Buddhism, and Zoroastrianism. They shared a culture that was imbued with drinking, music, and dancing that may well have evolved from local, Hellenistic and nomadic