China News Service, Beijing, January 19th: What kind of cultural advantages does Xinjiang present in the core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt?
The author Xu Tao is a researcher at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, deputy director of the Eurasian Social Development Institute of the Development Research Center of the State Council and director of the Central Asia Research Office
The famous writer Wang Meng once wrote in "Singing at Midnight": "I have never heard a song as sad, leisurely and sweet as Yili folk songs. It is full of sweet sadness and sweetness of sadness. , you feel that you have experienced the ups and downs of the world, and you have been sublimated to the realm where pain and happiness are connected, life and death are free... I have never heard a song as gentle and wild as Kashgar folk songs. It is full of wild Gentleness and gentle wildness, after listening to the song, you feel that your whole life, body and mind have been brought into full play.” I believe that people who are new to Xinjiang will have this feeling, and they will linger in their hearts for a long time. Don't go.
Diversity in the unity of Chinese civilization
Xinjiang is such a magical place, no matter where you come from, the strong cultural tension will make you awe, and then you will be mesmerized.
I understand that this fascination arises from its diverse cultural connotations.
Sailimu Lake in Xinjiang in May 2016, the lake is complemented by mountain flowers, green grass, snow-capped mountains and pine forests.
Located in the Tianshan Mountains, Xinjiang Sailimu Lake is the highest and largest alpine lake in Xinjiang.
Photo by Wang Tiezuo issued by China News Agency
Xinjiang is located in the hinterland of Eurasia and is the crossroads of Eastern and Western cultures and world civilization.
The vast area between the Altai Mountains, the Tianshan Mountains, and the Kunlun Mountains constitutes the space for the survival and activities of various ethnic groups in history. The countless oases around the Junggar Basin and the Tarim Basin have become the source of nourishing the development of the civilization of the ethnic groups.
They lived and multiplied on this hot land and gave birth to a unique culture, which became an inseparable part of the diverse Chinese nation.
Moreover, from Xinjiang to the east through the Hexi Corridor, it can be connected with the Central Plains, the core area of East Asian agricultural civilization, and the Mongolian Plateau, the birthplace of the northern nomadic peoples. To the west, across the Pamir Plateau, it can be connected to the Central Asian region centered on the Amu Darya and Syr Darya river basins. Connected to the south, or through the Wakhan Corridor or over the Kunlun Mountains, it will enter the South Asian subcontinent.
The snow peaks of Tianshan Mountains were photographed from the sky in July 2006.
On June 21, 2013, the 37th World Heritage Conference officially announced that China's "Xinjiang Tianshan" was included in the World Natural Heritage, becoming the 44th World Heritage Site in China.
China News Agency reporter Liu Xinshe
It is this unique geographical advantage that makes Xinjiang play a special role in the multi-form and multi-path development of China's history and culture for thousands of years, and it has become a treasured place where the diversity of Chinese civilization is integrated.
The farming civilization in the Central Plains, the nomadic civilization in the grasslands, and the farming and animal husbandry civilization in the oasis converged, collided, and blended here, forming a colorful and unique local culture in Xinjiang.
This is not only its unique highlight that can attract the attention of the world, but also its historical choice to support the eastern section of the famous ancient "Silk Road".
It is precisely because of the above-mentioned geographical situation that Xinjiang has become an important area related to China's national unity and social security in the past dynasties.
The Silk Road has been silent for hundreds of years since the Age of Navigation and the Great Geographical Discovery.
In September 2013, Chinese leaders put forward the initiative to build the "Silk Road Economic Belt", which not only provided important public goods for the cooperative development and common prosperity of the Eurasian region in the new era, but also contributed to the stable development of Xinjiang and the revival of the Silk Road civilization. Injected strong power.
In June 2021, in the Spring and Autumn Pastures of Shaerbulak, Fuhai County, Altay, Xinjiang, herdsmen drove their livestock along the ancient "thousand-mile pastoral road" to the alpine summer pastures rich in water and grass.
China News Agency reporter Liu Xinshe
At the economic and trade point of Europe and Asia, connecting China and the West
The construction of transportation infrastructure and the connection of the Eurasian Economic and Trade Corridor are the prerequisites for the construction of the "Silk Road Economic Belt". The unique and important geographical location and the construction of the transportation infrastructure in recent years have enabled Xinjiang to undertake this national responsibility.
Since the "Belt and Road" initiative was put forward, the number of China-Europe trains going through Xinjiang has continued to hit new highs.
In the five years from 2014 to 2019, more than 2,500 China-Europe trains departed from Xinjiang.
In addition, there are more than 20 train lines, reaching 18 countries and 25 cities in Central Asia and Europe.
At the beginning of 2020, the global pandemic of the new crown epidemic, the world economic supply chain was hit hard, and the sea transportation that undertakes the largest trade in the world was hit, but the operation volume of China-Europe freight trains has suddenly emerged and increased in reverse.
According to public information from the media, as of December 31, 2020, the number of China-Europe trains entering and leaving the country through Xinjiang reached 9,679, a record high; (Central Asia) A total of 12,210 trains.
At the same time, cross-border road transport has also developed rapidly, and the point-to-point TIR mode has played an important supplementary role for railway transport.
On March 12, 2020, the 3000th China-Europe freight train was launched at the Urumqi Assembly Center of China-Europe Railway Express.
The train, loaded with goods, left Xinjiang Horgos Port Station and headed to Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
China News Agency reporter Liu Xinshe
In August 2021, the Central Asian Leaders' Consultative Meeting was held in Avaza, the national tourist base of Turkmenbashi City, Turkmenistan. At this third meeting, called the "Central Asia Summit", in order to break the independence, it began. Faced with the geographical predicament, the Central Asian heads of state, almost without exception, have put forward common ideas and various plans to build a transport hub connecting Europe and Asia.
Moreover, President Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan and President Zaparov of Kyrgyzstan both emphasized the importance of building the "China-Kyrgyzstan-Ukraine" highway and railway transportation corridor.
Under the general trend of the continuous strengthening of regional economic correlation, Xinjiang has become more and more prominent as an important transfer station between China and the West in the new era.
Building consensus on the frontiers of climate change
The demand for new agricultural cooperation under the situation of aggravating global climate change is rising.
In October 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated in his keynote speech at the Valdai Debate Club that today's human society is facing crises and challenges brought about by four major systemic changes.
Among them, the first major challenge is the widespread environmental degradation caused by climate change.
As early as at the Central Asian Leaders' Consultation Meeting in August, the heads of state paid great attention to the more fragile ecological environment in Central Asia.
In particular, major ecological problems such as desertification, shrinking glaciers, and insufficient water sources have occurred in Central Asia in recent years. Under the background of global climate change, the problem of regional environmental degradation has become more and more prominent.
President Rahmon of Tajikistan proposed to designate 2025 as the International Year of Glacier Conservation and the establishment of an International Glacier Conservation Fund, and President Berdymukhamedov of Turkmenistan also proposed to formulate a UN low-carbon strategy.
In September 2020, in Kekeya, Wensu County, Aksu Prefecture, Xinjiang, a "green barrier" for wind and sand control integrating ecological forests, economic forests and windbreak forests.
Kekeya is located on the northwest side of the Taklimakan Desert, the largest desert in China, where sand and dust used to cover the sun.
The Kekeya Greening Project started in 1986 and ended in 2015, with a total of 1.153 million mu of afforestation and a total of 13.37 million trees planted.
Kekeya is listed as one of the "Global 500 Best Places" by the United Nations Environmental Protection Committee.
China News Agency reporter Liu Xinshe
Xinjiang is connected with the Central Asian region by mountains and rivers, and most of the basic geographical elements and landform features are similar, and it shares some natural resources with the three Central Asian neighboring countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
Regional environmental degradation also threatens Xinjiang's agricultural development and the living environment of people of all ethnic groups. Only by establishing a sense of community with a shared future can the collective risks and pressures be effectively alleviated.
In April 2021, when President Xi Jinping attended the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference, he once again proposed that carbon emissions should peak by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.
In a video address to the United Nations General Assembly in September, President Xi further stated that China will help developing countries build green energy production and stop building coal-fired power plants abroad.
To establish a sense of community with a shared future for mankind, Xinjiang will play an important role in building a green "Silk Road".
In recent years, Xinjiang's agricultural science and technology have made great progress, and some applicable achievements have been implemented in Central Asian countries through inter-state and inter-enterprise cooperation, injecting new impetus into the agriculture of Central Asian countries that are in the process of changing the development model.
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the normal pattern of food supply and demand in Central Asia. Under the situation of prominent food security issues, there are broad prospects for bringing Chinese technology, standards and management into agricultural cooperation with Central Asian countries through Xinjiang.
In December 2021, the tomatoes grown in the intelligent integrated double-film greenhouse of the Xinjiang High-tech Plant Factory in Urumqi gradually matured, and the staff were picking tomatoes.
The plant factory uses three-dimensional cultivation hanging system, environment-friendly soilless cultivation coconut bran cultivation and other technologies to grow tomatoes.
China News Agency reporter Liu Xinshe
Tap the potential of cultural and tourism cooperation to give full play to the advantages
In the post-epidemic era, there is huge potential for cultural tourism cooperation with Central Asian countries.
With the advent of the post-industrial era, tourism is becoming an important part of the world economy and an industrial terminal.
Despite the impact of the global epidemic since 2020, tourism as a promising consumption area still shows strong potential.
According to the forecast results released by the China Tourism Academy (Data Center of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism), the main indicators of the tourism economy will perform well in 2021: the number of domestic tourists in 2021 will be 4.1 billion, and the domestic tourism revenue will be 3.3 trillion yuan. , will increase by 42% and 48% respectively over the previous year.
With the continuous improvement of national quality, ecology, culture and self-help tourism are becoming a fashion and trend.
Xinjiang has the advantages of natural geography and cultural geography, and it has always been a place for travel enthusiasts to yearn for.
In December 2021, "China National Geographic" magazine released the results of the selection of China's most beautiful highways, and Xinjiang accounted for 6 of the 30 selected highways.
In the previous month, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Department of Culture and Tourism had launched 35 winter boutique tourist routes.
With the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics, ice and snow tourism projects in northern Xinjiang will also attract a large number of tourists.
At present, countries in Russia, Central Asia, and the South Caucasus have set their sights on the world tourism market in the "post-epidemic" era while continuing to prevent and control the epidemic.
People participate in the ancient fur skiing competition at the Ice and Snow Tourism Festival held in Kanas Scenic Spot in Altay, Xinjiang.
Altay is known as "the origin of human skiing" due to the discovery of petroglyphs about human skiing postures about 12,000 years ago, and the fur skis used by the locals are considered to be one of the oldest.
China News Agency reporter Liu Xinshe
Xinjiang's advantageous tourism resources are not only in the domestic market, but also because of its unique geographical advantage, which turns tourism into a carrier for spreading Chinese culture to neighboring countries and regions.
People not only look forward to the dawn of victory over the epidemic, but also prepare for the surge in tourism consumption after the epidemic.
It is not only one of the strategic directions of Xinjiang's economic and cultural development, but also one of the "Silk Road Economic Belt" construction. important areas.
On December 27, 2021, Ma Xingrui, secretary of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Party Committee of the Communist Party of China, pointed out during his investigation in Urumqi that "it is necessary to actively serve and integrate into the 'Belt and Road', driven by the promotion of the construction of the core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt, combined with According to the actual situation in Xinjiang, we should optimize the industrial layout according to local conditions and improve the modernization level of the industrial chain and supply chain.”
In this major public product that China provides to the contemporary world today, Xinjiang's potential and vitality are constantly being revived.
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About the Author:
Xu Tao, researcher of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, doctoral tutor, distinguished researcher, deputy director and director of the Central Asia Research Office of the Eurasian Institute of Social Development, Development Research Center of the State Council, honorary director of the China-Russia East Europe and Central Asia Society, China Shanghai Cooperation He is the executive director of the Organization Research Center and the executive director of the Central Asia Branch of the China Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries.
Mainly engaged in the research of Central Asian regional security, Central Asian geopolitics, Shanghai Cooperation Organization and other issues.