This is Chris Bricker, and I’m thrilled to introduce you to Bill Porter – or Red Pine – one of the world’s finest translators of Chinese Poetry and religious texts. For those of you who already know him, and those of you who will get to know him, he prefers to just being your neighbor Bill Porter. Each week, Bill will bring you a series of enticing installments that we’re calling A Journey Along the Silk Road. So sit back and enjoy the journey, every Tuesday at approximately 5:20 and Friday at approximately 12:15. And lose yourself in the mystery of the Silk Road!
(Airdate: February 3, 2026) We’re in Xinjiang province in the town of Turfan, and we’re visiting the Emin Minaret at the east edge of town. The minaret was built in 1777 by the local ruler, Emin Khoja, as a monument to Uyghur support for the Qing dynasty and its dispute with other nomads to the north. Translated into current lingo, the minaret stands as a shining symbol of the centuries-old friendship between the Uyghurs and the Han Chinese…
(Airdate: January 27, 2026) We’re visiting Turfan’s most famous site, the Emin Minaret at the east edge of town. The word “minaret” comes from the Arabic word “minara,” meaning lighthouse, which is what a minaret looks like. But the minaret serves to summon rather than to warn away We’ve seen minarets before, but nothing quite like the Emin Minaret. It’s easily the most impressive piece of Islamic architecture in all of China.
(Airdate: January 20, 2026) We’re in Xinjiang province in the town of Turfan. Turfan is, without question, a Silk Road town. Unlike Hami, where the Chinese have recently taken over and reproduced their vision of life in architecture purgatory, Turfan has maintained much of its traditional character….
(Airdate: January 13, 2026) We’re in Xinjiang province in the town of Turfan, enjoying the rare pleasure of a cup of coffee and a bowl of chocolate mousse at John’s Cafe, right across the street from the Turfan guesthouse. It’s not the greatest coffee or the greatest mousse, but in the middle of the Silk Road, it’s the thought that counts….
(Airdate: January 6, 2026) We’re rolling through the desert in a bus that shuttles passengers between the train station at Daheyuan and the town of Turfan, 60 kilometers away. Even though our watches say 7 o’clock, it’s pitch dark outside, and dawn is still two hours away. Everyone in China lives and dies according to Peking time. It was after 8 o’clock when we finally pulled into Turfan, and the sun was just coming up. Actually, we didn’t quite pull into Turfan….
(Airdate: December 30, 2025) We’re in Xinjiang province in the town of Hami, the melon capital of China. After spending a day pedaling around town and seeing the sights, we finally boarded the 8 o’clock evening express to Turfan. And lo and behold, the conductor sold us a couple of berths in the soft sleeper section. The train line doesn’t go to Turfan but runs about 60 kilometers to the north, where travelers can catch the bus into town.
(Airdate: December 30, 2025) We’re in Xinjiang province in the town of Hami, the melon capital of China. After spending a day pedaling around town and seeing the sights, we finally boarded the 8 o’clock evening express to Turfan. And lo and behold, the conductor sold us a couple of berths in the soft sleeper section. The train line doesn’t go to Turfan but runs about 60 kilometers to the north, where travelers can catch the bus into town.
(Airdate: December 16, 2025) We’re still waiting at the Hami train station for the evening train, so we stocked up on Hami’s most famous product. To the Chinese, the name Hami is synonymous with melons. Hami melons have been the most famous melons in China ever since one of Hami’s Uyghur kings sent them to the Chinese emperor, and thanks for leaving him alone. That was less than 300 years ago….
(Airdate: December 16, 2025) We’re in Xinjiang province, in the town of Hami, waiting for the evening train to take us to Turfan, and already we’re regretting our decision to pass up a chance to visit Balikun. Balikun is on the other side of the Tianshan mountains that rise like a gigantic white wall 30 kilometers north of town.
(Airdate: December 9, 2025) We’re only 50 kilometers west of Hami’s present location, trying to hitchhike on a side road that leads to Wupu, the site that Hami once occupied over 2,000 years ago. But we may as well have been in the middle of the Gobi Desert as we stood there waiting for anything with wheels….
