Skip to content

Dharma Documentaries

Dharma. Culture. Ecology.

Menu
  • Dharma
  • Culture
  • Ecology
  • Archives
  • About
Menu

Colin Thubron, The Silk Road

Posted on November 16, 2018March 22, 2022 by Dharma Documentaries
A trip along the Silk Roads from east to west of Xinjiang by the travel writer Colin Thubron (English with Mandarin subtitles).

Colin Thubron, The Silk Road

This is a fascinating film from 1988 shot largely in Xinjiang and following the writer Colin Thubron as he travels along the ancient Silk Roads seeking out history, cultures, people and solitude.

Thubron is a well known travel writer, who has written about the Middle east, Russia and the Silk Road, and is also a fiction writer. Here you can see his sensitivity to the peoples and regions he moves amongst, and it is really an extraordinary journey to have made in 1988.

He also visits the largely protected Kizil Grottoes, and climbing into the caves with the help of ropes, sees both the magnificent artworks, and the destruction wrought by treasure seekers and iconoclasts alike.

In a rather poignant moment he also visits some of the graveyards of the Chinese forced to relocate into the region by their Government, and he discusses the tensions that abounded even then between the Han Chinese and the Turkic Uighar.

Eventually Thubron makes it to Kashgar, where he visits a large horse market, and then out beyond to the solitudes at the end of his journey where China, the Soviet Union, Pakistan and Afghanistan all meet.

 

if the video does not appear on the page, please first try reloading the page, and if that doesn’t work, leave a comment so I can update the page (the comment is not published)

 

to see an album of stills click here

 

TAGS:
Culture, Caves, Central Asia, China

2 thoughts on “Colin Thubron, The Silk Road”

  1. James says:
    September 10, 2020 at 1:36 pm

    Thanks for posting this, I first saw this documentary in 1997 shortly after I myself returned from a long spell in China including Xinjiang. Thubron is an excellent and under rated travel writer, and the documentary is exquisite. Do you know if there is anywhere I can buy a copy online?

    Reply
    1. Dharma Documentaries says:
      September 10, 2020 at 5:31 pm

      I don’t know anywhere it can be bought, I very much doubt it, but you can download from youtube.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Comments do not appear straight away, but are moderated before publication

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Search

Subscriptions

Follow our Facebook Page Follow our Tweets Subscribe to our Feed

Subscribe by Email

Email


Shortlink and QR

https://dharma-documentaries.net/b/3qB

Donations

This site has taken more than a dozen years and 1000s of hours to build, and has 800+ documentaries on it. If you would like to help, you can do so here. Even small amounts make a difference.

Copyright

If anyone has any copyright claims please contact me at dharmadocus@gmail.com and the posts and films will be immediately removed.

Top Ten Tags

Theravada
Mahayana
Vajrayana

India
Silk Road
China
Tibet

Arts
Lectures
Rights

Related Posts

  • Dunhuang, Edge of the World 5, Hong Bian
  • Eternal Smiles, Buddhist Sculptures of China
  • The Mystery of Bezeklik
  • A Buddhist Kingdom Beneath the Sands
  • Beyond the Himalayas 3, Tales of the Silk Road
  • Tours of the Caves of Dunhuang
  • Bopearachchi, Spread of Gandhāra Art
  • Lost Treasures of the Silk Road
  • Dunhuang, Edge of the World 4, Wu Zetian
  • Dunhuang, Edge of the World 3, Juqu Mengxun

Recent Posts

  • Tours of the Caves of Dunhuang
  • Angkor Wat, Ancient Hydraulic City
  • The Magical Mountain of Tibet
  • Lords of Water
  • Radioactive Waste, A Nuclear Nightmare
  • Beyond Boundaries, Buddhist Art of Gandhāra
  • The Story of Sudhana, Gallery, Level 4
  • The Story of Sudhana, Balustrade, Level 4
  • The Story of Sudhana, Balustrade, Level 3
  • The Story of Sudhana, Gallery 3, 45-88

Random Posts

  • GMO A Go-Go
  • Kings with Straw Mats
  • The Life and Works of Buddhadasa Bhikkhu
  • The Crow Birth (told by Margo McLoughlin)
  • Religious Linkages Between Bhutan and Ladakh
  • Jade Buddha Temple, Shanghai
  • Great Minds 14, Nagarjuna and Vasubandhu
  • A Spiritual Journey to the World Heritage Site: Banteay Srei
  • Khru Ba Sriwichai, the Thai Engineer Monk
  • Thich Nhat Hanh: This is A Happy Moment
© 2023 Dharma Documentaries | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme