Name_________________________ Teacher _______________
Rotation _______
Directions: Use the multiple resources below to complete the 3 activities on the next page.
Article: Cultural Diffusion & the Silk Route of Ancient China, By: Laura Leddy Turner, Demand Media:
http://classroom.synonym.com/cultural-diffusion-silk-route-ancient-china-6945.html
Website: The Silk Road: http://virtuallabs.stanford.edu/silkroad/SilkRoad.html
Website: American Museum of Natural History: Anthropology (Scroll halfway down):
http://www.amnh.org/explore/ology/anthropology/?fid=29624
Website: Xian: http://www.mitchellteachers.org/ChinaTour/SilkRoadProject/silk_road_xian.html
Website: Dunhuang: http://www.mitchellteachers.org/ChinaTour/SilkRoadProject/silk_road_dunhuang.html
Website: Kashgar: http://www.mitchellteachers.org/ChinaTour/SilkRoadProject/silk_road_kashgar.html
Video: The Silk Road: Connecting the ancient world through trade (5:19 minutes):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn3e37VWc0k
1. Complete the graphic organizer below to show the cultural practices and products that
spread throughout Europe and Asia via the Silk Road.
Cultural Practices




Use of gold-wrapped
thread and intricate
knots
Draw Loom method of
weaving silk
Astronomy
Herbs for medicine
Cultural Products





Blown Glass
Silk
Landscape Paintings
Blue-and-white TinGlazed Ware
Water Wheel
Paper
Other


Bubonic Plague
Flea-Eggs
2. Identify and paste pictures of products that have diffused from the Silk Road.
Invented in
China
Picture
Impact Today
When silk was first
discovered, it was
reserved exclusively for
the use of the ruler.
Everyone can use and
wear silk today.
The printer carved
designs and letters out
of a wood block, inked
the raised portion,
placed soft paper on the
block, and rubbed the
back of the paper to
transfer the image.
Today people have
easy access to electric
printers; libraries,
work, homes, etc.
The central wheel and
axle of wheelbarrows in
China allowed their
wheelbarrows to haul
considerably heavier
weights.
Today’s wheelbarrow
can be used by only
one person and has
only one wheel.
The Chinese used
gunpowder to make
fireworks and for signal
flares.
Gunpowder is used for
firework displays you
might see on the 4th of
July in the USA or the
Beijing Olympics. It is
also used for blasting
rock to make way for
roads and in mining
minerals.
Chinese horsesoldiers, who wore
heavy, full-body armor,
used stirrups to keep
their balance in the
saddle when charging
the Tartars
Horses are still used for
many recreational and
some work activities,
such as polo,
horseracing, cattle
ranching, and more. In
order to do all of these
things effectively, the
rider still needs stirrups
for maneuverability on
the horse.
The earliest paper
discovered in Fufeng
County, Shaanxi, was
made from hemp
Paper is still an essential
product in our economy.
Picture
3. Explain how the Silk Road contributed to the diffusion of religions in Asia.
The idea of Buddhism spread from person to person, by word of mouth, along the Silk Road.
The ideas of Buddhism moved from India to Central Asia to Tibet, China and Japan.
Islam also spread in the same way from Western Asia to Central Asia, Iran, China and India.