[Music] China calls it the project of the
century as the West steps back from global leadership this is China
stepping forward remaking the map of the global economy with no other country
offering a big idea right now this is the most ambitious bid to shape our
century Yoshii are I'm under a lot of pressure
a massive rollout of infrastructure built by China to drive trade across more than 60 countries what I do if
there was a deal it's like a promised land China's president claims it's a
win-win for all we will not resort to outdated geopolitical maneuvering critics say the only winner will be
China yeah the Chinese have done nothing I'm setting out on a 7,000 mile journey
to meet the people of the New Silk Road and understand how it will change their
lives and our world
[Music] they call them the ships of the desert
the centuries the camel train to the Silk Road dominated trade between China
and the West
[Music] now China wants to build a new Silk Road
China's melting Road vision is so vast it may be decades before we can tell
whether it's a worthy successor to the ancient Silk Road but what we can say is
that with no other country offering a big idea right now this is the most
ambitious bid to shape our century
[Music]
utopia you stopped Rommels this time
these containers full of Chinese goods are going by train
[Music] China's grand plan is to build roads
rails container port all the way across Asia and into Europe
it's hoping to wrap more than 60 countries in its embrace now that is a
piece of you fear of influence you always the
starting point for the train to Europe
famous as the town that makes Christmas
and probably many of the things in your home why are we really I don't once sold
silk please ceramic along the ancient Silk Road now itself absolutely
everything and people come from all over the world to buy their goods here I'll
take 7,200 ok Nigel's been exporting from here for 12 years he loves the
thrill of the deal he's the 1.74 come on
for an old friend now he's keen to bring goods back the other way I got this one
but reg cake can make importing to China a nightmare might reduce don't import
from Europe back into China do you now why is that what makes importing to this
market hard the government can change the law any time for example I was ready to import a container of wine last year
had it already but I didn't push the button on it because I was worried that
they might change law once it's gone a little in very it's a very gray area at
the moment a potential market of nearly one point four billion people and the
Chinese government controls access what a dagger on both sides the
Emperor's once claimed to rule all under heaven with the United States no longer
leading on trade President Xi has seized his chance with a vision for land and
sea routes wrapping the globe all which world war we will not result outdated
geo political maneuverings young kpop so those are longing that shimasu only then
we hope to achieve a new model of win-win cooperation critics say it makes little sense to move 50 containers by
rail when you can ship thousands fighting on a single ship but is often a
mistake to underestimate Chinese ambition savings invested huge political
and financial capital in its new chakras and next train is an important symbol of
the biggest development plan in the world right now
[Music]
nearly half of the journey from China to Europe lies inside China
[Music] a lot of ground to cover and a wealth gap between east and west a challenge as
immense as the terrain
China's new Silk Road needs to solve China's problems this China out here not
just the one I've left behind any wool the Silk Road was once unimaginably
remote to most Chinese not anymore in less than a decade China's building
twice as much of high-speed rail as the rest of the world combined and pushed it out to the far west then the tram is
videoed I agree that I don't worry I don't fit up using the lure of the Silk
Road to draw the biggest tourist force in the world China hopes its new Silk Road laden with tourists can bring
wealth to the west syn yang is home to the we get ethnic
minority they're mostly Muslim culturally closer to Central Asia and
outnumbered in their homeland the region has witnessed a vicious cycle bitterness
over marginalization driving form and knife attacks by we gus' and met by
overwhelming force and religious repression China is investing here more
than 250 million dollars to build this theater alone and the more China invest
the more it has to protect this Silk Road show works hard to spin a story of
ethnic harmony [Applause]
[Music] behind her stage makeup boo Halima is a
Weger once sin yang was known for music and dance and she sad her homelands now
more famous for violence Camilla no shafaíat entire jurist i met
told me they hurting Jung was unsafe he really couldn't be sure to get out
unharmed if they came here some more she under some people did some bad things
and it affected us all the theatre employs a hundred we go and China rips the New Silk Road will give more a stake
in the system
the ancient story has moments of danger and China's grand new narrative is still
fraught with peril deliver on the spin of opportunities for all or forever scan
the crowd for the enemy within a
[Applause] [Music]
Cathedral in Almaty Kazakhstan a strategic stop on China's new Silk Road
but traditionally Russia's backyard
many Catholics crops became Russian at school watching Russian TV even
supporting the Russian football team and none of that seems to have changed
someone else has changed the becoming of China
[Music]
Dawson supplier is a political analyst he sees the nations of Central Asia as
billiard balls in a game between the big players Russia and China China I believe
will be like a some threats for our independence why because for China
Khalistan is not equal partner for China Kurdistan only is like as one of the play in the big China geopolitical game
the heart of the New Silk Road is infrastructure with the Chinese economy slowing back home state construction
companies put to work abroad
[Music] engineer sushi one delivering a
state-of-the-art urban railway so what having a union losing a to Radha
China's advanced technology is bringing convenience and more comfort and safety
travelers in Kazakhstan if this project goes well it will serve as a model for others undateable first when he tells me
most of the jobs here will go to chinese workers and the loan to build this
railway was tied to a Chinese design China using its money in its muscle to
achieve its own ends nearly two-thirds of Kazakhstan's economy is oil and gas
an increasing share in Chinese hands this was once rush of backyard but China
is now contesting that Kazakhstan is rich in energy and minerals and it's a vital transit route stretching all the
way from the Chinese border to Europe so while Cavett's may still speak Russian
a lot of the oil in their tanks now belongs
cheyna but locals here say they see little
benefit at Elijah what they dearly yeah in the village of Kent yak at
kindergartens become a hostel for Chinese workers I that guru shaver was
once a teacher here now she fears for their future their export so if I the
Chinese have done nothing there is a huge oil industry here but no jobs or facility for young people
process is alpha let others go we want to live decently so that we won't be
ashamed of our village she and others here complain of pollution and jobs
going to outsiders government intimidation makes many Catholics
cautious on camera but privately several accused Chinese companies of using
bribes to cut corners china says is presence abroad is a win win a win for
China and a win for the people in its path but that's not the experience here
they say their oil wealth is going elsewhere and that win-win means China
wins once and then China wins again
[Music] some Catholics will benefit from China's
plans more on the city skyline a commuter railway some highways and
pipelines but building big and fast in developing country that often means
corruption and crushing debt
[Music] Poland has looked West since the end of
the Soviet bloc but Eastern Europe is becoming a key piece in China's
strategic jigsaw it already started mopping up assets and hopes the new Silk
Road will bind them together still over volar
helped eighty years ago to make steel and things that can be made from steel
like military tanks and bulldozers in those days nearly everyone here worked
for the Polish state but he's providing the jobs now
this bigger factory was near financial collapse when Chinese state firm lil
Gong rescued it and 1200 workers average cetera for the assembly workers is
around 3,800 right come on but who you bought tells me this is a business not a
charity he arrived as a manager six years ago
and he's still trying to modernize the place their Factory in China takes just seven minutes to make a machine which
takes four and a half days to build here
you bore is a long way from home it's like a bachelor's life Elizabeth yeah like in the army yes say your parents
are keen for you to get married so that they can have grandchildren I mean
though they try to help you find somebody they really did now they try to introduce some potential girlfriends for
me could you search for someone online who actually wanted to live in Poland we even wanted to live in still au revoir
la Poland the name of change girls that don't have any idea but Stella Wolle
it's not just a wife you will need at work the company's been struggling for
orders he needs the massive building projects on China's new Silk Road to
boost demand for diggers and keep his workers in jobs I don't see their math so for August yet no real difference to
the bottom line yet thanks to the one belt one Road initiative I think the
customers that real have the need for the machinist suit but not yet
Felton Road is the official name for China's new Silk Road it's got an official name because it's a government
project state construction companies state banks not private traders or investors critics say this could be
digging the world into a big hole well this is a plan by the state agencies and it's going to be evening than to devise
state agencies then my worry is that it's going to end up with huge amounts
of bad Long's with dozens of countries involved it could be very very dangerous
where some serous others see opportunities China has a growing
appetite for milk from where the grass is greener this father inherited this
land from his father and he'll pass it on to his son the fittest serving
problem were obvious though they want to expand the farm and the business he says
China could be part of their future but a China is a very big and interesting
market for us and we want to try it it's like a promised land with daring to think of doing new things now but will
China be happy to just purchase the product in some of Poland's neighbors
its buying farmland and setting up its own bar dairy herds say I'm a Chinese
investor and I can't knock on your door and I say I've got a lot of money I want
to buy your farm you can just sit and take it easy
no thanks I wouldn't sell it to anybody it is my father and grandfathers learned
and I want to have my touch on this farm I don't want to sell it and have only
money it's a long way from this milking parlor
to the breakfast table in Beijing Europe complains of Chinese import barriers it
sells only half as much to China as China cells here and Europe worries that
Beijing learned the art of divide and rule to force a path through Europe for
its new Silk Road so we have Chancellor's or country princess what's
the Royal sir there's no right or wrong lessons in the British tradition of
afternoon tea from a Chinese citizen that they lovely sweet jams no tinkling
plans to take her pitch from an ass experiment
a communist state perhaps but one with a healthy appetite for the rituals of the
British ruling class so Jam is with fairies straight from the tip tree farm China's consumers getting choosy about
food quality a huge market but hard to stand out
I think muster at the beginning of the journey we are starting small by
introducing new things and a few things I mean Chinese as a curious country or curious consumers they always surprise
us I have never seen so much jam it is a world of chance these are all bound for China room but China's a long way away
and shipping by sea can take two months no wonder the UK currently sells more to
the tiny Republic of Island thinking hopes the new train service will help
once a symbol of British Empire and engineering now it's China's great age
of the railways carrying UK hopes for post brexit markets from one end of the
New Silk Road back to its start turn [Music]
three weeks later and those British goods from the Train are on display at a
Chinese trade fair seller will run image of gong gong no one but me showing an interest it's a local stir-fry which
captures the cloud [Music]
so how are other European exporters doing
[Music] especially a lot of curiosity about the
European product in there but I didn't overhear any huge deals being done I
think there's still a long way to go the ancient Silk Road was driven by private
traders from many countries the new version is Chinese state money and
muscle china has the most ambitious plan for our century if it succeeds it'll
make China a superpower again even mightier perhaps than the empires of old
but if it fails it'll leave a legacy of bad blood which poisons China's future
and tastes even the grandeur of the past
[Music]
[Applause] [Music]