This summer, I discovered a fabulous seventeenth-century Persian bowl at the University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) that features Persian script and Chinese floral design that captures the interconnectedness of all our cultures—through the Silk Road in those days, through the internet today. Some people think that the crossing of cultures is a new phenomenon, facilitated by airplanes and telephones. However, globalization is not new, and a lot can be learned from how we all fit together in time and place.

The University of Michigan Center for Chinese Studies presents a talk this Thursday, December 03, 2009, from 6-8pm on "China as a Eurasian Subcontinent: Perspectives on the Past and Future:"

James A. Millward Associate Professor of History, Walsh School of Foreign Service Georgetown University

Though often treated as exceptional and isolated from the broader developments of Eurasian history, China is and has always been linked to the rest of Eurasia more closely than is often thought. From contacts with Indo-European- and Altaic-speaking peoples and trans-continental exchanges of ideas and things, to imperial expansion deep into Central Eurasia, to today's tightening economic and political ties with Central Asia, the continental dimension of China's international relations has been and continues to be highly significant to China, the world, and China's position in the world—in ways often neglected when China is framed as an isolated civilization or exclusively as part of "East Asia." In his talk, Professor Millward will consider what China's historical relationship with continental Eurasia means both for our understanding of China's past and with regard to China today and in the future.

Contact Information: chinese.studies@umich.edu

They begin at 6:00pm with a reception in the 4th floor Rackham Assembly Hall, and the talk itself begins at 7:00pm in the 4th floor Rackham Amphitheater, both at 915 E. Washington Street, Ann Arbor.

Frances Kai-Hwa Wang is a second-generation Chinese American from California who now divides her time between Ann Arbor and the Big Island of Hawaii. She is editor of IMDiversity.com Asian American Village, lead multicultural contributor for AnnArbor.com, and a contributor for New America Media's Ethnoblog. She is a popular speaker on Asian Pacific American and multicultural issues. Check out her website at franceskaihwawang.com, her blog at franceskaihwawang.blogspot.com, and she can be reached at fkwang888@gmail.com.