No other place on the ancient Silk Road had so many names
like Beiting in Jimsar County of China’s Xinjiang. It was referred to as the
“Valley of Wutu”, “City of Jinman”, “City of Futu-Khan”, “Xiadu” (Summer Capital),
Bashbaliq, etc. in different periods and under different political regimes.
The story we are going to tell about it may help you understand why Arnold
Joseph Toynbee (1889-1957), a British scholar reputed for his interpretation
of history from a cultural perspective, hoped to be born in Xinjiang of the
first century AD after Buddhism had found its way into China. A major hub
of communication that bridged the pastoral and farming regions on the northern
section of the Silk Road, Beiting features a cultural diversity built up by
people of so many ethnic groups through political, economic, religious and
cultural exchange-also through wars. It is for such a cultural diversity that
Toynbee cherished so profound an admiration for ancient Xinjiang.
