“Teaching the Silk Road(s): The Past, the Present, and the Future?”

By Andrew M. McGeevey

Winter 2022

• Key terms: Afghanistan, China, India, Turkey, Central Asia, archeology, international relations, cultural transmission, migration, geography, world history.
• Best for: high school, post-secondary
• Article type: curriculum, instruction

The essay offers a brief guide to four resources for teaching the Silk Roads. It first reconsiders the 1999 EAA article by a specialist on the Silk Roads, Morris Rossabi. Decades later, the Rossabi article continues to provide valuable and relevant themes, stories, and teaching strategies. Three other recommended textbooks add different perspectives or approaches to exploring the Silk Roads with students: Teaching the Silk Road: A Guide for College Teachers; The Silk Roads: A New History of The World; and The Silk Road: A New History with Documents.

“Beyond the Sinosphere in Early Japan: Nara and the Silk Roads”

By Todd Munson

Winter 2021

• Key terms: Japan, East Asia, world history, archeology, cultural transmission, geography
• Best for: high school, post-secondary
• Article type: research

In 2009, the discovery in Nara, Japan of 8^th-century ceramic shards produced in the Middle East added to a growing body of archeological evidence that the Silk Road trade routes extended to a terminus in the Japanese archipelago, further east than had been understood. This article discusses select aspects of Silk Roads culture in early Japan, demonstrating that Japan experienced cultural transmission and exchange with the wider world of Asia and the West dating back over 1000 years.

“Online Music Resources for Teaching Silk Road History and Geography”

By Sara Lin Bhatia

Spring 2007

• Key terms: ethnomusicology, cultural studies, film, religion, performing arts
• Best for: middle school, high school
• Article type: curriculum, instruction

The Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative (ECAI) Silk Road Atlas (https://www.ecai.org/) is a project at the University of California Berkeley. It represents the work of a consortium of scholars, technology/media specialists, museum and NGO professionals in providing interactive maps, images, and audio files supporting research on the land, empires, routes, and cultures of the Silk Roads. While not all the online resources are student-friendly, the author focuses on one resource within the collection that can be very valuable in introducing secondary students to the Silk Roads through ethnomusicology, the “Instruments—Interactive Java TimeMap.” Through this interactive map, students can explore geography of the Silk Road. Another section in the ECAI Silk Road Atlas, “Musical Instruments of the Silk Road,” can be used alone or with the interactive map. The author offers strategies for bringing this online resource into the classroom. Note: As of June 2024, this megasite is in transition so is somewhat challenging to search.

“Silk Roads into Vietnamese History”

By Charles Wheeler

Winter 2005

• Key terms: Vietnam, Southeast Asia, geography, international relations, world history, cultural transmission, historiography
• Best for: high school, post-secondary
• Article type: research, curriculum

Writing in 2005, the author noted that Vietnam was often depicted as an isolated, unchanging country when addressed in secondary world history and geography textbooks and courses. This article highlights changing historiography as of the early 2000s that demonstrates the fallacies and misinformation of such historical and cultural narratives. Focusing on the prominent role of Vietnam in the crosscurrents of people, goods, and ideas via the Silk Roads, the article presents a contemporary approach to the study of Vietnam that “rightsizes” its long history of regional and global interaction. The essay focuses on interactivity and connectivity in three periods: Forming Engaged Societies Second Millennium BCE to Third Century BCE; Trading States Form Third Century BCE—Circa Tenth Century CE; and Dai Viet as a Silk Road Kingdom Circa Tenth Century—Fifteenth Century. The essay concludes with a nod to the endurance of the Silk Roads as a factor in Vietnam’s contemporary history by looking at the Ho Chi Minh Trail of the Vietnam War as a Silk Road phenomenon.

“Buddhist Art Styles and Cultural Exchange Along the Silk Road”

By Lier Chen; Martin Amster

Spring 2004

• Key terms: Afghanistan, China, Inner Asia, geography, religion, cultural transmission, art history, Buddhism, world history
• Best for: middle school, high school
• Article type: curriculum, instruction

This article offers a sample lesson from the 2006 AAS Buchanan Prize-winning curriculum publication, From Silk to Oil: Cross-Cultural Connections Along the Silk Road, a project of China Institute in America. The selected lesson provides a background essay on the transmission of Buddhism along the silk routes and the role of art and iconography in Buddhist teachings and practice. The article culminates with four fully articulated classroom lesson plans focusing on art and visual literacy. The full publication of From Silk to Oil is available for download in PDF at https://chinainstitute.org/school/for-k-12-schools/educational-resources/. It contains 23 units in five sections: Geography, Ethnic and Political History, Exchange of Goods and Ideas, Religions, and Art.

“The Silk Roads: An Educational Resource”

By Morris Rossabi

Spring 1999

• Key terms: China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Inner Asia, economic history, geography, international relations, world history, cultural transmission, migration
• Best for: middle school, high school
• Article type: pedagogy, curriculum, instruction

This foundational article by noted Central Asia historian Morris Rossabi maintains its relevance decades after it was first published in 1999. Rossabi notes that a study of the Silk Roads offers a unique vehicle for studying major themes and institutions within world history and geography curricula, including cultural transmission in art, religions and technology; interactions (and clashes) of civilizations, and the development of economic institutions and technologies in the service of commerce. At the same time, a focus on the Silk Roads affords opportunity for exploring Asian civilizations that are not well represented in the secondary curriculum. Rossabi offers a historical framework for Silk Roads study, divided into four time periods from the second century BC to the end of the 20^th century, and outlines ways to use “travelers’ stories” as a high-interest pedagogical approach for secondary students.

“The Belt and Road Initiative: An Integrative Subject for Interdisciplinary Studies about China”

By Jin Wang, Nancy Sowers

Spring 2023

• Key terms: China, India, Korea, Philippines, Inner Asia, economics, international relations, political science, geography, trade, cultural transmission, Belt and Road
• Best for: post-secondary
• Article type: research, instruction

The authors discuss strategies they have used in teaching China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as a culminating topic in an interdisciplinary course dedicated to preparing college majors in International Business and Asian Studies for the global realities they will encounter.

“China in Africa: Essential Questions and Teaching Resource Suggestions”

By Ian Tiedemann

Winter 2018

• Key terms: China, Africa, Silk roads, economics, international relations, controversial issues, Belt and Road, neocolonialism
• Best for: high school
• Article type: research, curriculum, instruction

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been referred to as a 21^st-century version of the historic Silk Roads. The Chinese government has asserted that this monumental project to expand commerce and cultural exchange through land- and sea-based infrastructure development will offer transformative benefits for Asia, Africa, and beyond. As one example, a cross-continental road/rail across 10 sub-Saharan Africa nations should bring reliable commercial routes and result in expanded economic development. But this is only a portion of China’s increasingly heavy footprint in Africa. Chinese long investment arm reaches into energy capacity, port access, health care and education and constitutes a controversial issue for world history and global issues curricula. Policy makers and academics have raised the possibility that this modern-era Silk Road initiative could be a new face of colonialism. This article emphasizes that such a far-reaching project demands consideration of its costs and benefits. The essay considers several key questions and issues for a classroom consideration of China’s investments in Africa and offers interactive online resources (current as of 2018) to address this topic at the high school level.

“Will China Lead the World by Land and Sea? The Belt and Road Initiative”

By Andrew M. McGreevy

Winter 2018

• Key terms: China, Inner Asia, Maritime Asia, International relations, political science, Silk roads, geography, trade, cultural transmission, Belt and Road
• Best for: high school, post-secondary
• Article type: research, instruction

Andrew M. McGreevy provides a succinct introduction to China’s Belt and Road Initiative as of 2018, five years into this extensive international development project. The article delves into the following points. In 2013, China’s leader Xi Jinping announced the Silk Road Economic Belt and the Twenty-First Century Maritime Silk Road projects. Xi drew on China’s history of trade and travel in naming the project. By invoking Chinese history, the government created both a domestic and international associations between China’s past global influence and its aspirations for 21^st-century leadership. This expansive infrastructure project, popularly known in China as “New Silk Roads” or “One Belt, One Road” is generally known in the West as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The project is planned to support major economic growth for China and other nations on the planned BRI routes by linking the country to the rest of the world–on land via roads, rail, pipelines and by sea through improved ports, harbors, and infrastructure that will support huge increases in shipping. China plans finance these projects in host countries, thus drawing these countries into a Chinese economic sphere of influence. Cultural exchange is also part of the BRI vision, with educational and cultural centers already established in Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia. McGreevy offers maps, documents, cases and issues to provide a valuable foundation for understanding and teaching the BRI.

“A Global Crossroads Reemerges in the Twenty-First Century: An Introduction to Central Asia”

By Reuel R. Hanks

Winter 2013

• Key terms: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Tibet, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Inner Asia, economics, geography, international relations, cultural transmission, world history, Silk Roads, Belt and Road
• Best for: high school, post-secondary
• Article type: research

This essay discusses the growing international importance of Central Asia and the “stan” nations in the 21^st century as geographic, geopolitical, and economic factors magnify the region’s global relevance. The author details the region’s significance for trends in international trade, energy production, and global infrastructure. But for these future predictions to materialize, the countries of Central Asia will need to come to terms with difficult histories and solve contemporary challenges. Included with this article is a mini “factbook” of the geographic and cultural history and key facts and statistics for the countries of Central Asia.