Dear Colleagues and Friends,
The
Silk Road has been a term used to refer to the important trading route between
China and the world since the ancient time. It refers to two routes, one
continental and the other maritime. The first could be traced back to 2000
years ago, starting from Xi¡¯an to the eastern Mediterranean that traversed Asia
and connected the Asian and European continents. The second route is also
called the ¡°Porcelain Road¡± and ¡°Spice Road.¡± It could be traced to the Qin and
Han dynasties. Boats carrying these goods sailed from harbors in Guangdong and
Fujian and then went through the South China Sea, Persian Gulf, and Red Sea
before finally reaching Africa and Europe. The historical Silk Road is being
revived under policies to reform and open up China since late 1970s. Recently,
the Chinese government raised a two-pronged strategy named ¡°One Belt plus One
Road,¡±which includes the idea of a ¡°Silk Road Economic Belt¡± and 21st-century
¡°Maritime Silk Road.¡± These would bring more opportunities for the development
of the new Silk Road.
As
the only overseas Chinese research based key research center of humanities and
social sciences under the Ministry of Education, the School of International
Studies/Academy of Overseas Chinese Studies at Jinan University will hold an
international academic symposium on the topic of ¡°Overseas Chinese and the New
Silk Road¡± (OCNSR) on December 12-14, 2014. The symposium aims at exploring the
past and looking forward to the future of the new Silk Road from the
perspectives of Overseas Chinese, cultural exchanges and transnational
migration, which highlights the role of overseas Chinese in the making of the
old and new Silk Road.
The
symposium committee is now calling for panels and papers. Some of our
recommended panel topics around the theme of ¡°Overseas
Chinese
and the New Silk Road¡± are as follows:
¡ñChinese
new immigrants and ¡°the Belt and the plus Road¡± policy
¡ñMigration
policies of related countries along the Silk Road
¡ñOverseas Chinese merchants and the
Silk Road
¡ñOverseas
Chinese associations and the New Silk Road
¡ñOverseas
Chinese education, media and the New Silk Road
¡ñChina¡¯s
international cultural exchanges and the New Silk Road
¡ñOverseas
Chinese and China's good neighbor diplomacy
¡ñOverseas
Chinese and China-ASEAN Free Trade Area
Apart
from the above topics, we welcome other panel suggestions. Please submit your
curriculum vitae and panel or paper abstractthat is under 350 words to Eva at [log in to unmask]
before 31 August 2014. After the abstracts have been selected, the symposium organizing
committee will notify all participants of the results and recommend panels to
those who have been selected. Formal invitation letters and further
announcements related to the symposium will be sent to the selected
participants after confirmation of their attendance.
***************
Dr. Ji Weiwei
Jinan University, China
e-mail: [log in to unmask],
[log in to unmask]
***************
