Hi Everyone I'd like to announce that along with avid.fm  I’m pleased to present to you an introduction to the Silk Road - its past, present, and future. If you want to understand the history of the Silk Road and the implications of its modern-day successor, the Belt & Road Initiative, this course will equip you with everything you need to understand it. 

Looking to the past, we’ll explore the rugged and inhospitable terrain that stood between China and the markets of Rome, and we’ll understand how along this path came goods, ideas, and people who shaped the world - from Buddhism to Architecture, Philosophy to Gunpowder. and we’ll meet a cast of characters like Marco Polo, Faxian, a Chinese monk who traveled by foot from China to India exploring Buddhist Kingdoms and Zhang Qian, a famed Chinese diplomat who essentially opened China to the world of commercial trade. You’ll get to know all of these stories, and understand the deeper historical implications of the people, ideas, and goods that traveled the Silk Road.  

Armed with this, we’ll journey to the (near) present, and look at how in 2013 China’s President Xi Jinping adopted the Silk Road as the inspiration behind the One Belt One Road or Belt and Road Initiative.  This mega-project is slated for completion in 2049…just in time for the 100th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. How has history informed China’s decision to pursue the One Belt One Road initiative? What progress has already been made towards it? We’ll find out, and learn about the present-day motives for the initiative. 

Finally, we’ll gaze into the future and understand the implications of the One Belt One Road Initiative in the decades to come. What countries will it affect? How will China benefit from it - and what are the controversies surrounding it? We’ll cover this in enough detail that I hope you’ll be able to make up your own mind about this project, and hold down any conversation on the topic - be it at business, at a United Nations reception, or just at dinner with the in-laws! 

I warmly welcome you to listen.  The Silk Road, its past, present, and future, will be something you won’t want to miss. From the adventures of Zhang Qian to the swashbuckling diplomacy of the 21st Century, it’s a wild ride that will delight and inform you, and which you’ll find as useful in life and business as it is pleasurable to learn about. 

Remember, satisfaction is assured and there’s a 100% money-back guarantee from the good folks at avid.fm. 

You’ll be having a collaborative learning experience with a group of learners. You'll get to make friends with like-minded peers and also ask questions to me. For this cohort, the course enrollment period ends on July 5th, so head over to Avid.fm/Laszlo

Thank you so much and I hope you enjoy the course. 

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