Banner Image: A photograph of a Chinese railroad, one of the "new silk roads".
Legacy
"We have great cities to visit: New York and Washington, Paris and London; and further east, and older than any of these, the legendary city of Samarkand, whose crumbling palaces and mosques still welcome travelers on the Silk road...They all have their poetry: the glittering cities and the ruined, the watery wastes and the dusty; I want to show you them all. I want to show you everything."
-Clive Barker
Global ImpactsIt is difficult to imagine where global technology would be if the Silk Road had not existed. Over the course of its existence, the Silk Road became not only a route, but a concept as well. It revolutionized the idea of transcontinental trade, and as a result, became the paramount element in Eurasian exchange. The Silk Road also served to epitomize the idea of Chinese superiority:
"The Western Hu are far away. The Silk Road's development of international engagement illustrates its significance towards exploration, encounter, and exchange in Eurasia. Even after its decline, the Silk Road is a prominent force in modern industry, politics, and tourism especially.
"It has not been my fate to see things first hand, travelling with the rapid winds, or enlisting swift horses to view distant vistas. Alas, I have to strain to see the three heavenly bodies [the sun, moon, and stars] but, oh, how my thoughts fly to the eight foreign regions!" One Belt, One RoadIn the past 30 years, China's economy has grown from a poor agricultural country into a global industrial powerhouse. This extreme economic expansion has slowed as of recently, and therefore, president Xi Jinping recently proposed an idea that would change China's and the world's economies drastically. The One Belt One Road plan is essentially based around the idea of an economic land belt that would pass through many of the same routes as the ancient Silk Road. This would propel China's and other countries' economies forward drastically.
"China-Russia relations will not be affected by changes in the international situation. We will continue to push the progressive development of China-Russia relations." Naturally, global superpowers, have expressed concern and apprehension regarding the audacity of China's proposal. The One Belt, One Road is certainly a daring plan for the Chinese government; in order to fully maximize the economic benefits that both China and other countries would reap, there would need to be open diplomacy between China and the included countries, as roads and railways would pass through each of them.
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Without the Silk Road, both Asia and Europe would have suffered greatly from the lack of both cultural and economic diffusion that occurred as a result of the Silk Road, thereby changing the way both eastern and western life would be today. This timeline depicts many notable goods and technologies that crossed between Europe and Asia up until the Silk Road's decline.
A map depicting the proposed routes of the One Belt, One Road plan. The plan is essentially based around the idea of an economic land belt that would pass through Central Asia, West Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, as well as a maritime road that would connect China's ports to Northern Africa and the Mediterranean, via the Suez canal.
Chinese president Xi Jinping's One Belt, One Road plan would drastically impact global economics, as well as propelling China forward with both political and economic gains. The main goal for China is to capitalize its economic gains by exporting overcapacity domestic goods, such as steel, cement, and aluminum, to foreign countries where those goods are in need, such as Africa and, eventually even Latin America.
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