The New Silk Road, Part 2: From Kyrgyzstan to Duisburg | 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 [Music] it's a powerful vision and for many an inspiring one for some it represents opportunity for others misery if China is reaching toward the west along the New Silk Road we retrace two of these routes traveling from China to Germany from the city of Shenzhen to the city of du spork we traveled thousands of kilometers overland to Central Asia and we sailed thousands of kilometers across the oceans of Southeast Asia following the major overseas trade routes we have traveled great distances but Europe is still far away we retrace the route of the caravans heading west crossing remote passes in the tian shan mountains it's a journey into the past along the ancient Silk Road a route that today is marked by hope and opportunity and by burdensome deaths in dependence on China [Music] the route followed by the ancient traders and their caravans was filled with danger their arrival at Tosh Rabat gave them a temporary respite here they found food and shelter and were able to exchange goods and information about the journey ahead [Music] the markets of Kyrgyzstan still bear traces of this history PACU Beck Beck to Roth is a nomad a day ago he left his yurt near song colic early this morning he arrived at the market in core score this is the main trading season many come here from afar to make their purchases and then they bring the animals to Kazakhstan aqua Beck enjoys the bustle of the market after the silence of his home near the lake he's planning to buy a horse and he knows exactly what he's looking for [Music] we have to stroke them they like that if it stays calm when I stroke it then I know it'll do what I ask you to but the purchase will have to wait uh Quebec has invested in the promises of the New Silk Road and that's pushed him to the financial brink much the same as has happened to the country of Kyrgyzstan he invites us to visit his home to find out more the wide expanses are wild and untamed two untamed the government believes to improve infrastructure it's gone deeply into debt with Chinese companies in the early evening a Kubek and his grandchildren round up the herd the family has bought three new yurts with their savings [Music] they're intended for tourists who want adventure and a taste of the simple life each audience we're not afraid of anything a lot has already improved here in the last eight years our standard of living is much higher now yes we did the family hopes that money and affluence will come from the tourists who booked overnight stays here and the Chinese who have promised to invest on a grand scale [Music] Ninian I believe the Silk Road still exists those values still exist so that's a fact every country can profit from trade along the Silk Road but what if these hopes are not fulfilled in the search for a better life things of great value might also be lost at the world Nomad Games tradition still hold sway boy mark and his master Norbeck are local celebrities Norvik raised the Falcon and says it's like a son to him but Norbeck needs the Falcon every bit as much as the Falcon meet Anna when I remove the hood omok sees his prey and flies to capture it he sees for me that's truer than it might first seem Norbeck the falconer is blind Norbeck took gold at the 2018 World Nomad games his brother Amnon Beck knows who they have to thank for it we were hoping for third place everyone was shocked when we took gold Norbeck has promised to show his nephew some of the tricks of the trade the family is proud of their showing at the Nomad Games but they also wonder whether they'll be able to maintain their culture and traditions we don't need gold we need clean water the mountains earth its nature so far our people haven't seen any good come of the Chinese investments and that's why we're taking to the streets that's why there's been awesome on April 11th 2018 there was a violent protest over a gold mine built in Casa man with Chinese investment about a thousand people were here and they lost their patience a crowd like that they don't listen to anyone they burned the building to the ground this is what's left of the gold rush some village elders are willing to speak with us they brought documents to show what the Chinese mining company has been planning what sparked the weeks of protest the old Soviet era mine was believed to contain some 40 tons of gold the Chinese wanted to take it over but locals say they had no permits it's our land Kyrgyz land why should we give our land to a bunch of Chinese with no permits up to 7 tons of gold might lie beneath this field full of mining waste the Soviets mind using toxic sodium cyanide could that account for the cases of cancer in the village and what were the Chinese planning the village elders say the Kyrgyz authorities answered none of these questions the government didn't investigate all the illnesses here they just want Chinese money they don't care about us everyone from the Chinese to the Kyrgyz government wants a share of the gold in Casa man in the end the Chinese left this time but the flow of goods is awakening hopes along the New Silk Road the Chinese initiative wants to vastly increase the amount of freight transported by rail they're planning many new cargo relay junctions to transfer containers to the gauge of the russian-made track along the maritime Silk Road we find ourselves at another Junction thousands of kilometres from China the country has now gained access to another deep seaport some 40% of the world's oil passes through here for China the port of Gwadar is another base in its string of pearls aha good morning in Chinese the teacher after Ally studied in China a stroke of good fortune because that's now come in handy here in Gwadar Aftab wants to help others here reap the same benefits our child I didn't have this opportunity to learn in my hometown learn Chinese but they have so we have our if our children really can speak good Chinese their have good business deal with them this school has facilities that many others in the country can only dream of all financed with money from Beijing China is investing in the young people of Pakistan [Music] [Music] for after teaching is only a sideline he's actually an engineer and he has plenty of work to keep him busy China and Pakistan are building for the future each in their own way [Music] who is the boss on this side the Chinese are the Pakistani workers because I control them but you're working for Chinese yeah that's big master karate but this level on the site I control the psyche chat we're building a road to China one day I'll be able to drive home on it the New Silk Road will bring us together we're friends the Chinese may be friends but they're under guard on the construction sites and elsewhere in the city Balochistan is a conflict zone where violence and terrorism are rife foreigners are especially at risk many locals regard them as invaders not investors the West End here is a very terrible tourist areas don't take place in 304 shall we go there three Chinese engineers died in that attack jang boo-ah Xiang is a businessman and he knows that a lots at stake here for both countries people cannot move freely and definitely a big business activity will be affected power on the other side please understand that the German army are responsible persons Jean Valjean was sent here to turn Gwadar into a transit hub China has signed a 40-year lease on the port but its conditions are being kept largely out of public view we are not permitted to film on site where da has clear strategic value as a gateway to the Arabian Sea but it's unclear whether China's interest is only an economic one some believe it might also have military significance for Beijing I don't know what's Carolina is Israeli peace bubble country and and you see we don't have any history of colonizing any countries the Chinese presence is impossible to overlook and more are on the way the China communications construction company is planning more projects here the construction giant has big plans in Gwadar I think around 5,000 people are going to come Chinese people come going to come but for this project I think maybe 802 like this people will come for discount it's gonna be like a little Chinatown yeah definitely it's Chinatown Yaya grew up in Guam after studying in Karachi he returned home for him the arrival of the Chinese spells an opportunity is it actually fair to say you working on a new mother is what attending in space definitely we are walking in a new quarter we are moving toward our future at this future God definitely I am the you know founding a member of this this optimistic outlook can't be taken for granted in Gwadar but for other people here peace and prosperity seem but a dream they fear they've been forgotten and will keep falling further behind [Music] and they feel deep resentment of those who are proclaiming the arrival of a new golden future the Chinese only care about their own interests they want to make a lot of money here they don't care about what happens to the poor to us some quarry yeah mari are cynical gay they're taking everything water doesn't belong to us anymore they've taken the ocean from us the land there's nothing left men like us have no work nothing the arrival of the Chinese seems to a furthest split the region some stand to benefit others to lose everything we resume our journey 98% of all goods on the New Silk Road are transported by ship the advantages said the maritime route outweigh the risks just as they did centuries ago ships set out from sewer to distant shores turning a man into a trading empire shipbuilding also has a long history here but the wooden dowel boats are vanishing the last dow shipyard in Sur is run by the a Laramie family they're keeping the tradition alive down to the last detail [Music] oil soaked cotton seals the gaps between planks Khaled's family have been building downs for generations it's in our blood and we passed it on to our children God willing we'll continue doing this work for a long time they build without a plan creating the entire ship from memory and the work is done by hand as it's always been the reputation of our shipbuilders is keeping the tradition alive times are changing machines have replaced sails but for us seafaring and trade is still an important tradition Amnon has a rich history and thanks to oil the country is wealthy today but oil reserves are finite what will happen after they're gone we continue through the desert pressing forward through the heat and sand [Music] finally we reach water and a very modern shipyard we're at the dry dock in duhkham oh man ships are repaired here and read it for the next voyage the former fishing village has become a major hub on the New Silk Road actually we get many different Chinese ship and from Europe ship from Flickr and from Asia as well good notation for having a trial because of the route for the trading and actually it's nearby or from there at a PLC duhkham is now an economic free zone which offers incentives to investors from all over the world including China it's Abdullah a logic Manny's job to bring in the Chinese investors he says the Chinese have vision and energy [Music] Chinese they are very clever and also they are very active they are very fast sometimes you you feel them they are very slow and then but in that time they prepare their program well and then they prepare their drawing and paperwork after that they will start firstly see the area there isn't much to be seen yet but the China Oman industrial park is scheduled to go up here manufacturing facilities pipelines oil fields and a hospital out of thin air this area within three years three off areas very ambitious yes they're working on a cluster of containers in the middle of nowhere this is just the beginning inside two men share a space of 12 square meters they're far from home but earning good money wages here are quite a bit higher than in China so are they happy here we Chinese are industrious people that's not the case when it comes to our foreign workers lazy the challenge easy to lose workers from all over the region have come to work in Oman used to low wages at home they're a pliable workforce where do you come from somebody yeah yeah the man almost seemed to be marching in formation they'll work under the brutal Desert Sun to bring China's plan to fruition but most of them have never heard of the New Silk Road they're working to feed their families back at home the grand visions they leave to the Chinese [Music] actually here takuma is the very important and destructive Tajik place you know this year's Chinese government puts the Chinese companies enterprises go out of the country for the railroad one belt one Road one belt also known as the New Silk Road demands sacrifices from the Chinese - we work here half year we have the one one monster vacation we can go to our family well we also invited our family bring our family to here but no here no please maybe after one year we can bring our family families to here they are seeking their fortunes here in the desert and adding another link to China's new Silk Road [Music] Samarqand the city of stone it was also a stop along the route of the ancient Silk Road after the harsh terrain of the tian shan mountains Samarkand welcomed the caravans with one of the wealthiest civilizations of Central Asia [Music] the madrasahs of Samarkand are still overflowing with gold and ornate decorations [Music] we're meeting one of goose Becca stands backers of the New Silk Road Boy Beck Austin off speaks excellent German and will be our translator and tour guide tonight he's serving cloth pilaf a traditional feast cottony the Silk Road didn't only transport ideas it also disseminated ideas and recipes for proof when people from Spain come to us Becca Stan and our served Plouffe they say oh this is Spanish paella cloth is traditionally eaten with the fingers not so easy for a left-hander traditionally we eat our food with our right hand I should have known everywhere in samarkand there are signs of how far west we ventured the influence of ancient Persia is also visible everywhere who's becca stan was once the center of an empire in the 12th and 13th centuries culture and scholarship flourished here team or also known as Tom Alain was a great patron of art and culture and a brutal tyrant his tomb is still an object of veneration Oh beck has taken us to the bazaar of bukhara a place filled with hidden treasures from old Samarkand he picks up a small dusty binder almost at random in Dinah hunt you're holding history in your hand a thousand years old nine hundred years old seven hundred years old two hundred years old the coins come from far and wide China Persia Greece they're a testament to the travel and trade that shaped the region over the centuries for them this is just old plunder for me its history each item tells a beautiful story from the days of the old Silk Road this is one of the oldest books according to our modern-day calendar it's from the 17th century I find it very sad when these books are bought by tourists and end up in Europe somewhere they should stay here we need to build museums for them da fume most magazine organism we continue onward these cotton fields white gold whose Becca Stan has long been accused of using forest and child labour in the cotton harvest they say that's no longer the case but taking pictures here is still prohibited we wonder how carefully factory owners are monitoring compliance with labor laws this new factory processes raw cotton into thread the managers come from China the high-tech equipment from Germany built and run by the Chinese with high-tech equipment made in Germany from companies recently bought out by the Chinese only the workers and the cotton are from here we invested here because the cost for water electricity gas and wages is much lower in Uzbekistan that in China the raw material cotton is also a lot less expensive here China is buying high-tech equipment from Germany and cheap labour from Uzbekistan China is also benefitting from tax breaks but what about the end product one NGO the Uzbek German forum for human rights claims that abuses are ongoing the cotton is from Uzbekistan it's all from around here where do you buy it from from the state trade center the Uzbek government sets the price the Chinese don't want to know more the yarn goes to factories to be manufactured into products made in China consumers won't be told where the cotton came from perhaps that's always been the case on the Silk Road the value of the goods is what counts not where or how it was made [Music] we continue onward to the Bosporus where asia ends and Europe begins the afternoon Sun bathes Istanbul in a golden light the writer Orhan Pamuk has said that Istanbul is marked by a special melancholy a kind of hazy memory of lost grandeur coupled with decay [Applause] the last capital of the Ottoman Empire was a jewel on the ancient Silk Road the caravans arrived here filled with treasures that ended up in the city's palaces and bazaars [Music] candied fruit exotic fragrances all that and more can still be found at Istanbul spice market [Music] Lulay isn't interested in that right now she's a natural optimist but today is putting a dent in that she runs a shop in the Asian market nearby business isn't going well after a few hours a customer buy something she ordered from China since the start of the economic crisis and the collapse of the Turkish lira everything's changed I used to have customers lining up to get in and lines at the cash register people would hurry to pay they'd get here early to be first in the door those were the days nowadays hours can go by without a customer sounds an issue Ania can't oh very cool Lulay still has a boat from the days when business was booming but perhaps she's been in Istanbul long enough to have acquired some of the city's melancholy its memory of better days [Music] the Chinese who come to the city today are brimming with optimism their vision of the future extends well past Istanbul and into the heart of Europe they're not interested in souvenirs they're planning a high-speed rail corridor through the Balkans that will help open the door to Chinese goods and influence we're on the outskirts of Belgrade but it almost feels like China employees of the China Railway Company are standing at attention for the state-owned company this is a flagship project even though they've been avoiding publicity why are they building a new high-speed rail link between Belgrade and Budapest we Chinese have a great deal of experience when it comes to modernizing old rail lines will observe local rules and standards here as well as EU regulations that's the normal process we follow on any construction project it's apparent that who Jung Hyung is choosing his words carefully and this construction site is one of the most unusual we've encountered on our journey a single excavator is clearing the old railway track bed in front of a watching crowd of Chinese but perhaps today is giving a mistaken impression this construction site is supposed to be China's gateway to the heart of Europe we continue onward to Hungary our train isn't a high-speed link yet why is China moving toward Europe what will it mean for its citizens and why is the railway project so expensive we have an appointment with someone who has been studying the project for quite some time more than a billion euro or not such a long stretch seems to rather high doesn't it it's a Hungarian flatland so there's no need to build any tunnels or any bridges it's it's very very simple as I mean from an engineering point of view so it's indeed super expensive and nobody can really tell the project's model is a familiar one Chinese banks are making loans and Chinese companies are doing the building others will be left with the bill this is a win-win situation it actually means that China wins twice these concerns don't seem to worry Hungary's government while Europe appears mired in self-doubt admiration for the Chinese system is growing the Chinese way of business may be ruthless and anti-democratic but it gets results quickly this model is now making inroads in Europe traveling along the New Silk Road we now pass through the Suez Canal to reach Europe by the maritime route many cities in Europe are vying to become the next gateway for the new silk road Marseille in the South of France stands a good chance [Music] we arrive at a village near the port a Chinese village built out of containers on the edge of Marseille [Music] the Marseille international fashion Center is a Center for textile wholesalers who deal in fashions made in Asia [Music] madam Jang is a wholesaler who occupies one of the containers she sends her wares to shops across France while the country may be famous for odd couture she's doing a booming business everything today is made in China from the big companies to the luxury labels it's all made there and sent here nothing's made in France we work hard and we're proud of that the entire world knows that the Chinese are industrious and hard workers and our quality is improving all the time the Chinese aren't clock Watchers Europe is hungry for fashionable clothing at low prices China is thirsty for expensive wine I [Music] don't make the one I enjoy the one I think a big part of a big part of working in wine is you do need the business aspect that's very important for decision making but also it's a it is an art it is an appreciation of lifestyle and you can never forget that or else it becomes a little too you lose the magic the magic of wine brought Howard quark to Bordeaux 10,000 kilometers from home the vineyard here belongs to him as does the wine he's the youngest child of an entrepreneur based in Hong Kong the family has been snapping up wineries in southwestern France for years their latest acquisition is Chateau bell for Bell CA an estate that includes almost 14 hectares of vines [Music] it's magnificent we've noticed this property since 2010 and every time we try fire we look at it if you like you know if only if only and now where it's our turn since 2015 we fought won almost every year 15 16 17 at this moment we want to what we need to restore and and clean up the existing properties we have that would be our number one goal and what I think building our brand as well once that's done I think I think all is possible we're willing to consider consider more options we go to the market it's a center of commerce and of local gossip when it comes to the topic of the Chinese presence in Bordeaux many here have strong opinions it's terrible the Chinese are everywhere our Chateau Marwan what would you say in Germany if they would buy the Brandenburg Gate d duper dear son came here 12 years ago France is now her home but she doesn't feel like she completely belongs here still she takes that in her stride it's understandable the French don't know us were strangers the Chinese have a warm heart but were a bit reserved Chinese people tend to stick to their own kind I'm different I'm married to a Frenchman and speak the language that makes it easier husband breeze tries his hand at some Chinese but deal ends up translating the group are students of enology the science of wine and winemaking they're here to learn about the French why making China is importing knowledge not just wine the Chinese market has grown more diverse over the years for example China is a key importer of sweet white wines which we make here out of our late harvest our sales figures for these products our story and the Chinese market is clearly the driving force behind that the too sensitive on to university is a more efficient one I care a lot about this business and the wine is perfect not just sweet but with an interesting aroma perfect for Chinese who are just learning to enjoy wine it was if I see the border debut don't you know what the couple have bridged the gap between China and France personally and professionally so who is the driving force behind the business side of things a Chinese proverb says men are in charge of the big things women handle the details but 90% of life is in the details so there you have it at times the new silk road ends up in rather unexpected places after thousands of kilometres over land and sea we finally end up in duisburg a city in Germany's industrial heartland that has seen its fortunes decline now it's on the map again Deus borg is home to Europe's largest inland port thanks to China it's fast becoming Europe's main logistics hub and China is also acquiring stakes in German companies the harbour CEO Eric stocker sees both risks and opportunities it's not right that our companies can't acquire more than a 50% share in Chinese companies but the Chinese can purchase 100% of European companies so I'm critical or worried in the end it's a political question especially for your optic well in Susanoo a little patient politics the New Silk Road has made promises of prosperity and growth to many people but China's ambitions and the speed at which it is moving forward also pose risks that doubts will be ignored traditions will be cast aside and that many will simply be left behind the New Silk Road is a project with global ambitions and its impact will be felt around the world you

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Keywords: Documentary, Documentaries, documentaries, DW documentary, DW documentary 2019, full documentary, documentary 2019, DW, beyond the news, New Silk Road, China, Kyrgyzstan, Oman, Europe, belt and road, belt and road documentary, central asia, belt and road documentary 2019, kyrgyzstan, duisburg, oman, marseille, international trade, international trade documentary

Id: QyeBxcvUJIU

Length: 42min 26sec (2546 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 20 2019