Click "CC" for Scripts Subscribe to Arirang News! http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=arirangnews 동서를 잇는 21c 실크로드, 이스탄불-경주 세계문화 엑스포 The month-long Istanbul-Gyeongju World Culture Expo, which kicked off over the weekend in Istanbul is shedding light on the ancient Silk Road,... a cross-continental trade route that linked the Far East and the West for thousands of years. Our cultural correspondent Park Ji-won tells us more. Just in time for the Istanbul-Gyeongju World Culture Expo,... Korea's North Gyeongsang Province,... the co-organizer of the event dispatched two expedition teams to travel the ancient Silk Road. The teams spent some 50 days on the road,... covering about 17-thousand kilometers,... from Korea's southeastern city of Gyeongju to Turkey's largest city Istanbul. The first team traveled some four-thousand kilometers late March to early April from Gyeongju to the Chinese city of Xian,... which is commonly known as the starting point of the Silk Route. The second group traveled another 14-thousand kilometers by car mid-July to late August,... from China's Xian to Turkey's Istanbul,... crossing through seven countries,... many of them being in Central Asia. Members from the team traced the footsteps of Korean ancestors during their journey. Former culture minister and Korean history professor Choe Kwang-shik says,... Gyeongju was definitely a part of the ancient Silk Road. He says,.. many burial items excavated from the tombs of Gyeongju,... the ancient capital of Silla Dynasty,... that existed from the first century B.C. to the 10th century,... show that active trade was already being carried out on the Korean Peninsula. "The Silk Road dates back to the first century B.C.,... through which Chinese silks,... and many other items like papers and spices were traded between the East and the West. While the Silk Road basically refers to the ancient Chinese city of Xian and Rome of the Roman Empire,... it stretches beyond Xian to other Far East cities such as Beijing, Gyeongju, or the Japanese city of Nara. Similarly,... it also extends beyond Rome,... to Paris and Madrid." Organizers of the world culture expo hope,... this special event in the Eurasian country will bring about another influx of exchange between Korea and Europe,... and act as the hub of the 21st century Silk Road. Park Ji-won, Arirang News.

• published: 02 Sep 2013
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