Beyond the Silk Road: China Through the Lens of Art and Architecture

​What can a medieval Chinese mosque tell us about how China has engaged with the wider world?

​For centuries, China’s ports were meeting points where people, ideas, religions, and artistic traditions traveled across the Indian Ocean and beyond. Yet these histories of exchange can be overlooked when China is understood primarily through the lenses of geopolitics, economics, or great-power competition.

​In this conversation, Dr. Sylvia Wu, a scholar, art historian, and professor at UT Austin, invites us to look at China from a different angle: through its buildings, communities, and ethno-religious connections.

​Dr. Wu’s research focuses in particular on Muslim communities in South China and their engagement with the region’s diverse coastal societies.

​The conversation will also consider what gets missed when contemporary China is viewed primarily through economics, geopolitics, or state-to-state relations. At a time of increasing polarization and declining opportunities for cross-border engagement, what can the history of centuries of cultural exchange teach us about the enduring importance of people-to-people connections?

​Join us after the discussion for drinks and networking.