China News Service, Beijing, January 19 Title: What kind of cultural advantages does Xinjiang show in the core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt?
Author Xu Tao, Researcher of the Chinese Academy of Contemporary International Relations, Deputy Director of the Eurasian Institute of Social Development of the Development Research Center of the State Council and Director of the Central Asia Research Office
The famous writer Wang Meng once wrote in "Midnight Song": "I have never heard a song as sad, calm and sweet as the Ili folk song. It is full of sweet sadness and sad sweetness, after singing, you feel that you have experienced the sour, sweet and bittersweet of the world, you have sublimated to the realm of bittersweet communication, life and death without worry... I have never heard a song as gentle and wild as a Kashgar folk song. It is full of wild tenderness and gentle wildness, and after singing it, you feel that your whole life, all your body and mind have been fully exerted. "I believe that people who have just arrived in Xinjiang will have this feeling of coming to their faces, and they will linger in their hearts for a long time."
Diversity in the unity of Chinese civilization
Xinjiang is such a magical place, no matter where you come from, the strong cultural tension will make you awe- and then it will make you mesmerized. I understand that this charm stems from its multicultural connotations.
In May 2016, in Xinjiang's Sailim Lake, the lake water was reflected with mountain flowers, green grass, snow-capped mountains and pine forests. Located in the Tianshan Mountains, Xinjiang Sailim Lake is the highest and largest alpine lake in Xinjiang. China News Service sent Wang Tiesuo photo
Xinjiang is located in the hinterland of Eurasia and is a crossroads of Eastern and Western cultures and world civilizations. The vast area between the Altai Mountains, the Tianshan Mountains and the Kunlun Mountains constitute the space for the survival and activities of various ethnic groups in history, and the countless oases around the Junggar Basin and the Tarim Basin have become the source of nourishing the development of the civilization of the ethnic groups. They have lived and bred on this hot land and bred a unique culture, which has become an inseparable part of the pluralistic and integrated Chinese nation. Moreover, from Xinjiang to the east through the Hexi Corridor, it can be connected with the Mongolian Plateau, the core area of East Asian agricultural civilization, the Central Plains and the birthplace of the northern nomadic peoples, and the Pamir Plateau can be connected to the Central Asian River region centered on the Amu Darya and Syr Darya River basins to the west, and to the south or through the Wakhan Corridor or over the Kunlun Mountains, it will enter the South Asian subcontinent.
The Snow Peak of the Tianshan Mountains taken from the air in July 2006. On June 21, 2013, the 37th World Heritage Conference officially announced that China's "Xinjiang Tianshan Mountains" were inscribed as a World Natural Heritage Site, becoming the 44th World Heritage Site in China. Photo by Liu Xin, a reporter of China News Service
It is precisely this unique geographical advantage that has enabled Xinjiang to play a special role in the development of China's thousands of years of history and culture, with multiple forms and multiple paths, and has become a treasure land for the integration of Chinese civilization. The farming civilization of the Central Plains, the nomadic civilization of the grassland, and the agricultural and pastoral civilization of the oasis converge, collide and blend here, forming a colorful and unique local culture in Xinjiang. This is not only a unique highlight of its ability to attract the world's attention, but also a historical choice that supported the famous eastern section of the ancient "Silk Road". It is precisely because of the above-mentioned geopolitical situation that Xinjiang has become an important region related to China's national unity and social security throughout the dynasties. Beginning with the Age of Discovery and the Great Discoveries of Geography, the "Silk Road" has been silent for hundreds of years. In September 2013, Chinese leaders put forward the initiative of building the "Silk Road Economic Belt", which not only provided an important public good for the cooperation and development of the Eurasian region in the new era, but also injected a strong impetus into the stable development of Xinjiang and the rejuvenation of the Silk Road civilization.
In June 2021, herders drove their livestock along the ancient "Thousand Mile Pasture" to the alpine summer pasture with abundant water and grass in the Spring and Autumn Pasture in Fuhai County, Altay Prefecture, Xinjiang. Photo by Liu Xin, a reporter of China News Service
Europe and Asia should be connected to China and the West
The construction of transportation infrastructure and the connection of the Eurasian Economic and Trade Corridor are the prerequisites for the construction of the "Silk Road Economic Belt", and Xinjiang's unique important geographical location and recent transportation infrastructure achievements have enabled Xinjiang to shoulder this national responsibility.
Since the "Belt and Road" initiative was proposed, the number of China-Europe trains operating through Xinjiang has continued to hit new highs. In the five years from 2014 to 2019, there were more than 2,500 China-Europe trains from Xinjiang. Moreover, there are more than 20 train lines, reaching 18 countries and 25 cities in Central Asia and Europe. At the beginning of 2020, the global pandemic of the new crown epidemic has hit the world economic supply chain hard, and the maritime transport that undertakes the largest global trade has been impacted, while the number of China-Europe express trains has suddenly increased and increased in a reverse direction. According to media public information, as of December 31, 2020, the number of China-Europe trains entering and leaving Through Xinjiang reached 9,679, a record high; in 2021, a total of 12,210 Central European (Central Asian) trains entered and exited through the two ports of Alashankou and Khorgos in Xinjiang. At the same time, cross-border road transport has also developed rapidly, and the point-to-point TIR model has played an important complementary role for rail transport.
On March 12, 2020, the 3,000th China-Europe train was launched at the Urumqi Assembly Center of the China-Europe Express. The train, loaded with goods, departed from the Khorgos Port Station in Xinjiang and headed for Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Photo by Liu Xin, a reporter of China News Service
In August 2021, the Central Asian Heads of State Consultative Meeting was held in Awaza, the national tourism base in Turkmenbashi, Turkmenistan, and at the third meeting, known as the "Central Asian Summit", in order to break the geopolitical difficulties that have been faced since independence, the Heads of State of Central Asia almost invariably put forward common ideas and various plans for building a transport hub connecting Europe and Asia. Moreover, Uzbekistan President Mirziyoyev and Kyrgyzstan President Zaparov have stressed the importance of building a "China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan" road and railway traffic corridor. Under the general trend of strengthening regional economic relevance, Xinjiang's important function of playing an important role as a transit station between China and the West in the new era has become increasingly prominent.
Building consensus at the forefront of climate change
The demand for new agricultural cooperation is on the rise in the face of increasing global climate change. In October 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed in his keynote speech at the Valdai Debate Club that today's human society is facing crises and challenges brought about by four major systemic changes. The first challenge is the widespread environmental degradation caused by climate change. As early as August, at the Central Asian Leaders' Consultation Meeting, the heads of state paid great attention to the more fragile ecological environment in Central Asia. In particular, in recent years, major ecological problems such as desertification, glacier shrinkage, and water shortage in Central Asia have become more and more prominent in the context of global climate change. President Rahmon of Tajikistan proposed to designate 2025 as the International Year of Glacier Conservation and the establishment of an International Glacier Conservation Fund, and President Berdymukhamedov of Turkmenistan also proposed the development of a United Nations low-carbon strategy.
In September 2020, Kekeya, Wensu County, Aksu Region, Xinjiang, integrated ecological forest, economic forest and windproof forest as a "green barrier" for wind and sand control. Located on the northwest side of China's largest desert, the Taklamakan Desert, Kekeya was once covered in sand and dust. From 1986 to 2015, the Kekeya greening project has planted a total of 1.153 million mu of afforestation and planted 13.37 million trees. Kokoya has been listed by the United Nations Environment and Resources Conservation Commission as one of the "Top 500 In the World". Photo by Liu Xin, a reporter of China News Service
Xinjiang is connected to the mountains and rivers of Central Asia, and most of its basic geographical elements and geomorphological features are similar, and it shares some natural resources with the three Central Asian neighbors of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Regional environmental degradation also threatens Xinjiang's agricultural development and the living environment of people of all ethnic groups, and only by establishing a sense of community of common destiny can we effectively alleviate the risks and pressures faced by the collective. In April 2021, when President Xi Jinping attended the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference, he once again proposed that carbon emissions should peak by 2030 and strive to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. In a video address to the UN General Assembly in September, President Xi further stated that China would help developing countries build green energy production and stop building coal-fired power plants abroad.
Establishing the awareness of a community with a shared future for mankind, Xinjiang will play an important role in building a green "Silk Road". In recent years, Xinjiang's agricultural science and technology has made great progress, and some applicable results have been implemented in Central Asian countries through inter-state and inter-enterprise cooperation, injecting new impetus into the agriculture of Central Asian countries that are in the process of changing their development models. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the normal pattern of food supply and demand in Central Asia, and under the situation of prominent food security issues, there are broad prospects for bringing Chinese technology, standards and management through Xinjiang into agricultural cooperation with Central Asian countries.
In December 2021, tomatoes grown in the intelligent integrated double-layer membrane greenhouse of the Xinjiang High-tech Plant Factory in Urumqi matured one after another, and the staff were picking tomatoes. The plant factory uses three-dimensional cultivation hanging system, environmentally friendly soilless cultivation of coconut bran planting and other technologies to grow tomatoes. Photo by Liu Xin, a reporter of China News Service
Tap the potential of cultural and tourism cooperation to give full play to its advantages
In the post-epidemic era, there is great potential for cultural tourism cooperation with Central Asian countries. With the advent of the post-industrial era, tourism is becoming an important part of the world economy and an industrial terminal. Despite the impact of the global pandemic since 2020, tourism continues to show strong potential as a promising consumer sector. According to the forecast results released by the China Tourism Research Institute (data center of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism), the main indicators of tourism economic operation in 2021 will have a better performance: the number of domestic tourists in the whole year will be 4.1 billion person-times, and the domestic tourism revenue will be 3.3 trillion yuan, which will increase by 42% and 48% respectively over the previous year. With the continuous improvement of national quality, ecological, cultural and self-help tourism is becoming a fashion and trend. Xinjiang's physical and cultural advantages have always been a place of yearning for tourism enthusiasts. In December 2021, China National Geographic magazine released the results of the selection of the most beautiful highways in China, and Xinjiang accounted for 6 of the 30 selected highways. A month earlier, the Department of Culture and Tourism of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region had launched 35 winter boutique tourism routes. With the beijing winter olympics, ice and snow tourism projects in northern Xinjiang will also attract a large number of tourists. At present, while Russia, Central Asia and countries in the South Caucasus region continue to prevent and control the epidemic, they have set their sights on the world tourism market in the "post-epidemic" era.
At the Ice and Snow Tourism Festival held in the Kanas Scenic Area of Xinjiang's Altay Region, people participated in ancient fur ski competitions. Known as the "Birthplace of Human Skiing" due to the discovery of rock paintings of human ski gesture patterns dating back about 12,000 years, Altay is considered to be the "birthplace of human skiing", and the fur skis used by the locals are considered to be one of the oldest. Photo by Liu Xin, a reporter of China News Service
Xinjiang's tourism advantage resources are not only in the domestic market, but also in its unique location advantages that turn tourism into a carrier for spreading Chinese culture to neighboring countries and regions. People are not only looking forward to the dawn of defeating the epidemic, but also preparing for the surge in tourism consumption after the epidemic. Jointly raising funds with neighboring countries to develop new business scopes, new cooperation models and new operational frameworks is not only one of the strategic directions for Xinjiang's economic and cultural development, but also an important area for the construction of the "Silk Road Economic Belt".
On December 27, 2021, Ma Xingrui, the newly appointed secretary of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Party Committee of the Communist Party of China, pointed out during a survey in Urumqi that "it is necessary to actively serve and integrate into the 'Belt and Road', driven by promoting the construction of the core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt, combined with the actual conditions of Xinjiang, optimize the industrial layout according to local conditions, and improve the modernization level of the industrial chain supply chain." In this major public good that China provides to the contemporary world today, Xinjiang's potential and vitality are constantly being rejuvenated. (End)
About the Author:
Xu Tao is a researcher at the China Academy of Contemporary International Relations, a doctoral supervisor, a distinguished researcher, deputy director and director of the Central Asia Research Office of the Eurasian Institute of Social Development of the Development Research Center of the State Council, an honorary director of the China-Russia Society for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, a standing director of the China Shanghai Cooperation Organization Research Center, and a standing director of the Central Asia Branch of the China Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries. His research interests include central Asian regional security, central Asian geopolitics, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
Source: China News Network