Established in 2017, The P.Y. and Kinmay W. Tang Center for Silk Road Studies (TCSRS) is apart of the Institute of East Asian Studies. The TCSRS is dedicated to advancing research and teaching on the historical overland and maritime exchange networks commonly referred to as the Silk Roads. Scholars frequently remain narrowly focused on particular regions without thinking about larger eurasian cultrual and economic networks. The TCSRS provides a forum for academics to explore trans-national, trans-regional, cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary approaches to their research and understanding.
The TCSRS focuses on archaeoligical material and visual culture, as well as manuscripts and archival data from around the world. In geographical terms, researchers at the TCSRS primarily study sites in western China, the former Soviet republics of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, as well as Afghanistan, but it welcomes other regional studies related to eurasian trade.