Falk Series 2005:
CHINA´S SILK ROAD
The Windham World Affairs Council of Vermont begins its Falk Lecture Series on Friday, March 4, at 7:30 P.M. in the Rotch Center on the World Learning campus with a presentation by Marlboro College students and faculty on,
"China's Silk Road: Images of Past, Present and Future"
In the summer of 2004, twelve students and five faculty members from Marlboro College spent three weeks traveling
along the Silk Road in China. Members of the group undertook four distinct projects: an examination of economic
development and political openness in Western China, a study of the Muslim community in Xi´an, an exploration
of the Buddhist cave art at Dunhuang, and a documentary photography project.
The group spent the spring semester studying Chinese history and culture, learning a few ´survival´ Chinese
phrases, and beginning work on their research projects. The trip started out with a few days of orientation in Beijing,
including visits to the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square and the Great Wall. It then continued on
to the ancient capital of Xi'an, now home to a vibrant university district and a large Muslim community. From Xi´an,
the traditional eastern terminus of the Silk Road, the group headed west, to the edge of the Taklimakan Desert and the
oasis town of Dunhuang. Here they inspected a small number of the hundreds of caves lined with Buddhist paintings and
statues from the 5th to 14th centuries. The trip concluded with a visit to Turfan, a town dominated by grape arbors
and the Muslim minorities of China's far west.
The lecture series will continue in the spring with the following programs: Friday. April 22, in the Brooks Memorial
Library meeting room, Ezra Vogel, Henry Ford II Research Professor of the Social Sciences at Harvard University and
former security consultant on East Asia for the State Department and the CIA; Friday, May 20, also at Brooks Memorial
Library, Kenneth Yalowitz, former Ambassador to Belarus and Georgia; and on Friday, June 3, on the World
Learning campus, diplomat and former adviser to Secretary of State Madeline Albright, Phyllis Oakley, will be the guest
of honor and presentor at the WWAC annual meeting. All events begin at 7:30 PM.
The presentations are free and open to the public. For more information email info@windhamworldaffairs.org.
