2018 Conference: Sport on the Silk Road: East Meets West
The ancient Silk Road was a network of trade routes linking East and West, permitting not only exchanges of goods but a widespread process of cultural interaction. The rich sporting heritage along the length of these routes allows explorations of the transmission, exchange and development of cultural practices. With an embrace of cultural pluralism, the history of sport on the Silk Road has played a significant role in the formation of today’s sporting culture.
Based on the above themes and situated within the broader context of the Silk Road legacy as well as the Belt and Road Initiative, an international conference was held in Shanxi Normal University, Xi’an, China between 19 and 21 October 2018. Contributors from Asia, Europe, North America and Australia joined the conference and presented papers on the following topics:
1. Exchanges and integration of sports culture on the Silk Road
2. Comparative study on sports culture between the East and West
3. Theoretical and/or empirical understandings of the legacy of Chinese indigenous
sports culture
4. The western influence on Chinese and/or Asia sport
5. Chinese indigenous sports and the “Going Out” Policy
6. The Belt and Road Initiative and China’s sport diplomacy
7. The Belt and Road Initiative and sport development
Selected papers from the conference will be published in an IJHS special issue focuses on the history and development of sport on the Silk Road, with the vision to mobilize dialogue on an international scale.
Asia-Pacific Association of Sport Studies 
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