Journey To Asia
The purpose of this Teacher Preview Web Site is to prepare you and your students for a visit to the galleries of the Cleveland Museum of Art. The materials here will help you to become familiar with the tour "Journey to Asia." Feel free to share them with your colleagues and students; all materials on this preview site may be reproduced for educational purposes.
Asia is vast. It covers half of the earth and encompasses some of the world's most densely populated countries. China alone has a population of 1.2 billion people. The oldest civilizations began along the Indus River in India and the Yellow River in northern China. One of the oldest skeletal remains of man, dating back approximately 1.7 million years, was found in southern China's Yunnan province.
Many of the world's greatest religions originated in Asia-in India, China, and Japan. All Asian countries contributed major architectural monuments and artistic achievements to the fabric of world civilization. Although one name may be used to describe this half of the world, it does not represent a monolithic culture. Shared religions and traditions do unite certain times and places, but Asia is made up of distinct countries with unique histories, languages, and art.
The Cleveland Museum of Art houses one of the best collections of Asian art in the world. With more than 4,300 works of art from China, Japan, Korea, India, Central Asia, Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, Kashmir, and Tibet, only a selection of the entire collection will be on view at any one time in the museum's galleries. The works of art illustrated here represent India, China, Japan, and Korea.