the Han dynasty ( probably from Chinese immigrants / smugglers ) and had their own indigenous silk-making industries . 14 Koreans sometimes sent Korean-made silk to China , especially if it was elaborately embroidered . 15 Chinese silk , however , seems to have been more valued than domestic silk in Korea : there are some sources that speak of Silla kings giving Chinese silk as a high-level gift . 16 Korean exports to China have a slightly utilitarian flavor to them .
Horses were very important to Silla Korea , and were exported to China in large numbers . Gilt-bonze saddle fittings and iron stirrups , as well as vessels decorated with horses have been found in Silla tombs , and there were Silla sumptuary laws stipulating who could own horses and how luxurious their fittings could be . 17 ( The horses were probably the sturdy Mongolian variety , which had been exported to China , probably by the Koguryo since their territory had included some Manchurian steppe lands , since the late Han period .) 18 In 669 , there were 174 horse farms in Silla , 22 of which were allocated to the palace , 10 to government offices , and the rest distributed to local aristocrats . 19 Animals were a small but important part of the Eurasian trade routes , and Silla was one of the few places where they could be easily obtained by the Chinese and the Japanese .
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In contrast , Koreans exported both utilitarian items and luxury goods to Japan . The luxury goods were obtained from Chinese trade via the Silk Road , with Korean merchants serving as the middlemen . Koreans sold everything to the Japanese , including metalware , weaponry and armor , and jewelry . The Koreans brought silk to Japan and eventually silk production secrets , perhaps as early as the 4th century CE . 20
I think the export of paper is also noteworthy : the production of paper as well as wood-block printing were well developed in Korea by the 10th century ; and Koreans developed cast metal type in the 13th-century , well before Gutenberg in the Holy Roman Empire , ca . 1485 . 21
IMPORTS
Koreans imported luxury goods that merchants had brought to China from the Silk Road . Wild mountain ponies from Manchuria were obtained from the northern nomads and domesticated in Silla Korea . Many were later re-exported as domestic animals along the Silk Roads by the Silla government and merchants . Aristocratic and royal tombs show Central Asian musical instruments , an elaborate gold and jeweled dagger from the steppes of Turkmenistan ; highly crafted bells , mirrors , silver and gold jewelry , and transparent glass vases and beads from the Mediterranean . 22 These luxury goods supported the status of the Korean aristocracy as well as the coffers of the merchants .
The Silla elite ’ s desire for gold ornaments originally arose from contacts with various kingdoms of China and with the nomadic cultures of the northeast . Gold , the raw material , initially was imported but eventually must have been produced within the Silla territories to satisfy the huge demand . Scythian gold ornaments make an intriguing and visually convincing precursor to Silla gold — witness the use of the ubiquitous tree-branch motif on their respective gold crowns . Exotic objects made in Central Asia and further west to the Mediterranean have been found in several Silla tombs , testimony to the vibrant international exchanges of the time . Close similari-
Silla Korea and the Silk Road : Golden Age , Golden Threads
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