Denise Keller and Adventurer Liam Bates Discover What Defines China's Ancient Silk Road Today, on EXPEDITION X: SILK ROAD RISING

BEIJING, Oct. 28, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- For millennia, the Silk Road has been the economic conduit between the East and the West through which Empires were forged and ideas were exchanged, sometimes violently. How relevant is this ancient trade route in the 21^st Century? And can we still find the very sparks that ignited the historical stories of epic conquest and risk-filled commerce along its dusty trail? Follow Denise Keller and adventurer Liam Bates on Discovery Channel's new series EXPEDITION X: SILK ROAD RISING, as they travel from China to Turkey along the ancient Silk Road and discover how a new generation of explorers, entrepreneurs and innovators is making it relevant again. EXPEDITION X: SILK ROAD RISING premieres on 29^th October as part of the channel's HOUR CHINA programming block which features the best of China.

Denise Keller -- popular MTV VJ, TLC host, and explorer -- has unanswered questions about her heritage as German-Chinese and the relevance of her cross-cultural background in today's globalized world. Liam Bates is an adventurer seeking to decipher the mysteries of the Middle Kingdom and its impact on the world at large, especially the sometimes-forceful dialogues between Chinese civilization and the West over the ages. Converging on the cultural intersection between the civilizations, they embark on a personal quest together to discover just what defines the Silk Road today.

Joined by young Chinese adventurers, Denise and Liam make their way across Xi'an, Ningxia, Turpan, Dunhuang, Kazakhstan and Istanbul, on this 13,000 km journey. They experience the historic grandeur of the Mogao Caves -- a UNESCO heritage site, check out the futuristic cities of Yinchuan in China and Astana in Kazakhstan, learn about the cutting edge rail systems that will make transport a breeze on the Silk Road, join a modern day convoy of adventurers in four-wheel drive vehicles, find out how China's 2000-year old Karez Canals are still in use today, and investigate how cultural exchange between the East and West is being kept alive in Istanbul.

SMART CHINA is produced by Discovery Channel in cooperation with the China Intercontinental Communication Center (CICC).