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Silk Road trek retraced 145 years later
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For many Chinese, the name of Ferdinand Freiherr von Richthofen (1833-1905) sounds alien to the ears.
Yet it is this German traveler, geographer and scientist that coined the term “Silk Road” early in 1877 in Shanghai. He explored the ancient trade route and saw many parts of 19th century China.
A famous Shanghai photographer, Deke Erh, has now retraced many of Richthofen’s steps and the results of his journey are on display.
The exhibition “Salute to Richthofen — A visual documentation exhibition taken by Deke Erh on the Silk Road” is on display at Deke Erh Art Center through January 28. It features the black-and-white pictures taken by Erh on the old Silk Road during the summer and some documentation about Richthofen including his personal pictures, the book he published and his letters about China.
Erh has become a legend for documenting Shanghai’s history and tumultuous changes. His name is associated with old Shanghai, old villas and lanes, Art Deco buildings and vanishing structures and artifacts — as well as breathtaking helicopter views of rising skyscrapers and elevated highways.
But in recent years, Erh has become more fascinated by the Silk Road and those people related to the road in a bygone era.
The Silk Road
The Silk Road, extending 4,000 miles, was a series of paths used for trade and cultural interchange that was central to development of parts of the Asian continent. It connected West and East by linking traders, merchants, pilgrims, monks, soldiers, nomads and city dwellers from China to the Mediterranean Sea and began during the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD).
Perhaps to many, trudging 18,000 kilometers from China to Central Asia and Europe in two months to follow the footsteps of a long-dead explorer may sound crazy, but not for Erh.
“I heard his name a long time ago, and I was curious about him,” Erh said. “As a Westerner, he knew nothing about this foreign land, yet he adventured and toured in China. I wanted to experience what he had experienced on the Silk Road. Of course, many things changed, but an adventurous and courageous heart are the same.”
On his own trip, Erh said, “We traveled through some 10 countries including the Republic of Uzbekistan, Turkey, Greece and Italy,” Erh said, Though many things changed, not everything had, he said. “It was a pleasant trip. I was surprised that some landscapes were unchanged by the erosion of time on the Silk Road.”
Richthofen was born in Carlsruhe, Prussian Silesia, and was educated in Breslau and Berlin. He was an uncle of the World War I German flying ace Manfred von Richthofen, best known as the “Red Baron.”
In 1860, he joined the Eulenburg Expedition, a Prussian expedition which visited Ceylon, Japan, Taiwan, Celebes, Java, the Philippines, Siam and Burma between 1860 and 1862.
China was at the time largely inaccessible owing to the Taiping Rebellion, a massive civil war in southern China from 1850 to 1864, against the ruling Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). At least 20 million people died in one of the deadliest military conflicts in history,
But Richthofen was impressed with the desirability of exploring China. In 1861, he first came to Shanghai. From 1868 to 1872, he investigated the geography and geology in China with the support of Shanghai’s foreign business community.
Erh was quite excited to find a book that included letters the Prussian wrote issued by a Shanghai publishing house in 1872 and another book, “China,” that Richthofen wrote and published in 1912 in Europe.
“They are displayed at this exhibition, and are very important documentation in studying the history of China during that period. It is in his book ‘China’ that he coined the term ‘Silk Road’.”
Richthofen wrote not only about geology but on all subjects necessary to a general geographical treatise. He paid close attention to the economic resources of the country.
“It is interesting that he received funds from the Shanghai Western Chamber of Commerce for four years, and all he needed was to write the letters to the chamber to record what he saw about the Chinese economy and coal resources,” Erh said. “Richthofen visited nearly 13 provinces among the 18 provinces in China at that time.”
In one of his letters, Richthofen was so amazed about the abundant coal in China that he wrote that “the coal in China’s Shanxi Province is ample for the rest of the world for several thousands of years.”
All the pictures at the exhibition that Erh took on his Silk Road journey are in black-and-white, giving them a historical feel.
“I prefer black-and-white pictures,” he said, “Don’t you think that today the world is filled with colors, or to be exact, too many colors? I want these pictures to appear serene and quiet, as a silent witness to history.”
Visitors to the exhibition might be curious why a picture with a bird’s-eye view of the city’s landscape taken by Erh from the air appears at the exhibition.
“I purposely did it,” he said. “This is the link to Shanghai’s role on the Silk Road. It is where the term ‘Silk Road’ started.”
Richthofen is remembered in China and elsewhere.
“There is a mountain in Colorado (a western US state) named after Richthofen, and Qilian Mountain in the western part of China is called ‘Richthofen-Gebirge’ in German,” Erh said.
Richthofen was appointed professor of geology at the University of Bonn beginning in 1875, but being fully occupied with his work in China, he did not take up professorial duties until 1879. He died in 1905 in Berlin.
Date: Through January 28, 10am-5pm
Add: 27, Lane 345, Shilong Rd
Admission: Free
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