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By Ted Mitchell

 
 
THE SILK ROAD: YESTERDAY & TODAY PROJECT - WELCOME

For Teachers: Silk Road PowerPoint (A Background on the project - Presented at FCCEAS Seminar 1/11/11) - [PPT Version - 97-2003 version]

Assignments You Will Complete:
1. Silk Road Map Assignment
2. Silk Road Virtual Tour Research Graphic Organizer
3. World Trade Organization Silk Road Today Illustrated Report

Introduction: How has our quest for resources throughout human history affected China and the world? This is the question this project attempts to answer.
Trade has played a major role in the past and present in China. Historically, the Middle Kingdom (Zhōngguó (中國)) and other civilization's quest for goods and technology led to the creation of roads or links to different places. These locations had resources to trade, like silk or camels. Eventually, this timeless quest led Chinese goods all the way to Rome and Roman gold back to China.
Today, nations around the world still trade for resources and technology like they did on the Silk Road. But, trade or globalization of the present covers the entire world and China is still a major player. Join this virtual journey to discover the Silk Road of Yesterday and Today.


 
Travel the Known World of Yesterday & Today

Click here for large screen version 

Chinese girl in silk dress (Zhouzhuang, China)
Girl in traditional dress (Zhouzhuang, China)

Why is it called the Silk Road?
(All about silk)

Silk shop in Beijing, China
Silk shop in Beijing, China

Marco Polo's journey from Italy to China in the 13th century
Marco Polo's Journey from Venice, Italy to Xian, China (A 24 year journey)

Project Description:

The Silk Road spanned nearly 5,000 miles from East Asia to the Mediterranean Sea. Traders, pilgrims, and warriors traveled along the Silk Road from Rome and Antioch in the west to as far as China in the east. In fact, trade extended even farther east from China into Korea and over to Japan. The silk road is not one long road, but rather many smaller roads and pathways that were connected, and worn by the use of thousands of travelers over a period of hundreds of years. (Click here for Silk Road History article)

In this project, you will complete a Map Assignment, locating and labeling Silk Road Stops, resources, and physical features that travelers had to traverse. You will then complete a Graphic Organizer through traveling on a virtual tour of the Silk Road, stopping at seven locations and learning about the goods and ideas that people exchanged yesterday and today. You will record notes on your graphic organizer, making conclusions and inferences about what you encounter and learn.

In the final stage of this project, you will create an Illustrated Report as if you were working as an historian researching and creating an illustrated report for the World Trade Organization on the Silk Road. Your assignment will be to show the history of trade on the Silk Road of yesterday and its effect on the world today. You will also make the argument why trade is important to us today and why we need to work towards world peace so that trade can continue to flourish as it did during the time of the Silk Road.

Supplemental Lesson: Defending Marco Polo - The Truth About China


 

 

The Silk Road Yesterday
Camel caravan on the Silk Road
Camel caravan on the Silk Road

The Silk Road Today
Three Gorges Dam Container Ships
Cargo ships in the Three Gorges Dam