UC Berkeley opens Silk Road center

The institute will fund fieldwork and fellowships.

The University of California, Berkeley, has opened the first institutionalized center in the United States dedicated to the study of the Silk Road, the ancient trade route that linked China with the West.

Named the P.Y. and Kinmay W. Tang Center for Silk Road Studies, it was launched on April 29 with a $5 million gift by two branches of the family of Chinese-American philanthropist Oscar Tang.