From 2013 to 2023, a decade has elapsed since the unveiling of the Belt and Road Initiative. Over this period, as a full-scale cooperation in higher education between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, UIC has fully utilised its geographical and academic advantages to facilitate the Initiative's progress.
A recently published book named Silk Road to Belt Road: Reinventing the Past and Shaping the Future, edited by Associate Professor Dr Nazrul Islam, who is of UIC's Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (FHSS), was translated and published by the Hunan People's Publishing House.
Dr Nazrul Islam (second from left) attends the expert meeting on the publication of the book series
The book comprises the research papers presented by scholars from various countries, including China, Vietnam, Malaysia, South Korea, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Kazakhstan and Bangladesh at UIC's 2nd interdisciplinary Forum on Belt-Road Connectivity and Eurasian Integration: Meeting the Culture. It explores the development of the Silk Road to the Belt and Road Initiative from angles of history, religion, language, culture, and more. Dr Islam said the book views the Initiative as a civilisational development process that originated on the ancient Silk Road, fostering human interaction and cultural exchanges.
The book was originally written in English and was published by an international publisher, Springer, in 2019. It is now included in a series containing the latest academic research results of the Initiative, which is taken charge of by Hunan Normal University in cooperation with the China South Publishing and Media Group.
UIC scholars continue to offer intellectual support for the Initiative's progress with academic research, revealing its charm by providing more information on its cultural background.
Starting from Buddhist manuscript libraries along the Silk Road in one of his projects, Prof Wang Xiang of UIC's FHSS, concentrated on the historical facts of religious contacts and information dissemination through books between China and the western section of the Silk Road, Central Asia, South Asia and Japan during the Writing Period, suggesting that the Silk Road linked to libraries of all countries and all cultures.
The project has pointed out a new direction for the Silk Road study on librarianship, and it is also the first global study focusing on Buddhist libraries from the Silk Road angle. Receiving funds from the National Social Science Fund of China, it is expected to be published as a book named Palm Leaves Come to the East: Buddhist Manuscript Libraries along the Silk Road in 2026.
Also, Dr Chen Zhan of UIC's FHSS, cut into the study from the perspective of the translation and annotation of Christian literature in Syriac and how other languages and cultures along the Silk Road influenced it. It pays particular attention to the interactions between Syriac texts and Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, helping people better understand the historical and cultural background of the Silk Road region. The project has been funded by China's Ministry of Education.
Inspired by the spirit of the Initiative, UIC will strive to produce more academic results and cultivate comprehensively developed international talents to advance global communication and development of the countries along the route.
From MPRO
Reporter: Cecilia Yu
Photos provided by Hunan People's Publishing House and FHSS
Editor: Deen He
