1Ralph Kauz laments the Western centric approach we as scholars have brought to the study of the Mongol and Timurid periods. For him, there is an entire narrative and framework to the east – China – which demands attention and inclusion in Mongol and Timurid studies. In an era when “global studies” are becoming ever more appealing, this kind of thinking could very well be applauded. Indeed, as David Morgan suggested in his seminal The Mongols (1987), we work under the restriction of language barriers, and there are very few crossovers of specialists between medieval Persian and Chinese. This has, in turn, shaped the field of Turco-Mongol history. We should encourage future generations of graduate students interested in this area to focus on the languages of primary sources so as to realign the current historiographical approach and better acknowledge the Eurasian aspects of the Mongol and post-Mongol eras.

2What Kauz presents here is a fairly general, occasionally meandering, overview of the world of the Chinese during the Ming period and the fragmented politics of central Asia and Iran during the reigns of Timur (1370-1405) and his successors during the 15th century. One focus is the issue of “courtly diplomatic ceremony” at the Timurid court, and the description of the visit by the famous dignitary Roy Gonzalez de Clavijo (1403-1406) is juxtaposed with that of a Chinese emissary, Chen Cheng who came to Herat between 1413-15. In his quest to highlight the importance of protocol, Kauz also presents Ḥāfeẓ-e Abrū’s description of a Chinese embassy to Šāh Roḫ’s court.