SILK ROAD WEEK 2020 SILK ROAD WEEK is an annual event first introduced and organized by China National Silk Museum, the International Association for the Study of Silk Road Textiles (IASSRT) and the Chinese Museums Association’s Committee of Museums along the Silk Road. In 2019, these institutions jointly proposed the “Hangzhou Initiative for Dissemination and Promotion of the Silk Road Spirit” which aims to raise recognition of the historic value of the Silk Road and strengthen the protection of the Silk Roads sites and relics. Silk Road Week 2020 is the first edition of the annual event hosted by the National Cultural Heritage Administration and the Province of Zhejiang, with the theme of “The Silk Roads: Mutual Learning for future Collaborations” in Hangzhou, China. The event features a vast array of museum-led activities, including: exhibitions, performances, reports, book releases and seminars. Silk Road Week marks the anniversary of the inscription of the Silk Road – from Chang’an to the Tianshan Corridor -, onto UNESCO’s list of World Heritage, in June 2014. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT MUSEUMVIEWS (IMWD International Museum Workers Day, and GSHA Global Sports Heritage Association) wishes to thank Ms. Ye Ke, Executive Editor of In Zhejiang for inviting us to promote the stunning celebration of the inaugural SILK ROAD WEEK alongside international cultural institutions, curators and scholars in the field of Silk Road Studies. We congratulate Mr. Feng Zhao, Director of China National Silk Museum; as well as scholars and museum professionals at the International Association for the Study of Silk Road Textiles (IASSRT) and the Chinese Museums Association’s Committee of Museums for founding and organizing this critical and timely project. We also applaud Mr. Yuan Yachun, Chief Editor of Zhejiang University Press, with assistance from Mr. Reckon Yu, for helping to promote SILK ROAD WEEK 2020 via a stunning range of scholarly publications that enhance our understanding of this valuable field of research. 2 SILK ROAD WEEK 2020 4 Acknowledgement 6-7 Introductions T 9-17 SILK ROAD Conversation with ... N E T 19-21 SILK ROAD WEEK 2020 (Persian, Chinese, Arabic) N 23-39 Sports Heritage Along the SILK ROAD O C 41-44 Projects & Activities During SILK ROAD WEEK 2020 45-48 Outreach 48-49 List of Illustrations 51 Toward SILK ROAD WEEK 2021 SILK ROAD Conversations with ... MUSEUMVIEWS On International Museum Day (May 18) 2020, celebrating “Museums for Equality: Diversity and Inclusion,” MUSEUMVIEWS introduced a year-long transmedia program of interviews and activities rooted in the spirit of one of the earliest global networks that embodied diversity and inclusion for millennia: The Silk Road. Inspired by the inaugural SILK ROAD WEEK 2020, ”SILK ROAD Conversations with ...” revives “Conversations with …” artists, curators, collectors, dealers and filmmakers which we have been conducting since 2010. Sports Heritage Along the SILK ROAD We are equally thrilled to use this opportunity to launch GSHA Global Sports Heritage Association during SILK ROAD WEEK. GSHA's mission is to promote sporting heritage in various fields, across generations, and around the globe. Equally relevant to the mission of SILK ROAD WEEK is the celebration of the spirit, heritage & histories of various sports – football (cuju), martial arts, equestrian sports, archery, wrestling, board games, weight lifting, etc. - whose foundations may be found along the Silk Road. SILK ROAD Conversations with ... SPAIN Jose Maria Chiquillo Barber (UNESCO) USA Courtney Ann Stewart (Senior Researcher, Islamic Arts) CHINA Vikki Zhang (Artist) OMAN Rahma Qassim Jabir Al-Farsi (UNESCO) NETHERLANDS César Rodríguez Salinas (Conservator) NEPAL Roshan Mishra (Curator) IRELAND Kristine Rose-Beers (Conservator) BULGARIA Petya Andreeva (Art Historian) IRAN Golnaz Golsabahi (Curator) AFGHANISTAN Omaid Sharifi (Artivist) NETHERLANDS Cornelis van Lit (Scholar) PORTUGAL Vania Assis (Conservator) NIGERIA Ovigwe Eguegu (Afripolitika ) IRAN Fatemeh Ahmadi (Curator) IRELAND Frank J Cunningham (IMWD/GSHA) USA Homa Taj (MUSEUMVIEWS) Q – How do you describe your work to people who don’t know anything about your field? A - As a member of the International Network - Focal Point of Spain - and from the responsibility of the presidency of the international network of focal points along the Silk Road, to contribute to recover, preserve and disseminate the historical legacy of the Silk Routes, their great contribution to intercultural dialogue and value our common cultural heritage forged for more than 2,000 years. SPAIN - SILK ROAD Conversations with Jose Maria Chiquillo Barber (UNESCO) Q - What is the most memorable object you’ve researched, or worked with? A - The illustration I did with the National Silk Museum, located in Hangzhou, China, for Silk Road Week... Except for winged horse, there were dragon, tiger, camel, deer, double- headed bird, lion, peacock…accompanied by people from China, Persia, Indian, Arabia, and others, to show goods and ideas exchanged through the trade road. Animals show up frequently in my other works. I wish to convey my expectation of protecting the Earth and biodiversity through my artwork, where humans and nature live in a balanced and harmonious basis. That’s another voice hidden in these images, in the context of the outbreak of COVID-19 and many other natural disasters. CHINA - SILK ROAD Conversations with Vikki Zhang (Artist) Q – How do you describe your work to people who don’t know anything about your field? A - I am the Director of Media and Communication for the Sultanate of Oman Focal Point to UNESCO Silk Roads Program. Our work includes collecting, analysing and transmitting information and data on Silk Roads heritage and activities in our countries to be integrated in the UNESCO Silk Roads Online Platform. We inform national stakeholders about the activities related to Silk Roads undertaken by UNESCO and its partners. And, we also encourage and advise national authorities and stakeholders in initiating, implementing and promoting activities related to Silk Roads. Then, there is the exchange of experience and expertise with other members of the Network to facilitate cooperation and partnership. Lastly, we contribute to the promotion of mutual understanding, intercultural dialogue, reconciliation and cooperation among nations and people sharing the Silk Roads common heritage. SULTANATE OF OMAN - SILK ROAD Conversations with Rahma Qassim Jabir Al-Farsi (UNESCO) Q – How do you describe your work to people who don’t know anything about your field? A - Did you know the vast majority of what people have written is in handwriting? Think about it; the vast majority of all ideas worth putting on paper, our collective memory, is to a very large part only available in manuscripts, many of these ideas surviving in only one copy. Of these manuscripts, again, the vast majority predates our own time. And this makes reading those ideas pretty difficult; accessing and deciphering ancient manuscripts is an actual skill. It is my job to roam back rooms of libraries, scouring shelves for manuscripts worth picking up. Sometimes there are centuries in between me and the last reader: I wipe the dust off and let the ideas come to life once more. I am particularly trained to do this for Arabic and Persian manuscripts from the Islamic world. And I am a pioneer in doing this in a digital environment, developing new tools (software) to do this type of work better, faster, and in ways unimagined before. NETHERLANDS - SILK ROAD Conversations with Cornelis van Lit (Scholar) Q – What is your most memorable experience of travelling along the Silk Road? A - The most memorable experience is traveling to Bamyan in the central highlands of Afghanistan which was also part of the Silk Road, and meeting my wife. Q – Which city or region along the Silk Road are you looking forward to visit, for the first time? A - I would love to visit all of them but the priority is Kashgar (喀什, China). AFGHANISTAN - SILK ROAD Conversations with Omaid Sharifi (Artivist) Q – What is the most memorable object you’ve researched, or worked with? A - This is a hard choice, but I would have to go with the gold treasures found in modern-day Kazakhstan, particularly the “Golden Man” of Issyk. This refers to a burial of an Iron-Age nomadic chieftain, whose body was found covered in 400 golden plaques of superb design and craftsmanship. A close contender would be a gold headdress topped by a turquoise bird excavated from Aluchaideng in modern-day Inner Mongolia. BULGARIA - Silk Road Conversations with Petya Andreeva (Art Historian) Q – What is the most memorable object you’ve researched, or worked with? A - Undoubtedly that has to be the Tangut documents from Kharakhoto, unearthed by Aurel Stein in 1914 and part of the British Library’s collection. Their state was so fragmentary back when they were found, that recovery was deemed impossible, leaving the documents untouched until the International Dunhuang Project (IDP) launched a conservation project. Imagine heavy bundles with a papier-mâché like appearance, where a safe method must be found to unfold and recover material, but the paper is as soft as cotton wool. These were some of the most challenging objects I have worked on to this day, but the rewards were also unbeatable. The bundles contained manuscripts, early woodblock printed material, pieces of textiles, plants and seeds. All placed in stupas by the Tanguts until the end of their empire, in 1227 A.D.. PORTUGAL - Silk Road Conversations with Vania Assis (Conservator) Q – How do you describe your work to people who don’t know anything about your field? I was trained as general conservator where I learned how to treat different objects for their good preservation. Since 2011, I am solely working with textiles and fashion objects, and what I do is to keep all of those objects as best as I can for future generations. To be a fashion conservator at Kunstmuseum Den Haag (KMDH) is a huge responsibility, because I am dealing with heritage that belongs to The Netherlands and which has an incredible history value behind.