Our first presentation dealt with the Silk Road and cultural exchange. The first or last stop was in Xi'an. Therefore it was a city that was vibrant due to the many peoples and their various cultures trading not only products but ideas.
The land routes of the Silk Road were supplemented by sea routes. The creator of the term Silk Road was actually a German geographer by the name of Ferdinand von Richtofen in 1877. Other names for the road included the Jade Road. Silk, porcelain and metal wares would be sent from China while rare animals, precious stones, crops and fruits would come into China. The porcelain today is not nearly as finely crafted today.
The main contribution of the silk exchange was the cultural exchange that took place. Technology, religion, philosophy, art and music would be exchanged. The Silk Road were highways which were interconnected. Highways of culture and commerce. The length of the overland route was roughly 4,000 miles. The two major ends were Constantinople and Xi'an.
The Silk Road, one could argue, led to European exploration for the Europeans wanted to bypass the costly and dangerous overland routes controlled by Arabs and Asians. Cities along the Silk Road developed with walls to protect the traders. It was risk vs reward. The Silk Road was in existence from the 2nd century BC to the early 16th century.
The route contained inhospitable terrain such as the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts as well as large mountain ranges. The Silk Road was able to thrive early on due to the two strong empires of Rome and the Han Dynasty. The presentation was very informative and the professor was very passionate about his subject.
The 2nd speaker discussed the topic of Buddhism with us. Our speaker translates signs and historical markets around Xi'an into English. We learned a great deal about the characteristics of being a Buddhist. Moderation is an extremely important concept. Buddhists are always striving for the future. There is a cycle of suffering and rebirth to finally reach enlightenment. There are five main rules in Buddhism. Don't kill, steal, lie, unchaste, or drink intoxicants.
I did not know that there are different forms of Buddhism. There is Theravada Buddhism and there is Mahayana Buddhism. Buddhism has had a complicated past in China. Mao Zedong criticized religion, especially Confucianism. Mao said to the Chinese that religion is the opium of your mind. During the Cultural Revolution many temples were destroyed. Recently Buddhism has seen a resurgence and the government has invested money in renovating many temples and pagodas.
Our last presentation of the day was on Ancient Chinese medicine, specifically acupuncture and moxibustion. Acupuncture is a needling therapy that stimulates certain points. Moxibustion utilizes ignited wood. Ancient Chinese medicine has been used since prehistoric times in China. There are currently 24 traditional Chinese Medicine Universities in China today. The World Health Organization recommends 43 diseases that could be treated with acupuncture and moxibustion. 120 countries use acupuncture today. Honestly this presentation was hard to follow and rather boring. However we got visit a hospital after the presentation and a couple of us had acupuncture performed on us. It was pretty cool having it done to me and I certainly felt relaxed afterward. I would consider getting it done again in the future.
After the hospital we went to a restaurant that specializes in all kinds of various dumplings. I think I ate close to 20 different dumplings. It was insane! I am paying the price today !
After dinner we walked around the Muslim market that snakes through the back alleys of Xi'an. It was rather overwhelming with the number of people but cool nevertheless.
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