Experience the history, art, and wonders of the Silk
Road and Central Asia, with expert guidance from professors Merle and
Marshall Goldman, on this joint Wellesley-Harvard alumni trip. China’s
Silk Road is an ancient network of trade routes that has served as one
of the main conduits of cultural exchange between East and West. Join
us as we explore rich historical treasures dating from prehistoric times
to present day.
Our program begins in Beijing,
where we will explore imperial China’s Forbidden City and marvel
at its expansive architecture, magnificent imperial
gardens, and museums of Chinese antiquities and
treasures. We will also visit the Temple of Heaven,
one of the finest cultural expressions of the Ming
Dynasty, representing the most advanced principles
of architecture available at the time and serving
as the ritual center of the imperial government.
We then head to the ancient Tang Dynasty capital
of Xian and visit the extraordinary 2,300-year-old
terracotta warriors, the tomb of China’s
first emperor, Qinshihuang.
Heading west, we will visit Dunhuang,
the gateway to the Silk Road. Located in a desert
region of
Gansu Province, this 2,000-year-old town was once
a thriving Buddhist monastic center. We will explore
the Mogao Caves, cut into steep cliffs at the edge
of the desert. These caves contain thousands of
Buddhist murals and statuary and constitute one
of the world’s great repositories of religious
art. We will visit the grotto interiors with Buddhist
sculpture and murals unchanged since the Tang Dynasty.
We then continue to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
As we travel through these countries, some of the
highlights will include: Almaty, for its many architectural
sites; Khiva, for the impressive Djuma Mosque,
mausoleums, madrasas, and two magnificent palaces
built in the 19th century by Alla-Kulli-Khan; and
Samarkand’s famous Observatory of Ulugbek.
Join us for a memorable journey from Beijing to
Samarakand, discovering the folk art, architectures,
gardens, and museums reflecting the influence of
myriad cultures and dynasties.
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Marshall I. Goldman is the Kathryn Wasserman Davis
Professor of RussianEconomics (Emeritus) at Wellesley
College. An expert on the Russian economy and the economics of high
technology, he was a
member of the Wellesley faculty from 1958–2002. He is also Senior
Scholar of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian
Studies at Harvard University. Professor Goldman is the author of over
a dozen books on
the former Soviet Union and Russia, including his
forthcoming book, Petrostate:
Putin, Power, and the New Russia.
Merle Goldman is
Professor Emerita of Chinese History at Boston University and author
of several books on modern Chinese history
and culture, including Sowing the Seeds of Democracy in China and
From Comrade to Citizen: The Struggle for Political Rights
in China.
She is the co-author with John K. Fairbank of China: A New
History.
She is an associate of the Fairbanks Center for
Climate Studies at Harvard University.
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