The ancient and modern talk of the Silk Road: ""From Zhang Qian's connection to the Western Regions to the One Belt and One Road""

The ancient and modern talk of the Silk Road: ""From the Zhang Qian's connection to the Western Regions to the One Belt and One Road""...

Phoenix Branch of the American Association of Chinese Scientists and Engineers (ACSE) reported by Han Sijin: 11/4/2017 Following the successful lecture "Dunhuang and the Silk Road" held by the College of Science and Technology in April this year, at the request of the community, we held the second corresponding forum "Talk about the Silk Road in Ancient and Modern Times: From Zhang Qian's Mission to the Belt and Road Initiative" on November 4 at Arizona State University. The speaker, Professor Chen Huaiyu, received his bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from Beijing Normal University, Peking University and Princeton University. He currently lectures on Buddhism and Chinese religion in the School of History, Philosophy and Religion and the School of International Languages ​​and Culture at Arizona State University. He mainly studies Chinese cultural history and various religions and ancient history and ancient cultures on the Silk Road. He has published many books and papers in Chinese and English. He is an editorial board member of various journals and monographs in the United States, Mainland China, Taiwan and Singapore.

Since China proposed the “One Belt, One Road” initiative in recent years, the ancient land Silk Road and Maritime Silk Road have added modern factors and become new economic and political hot spots in the contemporary world. Professor Chen demonstrated the origin, migration and evolution of the Silk Road from multiple perspectives such as history, geography, archaeology, anthropology, ethnology, politics, religion, etc. In the one-and-a-half-hour lecture, Professor Chen showed hundreds of pictures, accurately explained many terms and events, clarified many concepts, and shared his unique research experiences and personal opinions. More than 40 people from all walks of life listened to the lecture with great interest, including an old man who did not understand Chinese at all. Thanks to a volunteer who interpreted the highlights of the lecture in real time.

The final Q&A between the audience and Professor Chen brought the lecture to its second climax. The originally scheduled half-hour question and answer time extended to more than an hour. After the lecture, many people were still gathering around Professor Chen to communicate and were reluctant to leave. An audience member asked about the recent hot spot in Phoenix, the issue of protecting the demolition of the Cultural Center. The audience and the speaker elaborated and exchanged their respective views and opinions.

This lecture, co-sponsored by the Phoenix Chapter of the Association of Science and Technology Professionals in the United States, the Arizona Chinese Youth Chamber of Commerce, the Arizona Overseas Chinese Association, the Arizona High-Tech Association and the Arizona Chinese Students and Scholars Association, is one of a series of lectures in the Science, Engineering and Culture Lecture Series (SEC Forum). The conference team would like to thank Li Jiang (President of the Science and Engineering Institute), Han Sijin (Science and Engineering Director), Su Riqi (Science and Engineering Director), Hao Haiying and other volunteers, Gao Weijia (President of the China Youth Chamber of Commerce in Alberta), Li He (ASU China President of the Students and Scholars Association), Hu Zhen (Vice President of the Science and Engineering College), Yuan Yahua (President of Hua), Yang Wentian (Chairman of Hua), and all overseas Chinese friends who have devoted their precious time and energy to making this event possible. After the meeting, some participants took photos with Professor Chen.