On June 12, the International Forum "The History and Future of Xinjiang, China" was held in Kashi, Xinjiang. From the perspective of history and change in Xinjiang, experts and elites discussed their understanding of the significance of the Silk Road and mutual exchange between Eastern and Western Civilization.

The Dun Ancient City of Tang Dynasty was established in the early Tang Dynasty in the first half of the 7th century and was gradually abandoned by the 14th century. It mainly spanned three periods, the Tang Dynasty, the Qara-hoja, and the Mongol Yuan Dynasty.

From 2018 to 2022, numerous artifacts from different periods were unearthed, providing the evidence of the historical reality of ethnic integration, religious coexistence, and cultural compatibility along the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains from the Tang to the Yuan Dynasty. These findings offered vivid and solid material for the study and interpretation of cultural exchanges along the Silk Road, and the formation and development of a unified pattern of multi-ethnic integration and other related issues.

——By Wei Jian,

distinguished Professor at the School of Ethnology and Sociology, Minzu University of China,

and the director of the Borderland Archaeology Research Institute.

As early as 2,000 years ago, the Xinjiang has already been the gateway for the Chinese civilization going west, a center for the eastern and western cultures exchange.

From the very beginning, all Xinjiang ethnic cultures bear common Chinese cultural gene. Thus, Chinese culture has always been the emotional home and spiritual shelter, and the source of strength for all Xinjiang ethnic groups and their respective cultural development.

When Islamic culture was introduced here, the local ethnic cultures, absorbed its influence after strict selection, and localized it in Chinese characteristics. This process did not change the unique traits and the trend of Chinese civilization, nor the solid fact that Xinjiang ethnic cultures remain a vital part of Chinese culture.

——By Ramila Shawket,

Vice Dean and associate professor at the School of Marxism, Xinjiang University.

The deity on Panjakent murals are found mostly in the non-Buddhist contexts, but the eye-catching parallels we attest in the depictions of wrathful deities of Tantric Buddhism. Taking this similarity seriously, we encounter not only problem of religious affiliation, but also in the chronology: Sogdian images belong to the 7th-early 8th century, while the Tantric iconography started to develop in Himalaya since the 9th century. Indeed some iconographic models could have been initially shaped in Bactria and Sogdiana and later borrowed by the neighbours via Silk Roads and embedded into their religious systems.

——By Pavel Lure,

Head of the Section of Central Asia, the Caucasus and Crimea,

Senior Research Fellow of the Oriental Department of the State Hermitage Museum,

and the director of Panjakent and Central Iranian archaeological expeditions.

Over the past 40 years, my family and I have visited Xinjiang many times.

More than 40 years ago, my father wrote an article for Eastern Horizon about his journey to Xinjiang, describing how people from various ethnic groups worked and lived together there. He noted that Han people admired the minority groups' ability to enjoy life, while the minorities admired the Han for their dedication to learning.

Over 30 years ago, I witnessed cities such as Urumqi and Kashi were wide opened. In the markets, we not only saw friendly people from various ethnic groups but also individuals from neighboring countries like Pakistan. In the early 1990s, bilateral aid programs between Canada and China funded some of our joint initiatives continue to this day.

——By Michael Crook,

Chairman of the International Committee for the Promotion of Chinese Industrial Cooperatives

and the founder of Western Academy of Beijing.

Archaeological evidence indicates that east-west cultural exchanges through the Tianshan Mountains of Xinjiang could be traced back to the lithic era. Xinjiang has yielded a small number of geometric microliths, marking a tradition originating from West and Central Asia. The prehistoric plant remains discovered in Xinjiang are another evidence of cultural exchange between the East and the West.

The discovery of remains of prehistoric crops such as wheat, barley, foxtail and broomcorn millet indicates that the agricultural production of multiple grains coexisting in Xinjiang should not be later than the Bronze Age around 2500 BC. The prehistoric cultural exchange, including agriculture, information, technology, and human exchange, promoted the development of Eastern and Western civilizations and laid the foundation for the Silk Road in the historical period.

——By Peter Weiming Jia,

Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Archaeology

and China Studies Centre at the University of Sydney

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