The New Silk Road, Part 1: From China to Pakistan | DW Documentary

China's legendary Silk Road was one of the wonders of the ancient world now this trade route is being brought back to life the New Silk Road is a vast undertaking and a demonstration of power and might hundreds of billions of euros are flowing into new infrastructure railway lines harbors streets bridges and tunnels in 65 different countries it's a project the likes of which the world has never seen it's a powerful vision and for many an inspiring one for some it brings opportunity for others misery the New Silk Road a testament to China's revived ambitions on the global stage [Music] just forty years ago this was a market town today Shenzhen is a hi-tech metropolis with more than 25 million residents China's Silicon Valley the glittering metropolis brimming with confidence is the face of the new China and ambitious China with eyes clearly focused on the West and the way there is the New Silk Road we retrace two routes overland and see from the Chinese city of Shenzhen to the German city of Duisburg [Music] what lies behind China's grand ambitions what transformations will this route bring and how will these changes be felt in Germany and Western Europe [Music] I board a train from Shenzhen headed west through the night in my Restless sleep the sound of the wheels on the tracks conjures up the plot of the camel caravans that once traversed this route the train is scheduled to arrive in Doon Wong at 6:30 in the morning but it pulls into the station half an hour early China has taken many by surprise in its hurry to reach the West as day breaks in Doon Wong the sand dunes slowly emerge on the horizon as though they are born anew every morning a lizard searches for warmth the daily throngs of Chinese tourists are about to arrive there are camels here too an echo of the ancient trade route they greet the crowd with patient and difference laden with Chinese vacationers the Caravan heads out toward the dunes for tourists this is like a journey into the glorious past a time when China was a global power [Music] centuries ago traders brought silk jade spices and gold along this route the old Silk Road linked the east and west on what was a perilous journey inside these caves frescoes tell tales of the old Silk Road one shows traders from Central Asia being ambushed by bandits the traders pray to Buddhist gods and are saved [Music] the frescoes are a distillation of the influences along the historic trade route the goods came from Samarkand the style of painting from ancient Greece and the Buddhism from India funds and she directed the conservation of the caves and their frescoes and has spent her life learning from them Kanna Tumbleson exchange along the Silk Road enriched art and life in China it's good to learn from each other and be open that's how the world should be today - but Doon Wong not only recalls China's former greatness it also reminds us of one of the country's greatest humiliations in the early 20th century European colonial powers robbed the caves of important manuscripts and scroll paintings which are now held in museums around the world at the time the Qin Dynasty was in decline and because China's government was so weak the European researchers simply ignored the order not to remove the treasures from the caves for China it was an arduous ascent from the plaything of the West to a new global power that is now extending its reach westward in dune flung we see the ideological foundations of the New Silk Road a longing for the past grandeur and superiority over the West that was taken for granted by China's rulers for thousands of years [Music] our trek continues following the path of this mega project the China plans to extend halfway around the globe we passed the Jade gate the past that was once at the frontier where China ended in Central Asia began the Tong Dynasty poet Wang Wei once wrote if you go further west you will see no more friends for centuries China's harbors have been its gateways to the world and those gateways have only grown we bought a ship to embark on the next stage of our journey along the maritime Silk Road the harbor is enormous but it's just one of many in the country of the world's 10 largest harbors seven are in China some 25 million containers passed through xem gens harbour each year filled with Goods headed around the world Chinese tourists are flocking to new destinations too as we discover on our first stop the city of sein Oakville in Cambodia it's become popular with Chinese looking for a beach vacation [Music] it's a leisure paradise with all the sun sea and shopping they could hope for for many locals the sudden tourism boom in Siena Phil is a very mixed blessing people like SH region and business say they now feel like outsiders in their own home it's terrible with all the Chinese here they're so badly behaved our friends don't want to come here anymore there are too many Chinese in just one year everything changed the Chinese have taken over our city it does appear that a takeover is underway Chinese construction projects are transforming the city old si Anouk Ville has practically vanished the workers materials and plans for new projects are all imported from China how did this happen political scientist vana at Chang is one of the few Cambodians willing to speak openly about the topic and the Chinese investor they may need to probe the local government in order to get license to get access to certain investment opportunity and so on bidding process is not really transparent especially when it time to make our infrastructure project we don't know much what going on the Chinese are here in force and locals are being crowded out we meet busines in the center of the city he used to run a small restaurant here but recently he had to give it up a Chinese investor is building a hotel in its place Reince downtown is soaring but the prices that Chinese can pay are unaffordable for locals like visnur everyone he talks to has bad news for him I saw your sign how high is the rent 30,000 a month there's no way I can pay that kind of rent not to mention water and electricity on top of it and I still haven't paid my children's school fees only Chinese can afford these rents soon there will be only Chinese restaurants for Chinese customers we Cambodians don't stand a chance see Anouk Phil used to be a sleepy place [Music] that's all changed especially at night the mood has shifted in the city there are more drugs on the streets more violence and a sense of unease disputes erupted between locals and Chinese the authorities prefer not to acknowledge the situation directly but they have put more police on the streets in the presence of our camera team the police don't treat the locals and the Chinese any differently but rumor has it that a small bribe can help brush matters under the carpet [Music] crime is on the rise that's true but we have things under control and respond swiftly when there's a problem Cambodians and Chinese don't really trust each other but that's not a big deal sometimes there's a brawl and some Chinese drive when they've been drinking along with drinking there's a lot of gambling gambling is illegal for Cambodians for Chinese as well but only in China so some 80 casinos have sprung up overnight in see anouk fill huge sums of money are changing hands little of it trickles down to the locals which adds to the tension mainly by the recent issue in see a wheel it's really stirred the the nationalist sentiments again China and this has been spreading very fast because Chinese the new Chinese to Cambodia similar to other parts of the world they don't adapt to local culture different from my Chinese in the 1819 centuries which they are willing to learn local language local culture integrate into a local culture there's little sign of that here see anouk film is becoming the backdrop locals are just extras while the leading roles are played by the Chinese here they enjoy freedoms that are often denied them at home in China life is stricter and more regimented especially in the Weger region the city of kashgar was once a major hub on the ancient Silk Road [Music] for the caravans kashgar was a fabled stopping point Marco Polo praised the city size and great beauty cash cars traders he wrote traveled the entire world they crossed the Karakoram mountains to the south and the tian shan mountains into central asia kashgar was always special and it still is the region is part of China but the majority of people are we ger a Muslim minority that is deeply mistrusted by Beijing [Music] in front of one of the gates to the old city some people are performing a traditional Weger dance it's popular with visitors from the rest of China [Music] after the performance we approached one of the dancers and asked what he thinks of the city he tells us that life is good here but then we're interrupted a man comes over and stands in front of our camera to prevent us from talking the elderly man is intimidated by him and leaves the cosmopolitan kashgar of old has become a city where mass surveillance is the norm our car is followed constantly police and state security forces monitor our every step and everyone we want to talk to China's leaders see religious extremists lurking everywhere they shut down mosques and when allowed to remain open then only as museums some of the old city has already been demolished with more to follow for Weger culture it's a terrible loss we were here two years ago as seen in this footage surveillance was widespread even then but we were permitted to film in the old city now it's off-limits back then we saw how much care went into maintaining the old mud brick buildings we also met a Potter who lived and worked in a 400 year old house shaping the local clay on the wheel firing it in the kiln is a skilled craft and has a long tradition here I started here when I was five then meanwhile I've spent fifty years of my life in this workshop my family has been doing this for six generations Torsen zu noone told us that the chinese authorities plan to demolish the old buildings here all in the name of progress there are rumors that they want to change the district they told me that I'll get a modern building that won't work I can't make my pottery in a modern building on this trip we're not permitted to visit him and his family we don't know if his house is still standing or how he and his grandchildren are doing the grandchildren he hoped would follow in his footsteps [Music] everywhere we look the old Weger city is being torn down to make way for a new Chinese one human rights organizations estimate that up to 1 million we Gers are being held in so-called re-education camps anyone who gets too close to one of these camps is forced to turn around China is venturing even further into other lands but it fears the influence of anything they see as different or foreign the country wants the free exchange of goods and capital but not of people and ideas what is happening in Kashgar bodes poorly for China's plans along the New Silk Road China is seeking what is in short supply at home like raw materials for its burgeoning industry that greed is difficult to quench on board a ship filled with 15,000 containers we continue our journey along the maritime Silk Road our next destination is Myanmar for decades it was a reclusive country that shunned outsiders but now it has begun to draw more visitors keen to explore what the country has to offer for example from the air [Music] the wide expanse that unfurls beneath us testifies to a rich history one of ancient kings and lost empires we continue from began along the Irrawaddy River to Mandalay another city steeped in history life here can be a struggle kocho who wants to sell this rock for the equivalent of 50,000 euros its raw jade a coveted natural resource Myanmar has the world's richest Jade mines in the north of the country Jade miners work under often desperate conditions that's not important to the buyers here they care only about the stones quality they drive a hard bargain they always give you a rock-bottom bid when I asked for 100,000 they offer 20,000 at most and they won't go higher than 30,000 they never lose they always win that's how it is we lose they win by they he means the Chinese man delays Jade market is in Chinese hands from the raw stones to the finished jewelry jade has been an important part of Chinese culture for thousands of years Kojo is a middleman he won't reveal who sent him or how much he earns from the deal he tries his second sale this time with rings but here too he's turned away the Chinese buyers are usually operating as middlemen to the actual customers are back at home in China the rising Chinese middle classes are hungry for status symbols the bids come by smartphone the online trade is a lucrative business we have a direct link to China that's good because the people online don't know much about Jade and can't judge quality we bring the Jade with us when we fly home but taxes are high and that gets deducted from our profits if we're wearing the necklaces or rings when we arrived we don't have to pay any taxes kocho who finally manages to sell a bracelet but he has mixed feelings about the business of course it's sad we're selling our country's treasures but there's no other way they're very strong and were weak we need money and the Chinese have money in China jade is a symbol of good fortune as we watch the trading it does almost seemed as though good fortune is leaving Myanmar for more prosperous Shores [Music] we go north to the cotton hills they're rich in jade mines and other resources that are highly sought after by Myanmar's powerful neighbor entire villages have been displaced and the lives of local people disrupted [Applause] [Music] that's what's happened to Dodger she's brewing a traditional drink that's believed to ward off colds menstrual complaints and impotence but it's useless against dodges current situation [Music] no medicine can fix our situation if we had a medicine that could do that believe me I would brew it every day and I would give it to everyone free of charge but it's not that simple instead local people have launched a protest movement their signs and posters say no damn China has backed the construction of a large dam project near the source of the Irrawaddy River many local people oppose it River is our lifeline it's as though our own blood flows through it this river has to survive no one should be allowed to destroy it we're fighting for the river and for ourselves their battle is directed at this enormous concrete and steel structure rising from the water it's the first stage in what was to be a major dam project 90% of the hydropower generated by the dam was to have been exported to neighboring China the final cost of the project would have run into the billions in the face of vehement opposition Myanmar's government agreed to suspend the project much to the dismay of Beijing dodges entire village was resettled to make way for the dam they've come back to take a look the pain they feel about being forced to leave their homes is still fresh young Indiana this is where we lived going back generations in peace and quiet then they made us leave they still won't let us return because no one knows what will happen to the project I'm afraid we'll never be allowed to come back you know the Chinese won't give up until they get their Dam one day all of this will be under water and gone forever China is an economic powerhouse the country wields enormous financial clout and money brings political influence it's hard for poorer countries to assert their interests Sri Lanka is another case in point at first glance all seems peaceful at this beach resort with the breeze coming off the Indian Ocean the days seem to pass at an unhurried pace down below Charmander Pushpa Kumari is walking through his plantation he's always been a melon farmer but he too was forced to move I'm in the middle of the jungle this is where I'm supposed to farm my fields in the middle of nowhere I used to have a good piece of land now it's a horror his life has been turned upside down along with many others who used to live in Harbin Thota a harbor expansion project swallowed up their farms the villagers protested to no avail and the promises to compensate them came to nothing they never told us the truth they took our land and said we'd get jobs in the port the Chinese have no work for us farmers they only have jobs for their own people they're in control here now animator survived a DVD here Sri Lanka is heavily in debt it gave China control of Hambantota port on a 99 year lease in return the Chinese canceled a dent worth 1.1 billion dollars the deal is controversial and rife with rumors some say Beijing is planning to build a military base at this strategic location we are unable to find out more about what's happening at the port the visitors station was recently declared off-limits to foreigners can we go to the viewing point there's a viewing point the port is big but it's not as busy as China had hoped that's why a new directive was issued as a job creation scheme every car imported by Sri Lanka must enter through the port of Hambantota even if the destination is on the other side of the country one man is behind much of this Mahinda Rajapaksa during his tenure as president of sri lanka he promoted deals with china Rajapaksa was born in a small town and the humble tota district he initiated many expensive infrastructure projects with little oversight now his home district has freeway overpasses with next to no traffic and roads that the rest of the country can only dream of with more livestock than vehicles on them there's a convention center that lies unused and a hospital without doctors or patients or paid for with loans from China Aruna cool Otunga has been studying this situation for years he's dismayed by what Sri Lanka has done for example they are giving us a loan of say hundred rupees and they are taking 90 rupees of that back to themselves and on top of that we are paying an interest it's like I go to the bank I take a loan and the bank tells me look I'll give you hundred rupees but you had to build your house according to this descend this and he'll buy all the bricks from me you have to take my people and use them as Mason's and whatever that's what is happening and then they charge as 12 percent interest on top of that as well this is not really equitable business the projects are big and prestigious but they're not much of a calling card this man is the manager of what's being called the world's emptiest International Airport also built with the help of a huge loan from China everything here is new it's hardly been used we've never seen an airport like this before there are no lines at the check-in counter no chaos at the luggage pick up no crowds traveling at this airport could be a relaxing experience if any flights came here this has been built for 1 million passenger capacity per annum it didn't extend within years but so far we don't see any passenger yeah after now we are using this airport in case of an emergency in Karnataka and in future there are adult fights they've been waiting patiently since the airport opened in 2013 it's a theater of the absurd with a next act waiting in the wings the airport may soon follow the path of the local port the Chinese debt is a millstone around Sri Lanka's neck now they're looking for foreign investors to take over [Music] they are not giving anything to us simply because as I said before because they just want to help a lot I know there is obviously commercial plus political interest in there so what the problem is what do we do we need the cash we need investments and nobody is coming Sri Lanka has become a crossroads for the world's major economic players and that is having a profound impact on the lives of its people the New Silk Road is forging ahead at a rapid pace it's even cutting a path through the world's highest mountain ranges we go to the Karakoram highway in Pakistan at more than 4,600 meters above sea level the Coon jarabe Pass is situated at the border between Pakistan and China the border gate looks like it could be part of the Great Wall of China but that's far away still the border here gives off an air of impenetrability we compare our watches mine shows Pakistan time the Chinese soldiers are on China Standard Time a three-hour difference just a few steps away security is tight here China believes it must protect itself against Islamist extremism from Pakistan but Chinese officials cross the border here as a matter of course somewhat implausibly the Chinese customs official claims he's not responsible for the crossing the Chinese VIPs don't want to be filmed while they have their photographs taken it's as though we are still in China the official also refuses an interview the next Chinese truck returning from Pakistan doesn't arrive until the afternoon this is supposed to be a hub on a major trade route but the New Silk Road doesn't seem to be living up to its billing we're not bringing back any Goods they don't have anything usually our truck is empty when we come back on the way to Pakistan Lee songs container was full of clothing and electronics now it's empty it's a risky route for such a small return there are dangerous spots there are very tight curves along the way where our containers practically graze the clips sometimes there are falling rocks it's dangerous the truck bears traces of the hazards of the Karakoram highway the truck continues onward to China we stay in Pakistan we have a police escort as we continue on to an enormous construction site we're the first Western television crew that's been permitted to film here it's a long drive through a beautiful but dangerous landscape [Music] China and Pakistan have been building this road for some 10 years now but it's not clear what purpose it will serve a few empty trucks hardly seem to justify it it's a very tenuous strand on the New Silk Road the Karakoram mountains also seemed to prefer their isolation falling rocks often damage the road which then has to be repaired in january 2010 a massive landslide killed 20 people in the village of Audubon it blocked the wounds a river creating a large lake a section of the Karakoram highway ended up under rock and water the highway was reroute 'add through the mountains before setting out to cross the Alps with a team of elephants Hannibal supposedly said I shall find a way or I will build one his goal was to conquer Rome is the new Silk Road part of a modern day plan for conquest [Music] in the past only the most courageous travelers attempted to cross the Karakoram mountains even today time seems to have stood still in the remote villages of the Hunza Valley many traditions are kept alive here but the villagers fear that when the highway is finished their way of life will be under threat [Applause] [Music] we don't see a lot of trade along the route and what we do see is more reminiscent of the caravans of the ancient Silk Road there are a few trucks on the road many are painted and decorated as is custom here the road has come at a very high price Pakistan is deeply in debt to Chinese banks and construction firms [Music] but China is also paying a price this cemetery holds the graves of Chinese workers who died on the construction sites it resembles a military cemetery these workers were Chinese soldiers is that another sign that a conquest is underway after 600 kilometers we reach the construction site where another stretch of road is being carved into the mountains the drills carving out space for the next blast are extremely loud but none of the workers wear ear protection perhaps that's the least of their worries the tunnel is not stable and the danger of falling rocks is ever-present hard time sleeping especially when something unexpected has happened then I can't sleep the same holds for everyone else here at the construction site in our bosses in Beijing 7,000 Pakistanis work here and 1,200 Chinese there's Chinese food in the canteen in Chinese state television but their families are thousands of kilometers away and the internet connection is unreliable hello aren't you asleep yet can you hear me connection of course I miss my home but we have no choice I can't go home until I'm finished here the managers who are overseeing this enormous construction project live and work in a former hotel it's been turned into a fortress Pakistan's government is worried about the safety of the Chinese in the morning we meet Wong Hui the head engineer he's been working on the project for ten years now Confucius said the man who moves the mountain begins by carrying away small stones that's what Beijing is demanding of Wong cui day after day it's a race against time we hardly get any breaks so we work from early morning to 11:00 at night and never get a day off Chimay osuzu them wonk we wants to show us a special construction site this is where we finally realize why China is bothering to carve a road into the mountains they're building a corridor through Pakistan the head engineer brings us to an enormous bridge 60 metres above ground this section of bridge being brought in weighs 140 tons eventually this bridge will be part of the new road piece-by-piece bridged by bridge china is approaching its goal direct access to the arabian sea just like the roman empire consolidated its power with the imperial roads china is building for its own empire the view from this height is dizzying as is the plan to build a road over some of the highest mountains on earth one day I'll show my son and daughter where I fought and struggled I built this road and then I'll be very proud cheyna is determined to forge ahead ever further thousands of kilometers still lie before us and thousands of nautical miles all the way to Europe as the New Silk Road reaches westward it brings hope and begets protest in part two we continue our journey along the New Silk Road from Kyrgyzstan to do spork

Channel: DW Documentary

Views: 827,353

Rating: 4.3404622 out of 5

Keywords: Documentary, Documentaries, documentaries, DW documentary, DW documentary 2019, full documentary, documentary 2019, DW, beyond the news, New Silk Road, China, Shenzhen, Cambodia, Myanmar, Pakistan, belt and road, belt and road documentary, belt and road documentary 2019, international trade

Id: cUxw9Re-Z-E

Length: 42min 26sec (2546 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 20 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/ryzvonusef]

The New Silk Road is a mammoth project intended to connect China with the West. It's a gigantic infrastructure project that Beijing says will benefit everyone. But this two-part documentary shows China’s predominant self-interest and geopolitical ambitions.

The old Silk Road is a legend, whereas the New Silk Road is a real megaproject. China wants to reconnect the world though a network of roads, railways, ports and airports between Asia and Europe. A team of reporters travels by sea and land along the New Silk Road and shows how China, with the largest investment program in history, is expanding its influence worldwide. Their journey begins in Shenzhen on the Pearl River Delta. This is where China's legendary rise to an economic superpower began 40 years ago. The private market economy experiment unleashed forces that allowed Shenzhen to grow into a mega-metropolis. The team takes a container ship towards Southeast Asia. Its first stop is the port city of Sihanoukville in Cambodia. A joke is making the rounds there these days: you can now travel to China without a passport and without leaving your own country. Sihanoukville is now almost part of China itself! The Chinese have financed practically everything built here in the recent past: the extension of the port, new roads, bridges and factories. Many Cambodians are unhappy and feel like losers in the boom. Rising prices and rents are making the poor even poorer. But for land and house owners, on the other hand, it’s a bonanza. In Myanmar, resistance is already growing. Locals in Kachin have successfully blocked a new dam project, asking how the Chinese could produce energy for their own country whilst leaving the locals themselves without electricity? The Myanmar government pulled the emergency brake and the huge Chinese dam project did not get beyond the first concrete piers in the river. The Karakorum Highway from Kashgar in China across the Roof of the World to Islamabad in Pakistan is one of the most difficult and dangerous roads in this breathtaking mountain world. Once the road is finished, it often disintegrates again, and rock falls and landslides block the highway as if the Karakorum Mountains are trying to deny China strategic access to the Arabian Sea. The first part of the report ends in Islamabad.

[u/ryzvonusef]

The Pakistan part starts at 32:16