Silk Road Forum 2017

When: 1:30-5:00 pm, April 2, 2017, Sunday,

Location: McCormick Hall, Room 101, Princeton University

Two lectures with responses and public discussion

Lecture:
The Silk Roads: Leading Us Astray?

Susan Whitfield,
IDP, The British Library

Response by:
Xin YU,
Fudan University

Is the Silk Road a meaningful or misleading concept for our understanding of pre-modern Afro-Eurasia? How has its emergence as a worldwide brand and, most recently, as a politico-economic strategy, threatened or assisted scholarship? Should we reject or embrace it? Susan Whitfield will consider these questions, looking at the origin, history and growth of the Silk Road concept and its modern manifestations.

Lecture:
The Ancient Silk Road in Light of New Discoveries in Gansu

Doucheng DU,
Lanzhou University

Response by:
Annette Juliano,
Rutgers University

The overland Silk Road may have been opened in ancient times, the maritime route may have developed long before the Song dynasty, and political and military interests may have been stronger than economic ones. This talk introduces recent discoveries in Buddhist archaeology in Gansu province against this historical background.

Moderated by:
Huaiyu CHEN, Arizona State University
Stephen F. Teiser, Princeton University

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