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 24, 2026) We’re in Xinjiang Province, 50 kilometers east of Turfaan, in a gorge in the Flaming Mountains in a place called Bezeklik. Bezeklik is a Uyghur word for what we call “art gallery.” It was in fact a repository of Buddhist art, and until 1905 it had pretty much been forgotten. The man who rediscovered its treasure was the German archeologist Albert von Le Coq.
(Airdate: February 17, 2026) We’ve left Turfan’s arbor-lined streets behind and entered a Gobi Desert bordered on the north by the flickering tongues of the flaming mountains, less than a kilometer away. We’ve already noted how Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, had to use a magic fan to blow out the flames in this land of fire before he and his band of fellow pilgrims could continue on to India. We had an easier time….
(Airdate: February 10, 2026) We’re in Xinjiang province in the oasis of Turfan and we’re touring the sites outside of town.The first site is the area’s most famous. It’s the eroded red slopes of the Flaming Mountains that begin just north of town. On a hot summer day the surface temperature on these mountains exceeds 80 degrees Celsius, hot enough to fry an egg or a monk. Which brings us to another story….
(Airdate: February 10, 2026) We’re in Xinjiang province in the oasis of Turfan and we’re touring the sites outside of town.The first site is the area’s most famous. It’s the eroded red slopes of the Flaming Mountains that begin just north of town. On a hot summer day the surface temperature on these mountains exceeds 80 degrees Celsius, hot enough to fry an egg or a monk. Which brings us to another story….
(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: 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….
