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China
China's Silk Road
June 11-24, 2008
Itinerary
This 14-day seminar begins and ends in Beijing, and continues onto Xian, Dunhuang, Turpan, Urumqi, and Kashgar.
Please note that this seminar is a traveling study tour and involves constant moving from city to city. It is designed to get the most out of a short visit and is oftentimes physically demanding. It is recommended that you be in good physical condition prior to participating.
Seminar Fee
CIEE Member: $3,250 Non-Member: $3,450
Academic Content (please note this is tentative and subject to change)
Lectures
- Economic & Socio-Cultural Development of Northwest China
- Introduction to the Great Wall and History of Jin Shan Ling
- Overview of Chang’an and the Historical Geography of the Silk Road
- Introduction to the First Qin Emperor and his Dynasty
- Literature of the Silk Road: Xuanzang’s Journey to the West
- Introduction to the Mogao Grottos of Dunhuang
- Islam Religion in Xinjiang
Co-curricular Site Visits & Field Trips
- Beijing: Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, the Great Wall
- Xi'an: tomb of Qin emperor, Terracotta Warriors, Great Mosque, Xi’an Provincial Museum
- Dunhuang: Mogao Caves, Dunhuang Museum, White Horse Pagoda
- Crescent Moon Lake and the Singing Sand Hill at night by camel
- Jade Gate Pass and Han Dynasty Great Wall
- Turpan: Emin Minaret, Bezeklik Thousand-Buddha Caves
- Pilgrimage site of Maza village and meet local Uyghur Muslim family
- Earthen ruins of the former capital, Yarkhoto, and ancient Karez irrigation system
- Ürümqi: Xinjiang Provincial History Museum, Boat ride on Heaven Lake
- Kashgar: Yengi Bazaar, Mal Bazaar livestock market (Dongwu Shichang), Id Kah Mosque (Ai Tiga’er Qingzhen Si), Abakh Hoja Tomb (Xiangfeimu)
Rationale
The Silk Road, the ancient braid of caravan trails stretching for more than 7,000 km from China to the Mediterranean, served as a highway not just for merchandise, but also for ideas—religious, cultural, and artistic. This seminar introduces participants to cross-cultural encounters between the East and West through the Silk Road, arguably the world’s most important pre-modern trade route. The major themes of the seminar are the history of the Silk Road; Chinese history, arts, and religions (Buddhism and Islam); and the cultures and peoples of Central Asia. Undoubtedly the most famous Western traveler on the Silk Road is none other than Marco Polo, the Venetian merchant who is said to have passed through Kashgar and Dunhuang in the late 13th century, before reaching the Yuan capital in present-day Beijing, where he served the Mongol court of Kublai Khan for seventeen years.
It is here in the modern capital of China, and terminus of the Great Wall of China, that the IFDS Silk Road journey will begin. Following an orientation in Beijing, participants will travel to Xi’an, China's capital at the height of the Silk Road trade, and then follow the old camel trails and cart routes to Dunhuang, an oasis in the desert and treasure trove of Buddhist cave murals and relics. The seminar continues along the northern route of the Silk Road on the edge of the Taklamakan Desert to the cultural center of Chinese-Muslims in Turfan and the regional capital of Ürümqi, before reaching the desert city of Kashgar, the final outpost on the frontier of Central Asia. The seminar will conclude with participants' return to Beijing.
Host Institutions
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), an institution directly under the State Council and the highest academic research organization in the fields of philosophy and social sciences, is a national center for comprehensive studies in the People’s Republic of China.
Northwest University in Xi’an was founded in 1902 and is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in Northwest China.
Dunhuang Research Academy is a national academic institution devoted to the conservation, management and research of the grottoes in Dunhuang with offices in Lanzhou and one based at the Mogao Caves.
Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences is a state-run research institution formed in 1981 under the direct supervision of the Autonomous Region Communist Party Committee and Autonomous Region Bureau of Information. It is composed of six research centers and 48% of the ranking officials in the academy are composed of eleven ethnic minorities.
Seminar Leadership
Dr. Yanfeng Li received his M.A. and Ph.D. (2005) in Chinese literature from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. His dissertation and forthcoming book focus on linguistic and graphic manipulation in traditional Chinese poetry. In addition to formal training in Tang poetry and classical philology, Dr. Li is an avid reader of post-Cultural Revolution Chinese fiction. He taught Chinese language for four years at the University of Pennsylvania before joining the CIEE Study Center in Shanghai, where he is the Academic Director of the Advanced Chinese Studies program, and teaches both modern and traditional Chinese literature.
Click on the links below to learn more about participating on an IFDS.
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