Lost civilizationsDay1, 15 JulyI feel lucky to have won a place on this trip. We are in Italy now, and tomorrow we are visiting Pompeii. Next week we are flying to China, and going to Loulan, which is known as Chinas Pompeii in the desert. Both Pompeii and Loulan became lost civilizations long ago.Day2, 16 JulyThis morning we attended a lecture about Pompeii. The city was founded in the 8th century BC. In 89 BC, the Romans took over Pompeii. It then became a rich and busy city. Near the city was a volcano. On 24 August AD 79, the volcano erupted and lava, ash, and rocks poured out of it onto the surrounding countryside. It continued to erupt for the next two days. Many people were buried alive, and so was the city. How unfortunate!Day3, 17 JulyToday I saw the ancient Roman city of Pompeii as it was 2,000 years ago. How amazing! The city was forgotten for many years until the 8th century when a farmer discovered a stone with writing on it. People started to dig in the area for treasure, which caused much damage. Thus, in 1860, the area was put under government protection so it could be preserved and studied.When I walked around the city, I saw streets just as they had been, with stepping stones along the road so you did not have to step in the mud on rainy days ! I saw several houses which were decorated with wall paintings. I also saw the people who had been buried alive. It turns out that after the ash covered the people who failed to flee the city, their bodies nearly completely broke down and disappeared, leaving empty spaces in the ash. Years later, researchers were able to use these empty spaces to produce true-to-life figures of the people who had died in the disaster. You can see them today in Pompeii, in the same places where the people fell. The volcano is still there, but looks very quiet now. it is hard to imagine how this peaceful volcano destroyed the whole city!Day10, 24JulyFinally, we arrived in Loulan after several days of travelling. This commercial city was busy and wealthy about 2,000 years ago. It was a stopping point on the famous silk road between the East and the West. It is believed to have been gradually covered by sandstorms from AD 200 to AD 400. I am so excited to be here!Day11, 25 JulyA scholar from the local cultural institute, Professor Zhang, told us that around the year 1900 the European explorer Sven Hedin discovered the ruins of the Loulan Kingdom. Sven found the remains of buildings buried beneath the sand, together with a lot of treasures, including coins, painted pots, material such as silk, documents ana wall paintings. When we went to the city, we saw the city walls, palaces, temples, workshops and towers. We found the ruins most interesting. There was an ancient water system that ran through the middle of the city. The desert was once a green land with huge trees, but they were cut down and that resulted in the city being buried by sand-what a pity!Ancient Greek statue found in XinjiangResearchers announced the discovery of a small statue in northern Xingjiang, China, recently. The metal statue if of a Greek soldier. When asked how a statue from distant Greece could have appeared in China, researchers explained that no doubt this was a result of Alexander the Greats influence.Alexander the Great (356-323BC) was the son of a Greek king who defeated many Greek cities in battle. At the age of twenty. Alexander himself became king after his father died. However, many cities rose up against Alexander, so he led an army to take them back. Though his army had only 3,000 troops, he won every battle and many enemy soldiers joined him.In 334 BC, he took his army, now with 42,000 men, into the Middle East and then Egypt, defeating every army that stood in his path. Then he turned his eyes east, and marched all the way to India, finding victory wherever he went. It seemed that nothing could stop him from taking control of the entire world. However, his own army grew tired of endless battles and refused to go any further, so he had to turn back. By the age of thirty, he had already occupied more land than anyone before, and it seemed that more glory was waiting ahead of him. Yet, in 323BC, he came down with a fever and died. Since he had no son, his generals divided his vast kingdom among themselves.Alexander the Great spread the Greek culture from Europe to Africa and Asia, influencing the world for centuries to come. The statue of the Greek soldier found in northern Xingjiang probably came to China in the 4th century BC as a result of trade. Like many other ancient objects that show a Greek influence, it can now be seen in a museum in Urumqi. The father of Western philosophyThe word “philosophy” means “love of wisdom”. Philosophy can be thought of as a way of looking at the world around us, or of answering the great questions of life, such as “why are we here?” and “what i