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Silk Road to Belt Road pp 3–22Cite as

Silk Road to Belt Road: Meeting the Culture

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Abstract

This introduction chapter tries to conceptualize China’s Belt and Road Initiative through analyzing history and culture. The journey of the Belt and Road Initiative started from historic Silk Road and created venue for cultural interaction and exchange apart from transporting and trading goods and services. In the process of this conceptualization this chapter addresses and examines three major perspective; geo-economic; geo-political; and cultural. This chapter argues that Belt and Road Initiative essentially a meeting point of various cultures and enhance people to people connectivity together with other socio-economic and geo-political role, and thus could be seen as a process of culturalization.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Full text: Action plan on the Belt and Road Initiative, Published by the State Council, The People’s Republic of China, pp.3–6, Mar 30, 2015. Retrieved from the following link: http://english.gov.cn/archive/publications/2015/03/30/content_281475080249035.htm, and accessed on May 15, 2018.

  2. 2.

    The term “One Belt, One Road” has been replaced by “Belt and Road Initiative” or BRI in short since 2016 in Chinese official documents.

  3. 3.

    Ibid: 2.

  4. 4.

    The terms “geo-economic vision” and “geopolitical ambition” were used by S. Mahmud Ali in his unpublished article “China’s Belt and Road: Geo-economic Vision; Geo-political Fallout,” Institute of China Studies, University of Malaya, Malaysia.

  5. 5.

    President Xi Jinping’s speech at the opening of Belt and Road Forum on May 14, 2017. Xinhuanet. Retrieved from the following link, http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-05/14/c_136282982.htm, and accessed on May 15, 2018.

  6. 6.

    Full text: Action plan on the Belt and Road Initiative, Published by the State Council, The People’s Republic of China, pp.1, Mar 30, 2015. Retrieved from the following link, http://english.gov.cn/archive/publications/2015/03/30/content_281475080249035.htm, and accessed on May 23, 2018.

  7. 7.

    Ibid, p. 9.

  8. 8.

    According to Morgan Stanley report, cited in “Some of the World’s Riskiest Countries are traversed by China’s Silk Road” by Bloomberg on October 26, 2017 and adapted by Business Gurus. Retrieved from the following link: https://business-gurus.com/2017/10/26/some-of-the-worlds-riskiest-countries-are-traversed-by-chinas-silk-road/, and accessed on May 24, 2018.

  9. 9.

    Full text: Action plan on the Belt and Road Initiative, Published by the State Council, The People’s Republic of China, p.9, Mar 30, 2015. Retrieved from the following link: http://english.gov.cn/archive/publications/2015/03/30/content_281475080249035.htm, and accessed on May 23, 2018.

  10. 10.

    This idea has been explained by Prof. Yiwei Wang from Renmin University of China during his key note speech at the 2nd Interdisciplinary Forum on “Belt Road Connectivity and Eurasian Integration: Meeting the Culture,” held at the United International College, Zhuhai, China, from March 26–27, 2018.

  11. 11.

    In China the developer builds the structure of the house and let the buyer to do interior decoration such as floor, door, wall plastering, painting, lighting, etc.

  12. 12.

    The author lives in this garden and collected all these information by counting himself.

  13. 13.

    Full text: Action plan on the Belt and Road Initiative, Published by the State Council, The People’s Republic of China, pp.3–6, Mar 30, 2015. Retrieved from the following link: http://english.gov.cn/archive/publications/2015/03/30/content_281475080249035.htm, and accessed on May 23, 2018.

  14. 14.

    President Xi Jinping’s speech at the opening of Belt and Road Forum on May 14, 2017. Xinhuanet, p.2. Retrieved from the following link: http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-05/14/c_136282982.htm, and accessed on May 15, 2018

  15. 15.

    Every, Michael is the head of financial markets research at Rabobank Group in Hong Kong. His statement has been published in an article under the title “Some of the World’s Riskiest Countries are traversed by China’s Silk Road” by Bloomberg on October 26, 2017, and adapted by business gurus. Retrieved from the following link, https://business-gurus.com/2017/10/26/some-of-the-worlds-riskiest-countries-are-traversed-by-chinas-silk-road/, and accessed on May 24, 2018

  16. 16.

    President Xi Jinping’s speech at the opening of Belt and Road Forum on May 14, 2017. Xinhuanet, p.2. Retrieved from the following link: http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-05/14/c_136282982.htm, and accessed on May 15, 2018

  17. 17.

    The term “organic intellectual” was used by Italian neo-Marxist philosopher and politician Antonio Gramsci.

  18. 18.

    Full text: Action plan on the Belt and Road Initiative, Published by the State Council, The People’s Republic of China, p.7, Mar 30, 2015. Retrieved from the following link: http://english.gov.cn/archive/publications/2015/03/30/content_281475080249035.htm, and accessed on May 23, 2018.

  19. 19.

    Ibid.

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  1. General Education Office, United International College, Zhuha, China

    Md. Nazrul Islam

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  1. United International College, Zhuhai, China

    Md. Nazrul Islam

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Islam, M.N. (2019). Silk Road to Belt Road: Meeting the Culture. In: Islam, M.N. (eds) Silk Road to Belt Road. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2998-2_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2998-2_1

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