"The Silk Road played the role of a connecting bridge between countries and civilizations. It served as a channel for trade, which became the catalyst for the development of crafts. Travelers and explorers studied the countries and peoples of the lands along the entire length of the Road, thus making an enormous contribution to the development of knowledge. The world became acquainted with the ideas and work of the greatest philosophers, scholars and statesmen. Intensive mutual enrichment of cultures took place, and there was an active exchange of knowledge and of spiritual and philosophical concepts and views."1

Some examples of what was transported over the centuries along the Silk Road include Buddhism, technology, and art. Although it reached its height of utilization during the Tang Dynasty in the seventh to ninth centuries A.D.,

Buddhism came to China from India along the Silk Road. It is believed that the Eastern Han emperor Mingdi sent an expedition to India to learn more about this religion around 60 A.D.9 Further journeys brought scriptures back to China. During the Northern Wei dynasty in the fourth and fifth centuries A.D., Chinese rulers encouraged the development of Buddhism, and more expeditions were sent West to India. Buddhism began to slowly spread east, carried by merchants, missionaries and pilgrims. Many people began to convert to Buddhism, its practice moved further east, and it soon took hold in the Chinese capital. Thus, India began to have significant influence on Chinese culture. Numerous Buddhist schools, shrines, grottos, and monasteries appeared in villages along the Silk Road, and China became an important center for Buddhist teaching.

In late 1990, the railway connecting Lanzhou (near the geographic center of China) and Urumchi (in northwest China in the Xinjiang province) was extended to the border with Kazakhstan, where it joined with the former Soviet railway system; this now provides an important route to the new republics. This portion of the Eurasian Continental Bridge is yet another link in the railroad running from Rotterdam in the Netherlands in the West to Qinhuangdao Harbor, China in the East. The Bridge comprises a "major international passageway which traverses the two continents of Asia and Europe, connects the Pacific and Atlantic oceans and realizes sea-land-sea transportation."13 It is 10,800 km in length and involves more than 30 countries and regions. It has been dubbed "the new Silk Road" of modern times.

The revitalization of the old Silk Road and the construction of the Eurasian Continental Bridge will lead to a renewed migration of people, cultures, and ideas between geographical areas from Western Europe to Eastern China. While the effects of this new migration have yet to be seen on the current Chinese culture, there are numerous opportunities for cultural hybridity to develop.

After the Greeks, people from Syria and then Parthia occupied the region. Although these peoples used the Greek language and coin systems in this region, they also introduced their own style of sculpture and art.3 After the Parthians came the Yuezhi people from the Northern borders of the Taklimakan. In the first century A.D., they moved into this area, bringing Buddhism. They, too, adopted much of the Greek system that already existed. This created a fusion of Greek and Buddhist art into a new form in which many Buddhist sculptures bore a strong likeness to Heracles.4

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1843
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)