Anyone with at least a passing familiarity with International Relations (or who pays attention to global affairs even the littlest bit) will know that discourse surrounding "the Rise of China" dominates much of the current discussions in the field. Common wisdom suggests that an emergent China represents a challenge to the American hegemony in global affairs that began with the establishment of a system of liberal international institutions (like the United Nations, and the IMF) in the aftermath of World War II, and was further consolidated by the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s. The burgeoning literature on what the rise of China means, and how it should be dealt with is too large to summarize here. Needless to say, the discourse includes views from optimists (like John Ikenberry) and pessimists (like John Mearshiemer) alike. Over the past 16 years (yes, this conversation really has been unfolding for that long), debates raged about the importance of China's economic growth, China's influence in the developing world, China's military expansion, China's predominance in East Asia, and the ability of China to become a model of growth and development for other non-liberal or non-democratic states. This topic of conversation is already very old news, so why am I bringing it up now?
Recently, the launch of one particular iniative of the current Xi Jinping Administration turned heads and garnered much attention in scholarly circles: China's "One's Belt, One Road" project. Talk of China's ambitions to reach outward to the larger community now largely revolve around the implications of this program. What is "One Belt, One Road"? Shortly speaking, it's a bundle of programs that focus on trade, infrastructure building, cultural and educational exchange and close cooperation between China and countries in the Middle East and Eurasia. The Belt and Road refer to the "Silk Road Economic Belt" (which intends to spread economic exchange overland through Pakistan and Central Asia into the Arabian Peninsula) and the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road" which intends to spread trade and exchange throughout the South Pacific and Indian Oceans. Both programs make deliberate allusion to the former pre-modern "Silk Road" often associated with figures like Marco Polo or the Chinese Admiral Zheng He. The program is deliberately evocative of an era in which China stood at the center of global exchange, and was a nexus of trade and cultural influence.
A lot of ink has been spilled over the meaning of this project, it's intentions vis-a-vis the United States' own "Strategic Pivot to Asia," and the economic and political impact that the project will have on the region. These arguments all focus on the big picture, and look at "One Belt, One Road" from the macro-level. And with good reason. There are major international consequences that will doubtless unfold as a result of this initative. These forces, however, are slow-moving, require years to understand the full outcome of, and provide little in the way of describing what the impact of such programs are on the lives of individual people who come into contact with them. This is not to suggest that such commentaries are useless endeavors, but rather to suggest that there's a dearth of discussion about what "One Belt, One Road" means in practical terms. Today's post intends to remedy this. As I am often want to do on this blog, I'd like to zoom the lens in much closer, to look at what "One Belt, One Road" looks like on the ground.
From Yinchuan, "One Belt, One Road" looks something like this:
Yes, those are, indeed, camels.
The pictures above are from a Chinese New Year lantern display that was set up right in the middle of Yinchuan's "Old City". The lanterns, set up on either end of the city's Ming Dynasty Drum Tower, depicted caravans on the old Silk Road. On the eastern side of the building, which sits prominently in the middle of traffic circle at a busy intersection, the lanterns depict a caravan of Chinese merchants heading west. On the western side, their Middle Eastern counterparts, dressed in long, flowing robes approach China from ancient Persia, the Arabian Peninsula, or any other of a number of different points along the fabled trade route. The symbolism is clear. "One Belt, One Road" links China to the Middle East in the same way that the Silk Road transmitted culture hundreds of years ago.
But why such a focus on "One Belt, One Road" in Yinchuan? Surely the showcase community for the initiative should be Beijing, the current capital. Or Shanghai, the economic heart of the country. Or even, Xi'an, which in its previous existence as the imperial capital of Chang'an served as the terminus of the ancient Silk Road. The reasons for the special attention to "One Belt, One Road" in Yinchuan are at first, less obvious. The answer lies in Yinchuan's status as the capital city of Ningxia, China's only Hui Autonomous Region. Yes, as the capital of the Hui heartland, Yinchuan has become the de facto (and in some cases, official) nexus of interaction between China and the greater Middle East.
The Ningxia Conference Center is now the designated host of the China-Arab States Economic and Trade Forum. The annual China-Arab States Expo takes place in Yinchuan. The Saudi Arabian Pavillion from the 2010 Shanghai World Expo has been relocated to grounds of the Hui Cultural Park located in the suburban community of Najiahu in Yongning County. A World Muslim City, with a Sino-Arab Friendship Square, has been built next door. Why heap all this development effort on to Yinchuan? As the Ningxia's top party official, Li Jianhua explained, recently, the region's status as a Hui Autonomous Region gives it lots of advantages:
"Ningxia is the largest inhabited area of the Hui ethnic group, home to 2.32 million Hui people, accounting for one-fifth of the Hui population in China. The customs of the Hui people are similar to those in Muslim countries and regions, which helps a lot in exchanges and cooperation with each other."
In this sense, the "One Belt, One Road" places a spotlight on the Hui. The Hui community here in Yinchuan provides the PRC with a model Islamic minority community to signal to Islamic trading partners in the Middle East and elsewhere that China is a willing partner with the Muslim world. Hui culture stands as a fine example of the alignment between Chinese and Islamic values. Further, the Hui provide a historically symbolic link to the Middle East, as many Hui trace their ancestry to ancient Persia, or the Arabian Peninsula. Hui businessmen have thus far proven to be essential in brokering increased business ties with Middle Eastern states. In this sense, the Hui community plays a critical role in China future foreign policy plans as it pushes further westward into Central, South and Western Asia and the Greater Middle East.
But perhaps most important to this blog, is the amount of influence which runs the other way, from the Islamic World back to China. In many ways, Yinchuan is already starting to relfect this increased contact to the Muslim World. New mosques here are built in Arab/Middle Eastern architectural styles. Increasingly, Hui students from Ningxia are taking extended trips to other Muslim countries in the time between their college graduation and finding stable employment. At least two of my contacts here have studied in Malaysia. The son of another is currently spending time in Egypt, studying Arabic. Younger Hui are starting their attention to learning Arabic as a means of finding employment as translators. A teacher at the Yinchuan Qur'anic Studies Institute recently told me that as many as half of the students they graduate will use their Arabic training to become translators for Arab business firms. And, of course, increased ties with the Middle East are leading many in the Hui community here to retrace their cultural and religious heritages. Islamic theological schools of thought from the Gulf States are becoming somewhat more prominent in Yinchuan, in addition to the older, Chinese-Islamic theological perspectives. These connections to a global, transnational Islamic community are changing understandings of what being Muslim, and therefore being Hui, is really about. As the "One Belt, One Road" project continues to develop, this connection with the larger Islamic World can only be assumed to loom larger. What effects this will have on the Hui community of Yinchuan remain to be seen, but what's certain is that, in the future, the Hui will play a critical part in understanding the nuts and bolts of this geopolitical relationship between China and the Middle East.