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.

Chinese and the New Silk Road” are as follows:

●Chinese new immigrants and “the Belt and the plus Road” policy

●Migration policies of related countries along the Silk Road

●Overseas Chinese merchants and the Silk Road

●Overseas Chinese associations and the New Silk Road

●Overseas Chinese education, media and the New Silk Road

●China’s international cultural exchanges and the New Silk Road

●Overseas Chinese and China's good neighbor diplomacy

●Overseas 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.