Taking a tour of the Silk Road
By Trevor Williams | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2017-05-05 23:52
Yamashita's work captures glimpses of the lifestyles that gave rise to ancient Chinese innovations shared across these geographic chains, including silk, aquaculture, gunpowder and navigational aids like the compass.
While the Atlanta exhibition ended March 29, the same set of Yamashita's works — which underscore China's historical global outreach — will be on display during the Belt and Road Forum of International Cooperation in Beijing before heading next to the United Kingdom.
"The Carter Center was interested in hosting this exhibition because we believe there is huge potential for the US and China to work together on the One Belt, One Road Initiative," said Yawei Liu, director of the Carter Center's China Program.
Stephanie Carey, an employee of global nonprofit CARE, went to the exhibition mainly to see photos of regions in Southeast Asia where she has traveled. She left with a better understanding of China's initiative and its role in the world.
"China is such a world power, and seeing this exhibit confirmed that. They've always been pretty strong in trade, and that's one of their main strengths that I see in the world today," Carey said, noting that a photo of Lamu, an island off the coast of Kenya, made an impression on her.
For Monica Johnson, a recent Georgia State University graduate who is about to spend a year in China, the exhibition gave her a deeper appreciation for the culture that will soon surround her.
"A lot of times photographs focus so much on the landscape and the scenery — time and space — and I felt like he focused on the people that inhabited that time and space. I could see the humanity in it," she said.
"It added to the excitement, to see the images and to know that soon I'll be around it and immersed in it."
