Sand to Dust: Beyond the Great Wall

It was a long time ago, while still in grade school, I learned about the Silk Road. In July, I will be on my way to China and Silk Road for the first time. I shall visit many places outside the Great Wall; those cities I have a hard time to pronounce their names; I shall let my emotion float like a small raft on the Yellow River; I shall let my eyes wonder over the mountains and across the hills; I shall let my heart pound when I step onto the old walls and roads; I shall let the sun and the sand fill me up and take me to the markets, for the land I stand on was once an ancient kingdom . I shall sing and dance and drink lots of tea; Finally, I shall visit Dunhuang cave and pose in silence in front of their religious murals.

Without Fund For Teachers Grant, NCTA field study opportunities and Columbia University Weatherhead East Asian Institute's organization, it would be impossible for me to leap into a journey that I was destined to start forty years ago. I am leaving Tulsa tomorrow to meet with the group and continue the journey to China for three weeks. I will bring silk and a pocket of dirt back. Stay cool my family and friends!

I cannot sleep

For the blaze of the full moon.

I thought I heard here and there

A voice calling.

I answer "Yes"

To the empty air.

***

Thanks to Karen Kane and Roberta Martin from the Columbia University, we have some fantastic reading materials:

http://virtuallabs.stanford.edu/silkroad/SilkRoad.html

Online Silk Road History
http://www.ess.uci.edu/~oliver/silk.html

Online Silk Road resources:
http://www.chlive.org/pbeck/eastlibrary/SILKROADRESOURCES.htm#PRIMARY%20SOURCES

The curriculum guide "From Silk to Oil"
http://www.chinainstitute.cieducationportal.org/education/for-educators/curriculum-resources/curriculum-guides-units/

The Silk Road: An Educational Resource
http://www.asian-studies.org/eaa/silkroad.htm

Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Project
http://www.silkroadproject.org/

Asia for Educators program at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute

http://afe.easia.columbia.edu

Online Museum Resources on Asian Art (OMuRAA), particularly the Featured Topics: Art and Trade of the Silk Road and Asian Religions: Buddhism, Nestorian Christianity, Islam, Manichaeism, and Zoroastrianism.

http://afemuseums.easia.columbia.edu/cgi-bin/museums/search.cgi

Three "must-see" cities on the Silk Road

http://www.farwestchina.com/2013/05/why-you-should-visit-turpan-xinjiang.html

A quick list of cities along the complete Silk Road (beyond China)

http://annmah.net/articles/secrets-of-the-silk-road/

Good resource for current news on Uyghurs in China

http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur

"The Year of Dunhuang" at the China Institute in NYC and online

http://www.chinainstitute.org/gallery/dunhuang/

A great resource on Xinjianq

http://www.farwestchina.com/

Photography exhibition by Lisa Ross at the Rubin Museum

http://www.rmanyc.org/events/load/1908

Reading "Gatsby" in Beijing Evan Osnos (New Yorker, Letter from Beijing)