In the second century B.C. in Chang’an, seat of the Han Empire, the Chinese emperor Wudi called forth his loyal servant, Zhang Qian, and presented him with a mission: search for allies who would help protect the empire against the Huns, who had become a major threat along the western frontier. …So starts the story of the silk road.
Fifteen years ago I went to school at Vancouver Community College. I took a digital design course while I was there, and afterwards a web development course. There was another class, which a friend had taken on making CD-ROMs. While I was there he showed me this CD-ROM produced by a company called DNA, in Vancouver.
First this got me in love with the idea that you can present video and music, as well as hypertext. It seems pretty basic now but at the time it was pretty phenomenal. I liked the CD so much I ordered a copy for myself and went through it over and over. I loved listening to the traditional songs and reading about the great game.
This where I first encountered the Uighur people. They are the indigenous people of Xinjiang in the North West part of China.
The CD is set up with the different sections and subsections which have a combination of images, movies and text which later in the game are used as the answers to the quiz at the end. Eventually I lost the original copy when at my folks place and later I gave my second copy to my sister for her kids, who at the time were young.
Recently I found a copy from a website called Social Studies I wanted another copy (my third or fourth by this time). After my mom died I took my share of the insurance money and went around the world, specifically to travel the Silk Road. I visited Xian, Dunhuang, Kashgar. I followed the silk route from Shanghai all the way to Istanbul.
When I returned to Canada, I didn’t know what to do. When I arrived back at my folks I found this CD-ROM again and it inspired me to take Interactive Multi-media at Sheridan college. That in turn set my life on a whole new course. I ended up in Toronto, where I met Zuimei and started working for the CBC. I had no idea all those years ago what an impact this little CD-ROM would have on my life.