On June 24, the 2026 Silk Road Week opened at the China National Silk Museum (CNSM) in Hangzhou under the theme “Harmony and Coexistence, Connecting the Future.” Co-hosted by the National Cultural Heritage Administration and the Zhejiang Provincial Government, this year’s edition features Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region as the guest province and Morocco as the guest country.
The marquee exhibition, “Moon Shining on Silver Mountains: Gaochang and Qiuci on the Silk Road,” brings together over 200 artifacts from 14 institutions across Xinjiang and Zhejiang. Running through September 1, the show traces the Han-Tang Silk Road northern route from east to west, linking the ancient oasis cities of Gaochang, Yanqi, and Qiuci through excavated textiles, site relics, and grotto remains.
Among the exhibits is a piece of ramie cloth produced in Lanxi, Zhejiang during the Tang dynasty — originally sent westward as tax-in-kind, later unearthed from a Turpan tomb, and now returning to its place of origin for the first time. The textile embodies the material reality of Tang central governance over the Western Regions and the economic integration that the Silk Road enabled.
Alongside the archaeological show, the museum opened “Heavenly Weaves: Traditional Moroccan Costume Exhibition,” presenting over 50 kaftan garments and accessories spanning regional traditional kaftans, modern kaftans, and contemporary bridal kaftans. Moroccan kaftan was inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2025, and this marks its first dedicated exhibition in a Chinese museum context — a direct material dialogue between Silk Road textile traditions at opposite ends of the historic route.
The opening ceremony also saw the release of the 2025 Silk Road Cultural Heritage Annual Report, which systematically documents global advances in Silk Road heritage protection, research, and communication across four categories: archaeological discoveries, thematic exhibitions, academic publications, and cultural events. CNSM also signed a cooperation agreement with the Bowers Museum in the United States for a “CNSM Overseas Gallery” partnership.
The academic component includes a Silk Road Week symposium on June 25–26 centered on “civilization exchange, technology empowerment, and heritage innovation,” while public programming extends to livestreamed “Heritage Illuminates the Silk Road” tours, a “Hundred Museums, Hundred Objects” short-video series, Silk Road-themed creative product launches, and hands-on craft workshops. The closing events are scheduled for early November in Morocco, where the exhibition “Silk Road Splendor: Contemporary Chinese Silk Art” will present 84 works alongside mulberry-sericulture ICH demonstrations and a China-Morocco academic dialogue.
Since its inaugural edition in 2020, Silk Road Week has become an annual anchor event for CNSM, now in its seventh consecutive year. The 2026 edition continues the museum’s dual-direction strategy — bringing Silk Road heritage into Hangzhou while taking Chinese silk culture outward — threading historical memory and contemporary textile aesthetics into a single cultural narrative.