Symposium: Cultural Optimism, Art and the New Silk Road

On Sunday April 28, 2019, a symposium hosted by the Rising Tide Foundation was held in Montreal, Canada dealing with the unified growth of cultural optimism, beautiful art and economic development as it is being manifested today with the New Silk Road in Asia, Africa and beyond. Presentations were given by a pianist, a dancer,…

Study of the Heavens: a History of Chinese Astronomy

Transcript of a lecture given by Cynthia Chung at ‘The Universe, Creativity and You‘ Symposium. We live in a strange time. Many have forgotten the power of imagination and are instead bogged down with the reality of ‘practicality’. The reality of ‘the budget’, and the reality of ‘what is deemed useful and what is deemed…

Brunelleschi’s Dome: The Project that Inspired a Renaissance

by Cynthia Chung To this day, over 550 years after its construction, the Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral remains a proudly cherished national treasure of the Italians, attracting tourists from all over the world to gaze upon its magnificence in person. It is not only appreciated for its incredible beauty but also as the largest…

Poe’s Metaphysics: Rediscovering Eureka

By Matthew Ehret What I here propound is true: — therefore it cannot die: — or if by any means it be now trodden down so that it die, it will “rise again to the Life Everlasting. Nevertheless it is as a Poem only that I wish this work to be judged after I am dead.” –Edgar…

John F. Kennedy, NAWAPA and China’s New Silk Road

As we solemnly remember the life and mission of the martyred President Kennedy 57 years ago today, it is worth noting that his was a life devoted to the actualization of all inherent powers of his own citizens and citizens of all nations in our common struggle for freedom, security and cooperation. Between his alliance…

Russia Before the Revolution: A Voyage Along the Silk Road in Colour

Sergey Mikhaylovich Prokudin-Gorsky (1863 – 1944) was a Russian chemist and photographer. He is best known for his pioneering work in colour photography, in particular, his colour portrait of Leo Tolstoy. It was this fame that, in 1909, brought him to the attention of Tsar Nicholas II who would provide funding and the authority for Prokudin-Gorsky to…