Encouraged by the 13th﹣century book "The Travels of Marco Polo"，Italian physicist（物理学家） Alessandro Codello started his own Silk Road journey a few years ago from Italy. He traveled through countries including Greece，Turkey，Iran，Afghanistan，and finally China. During his trip，Codello carried "The Travels of Marco Polo"with him. "Every time I reached a new area，I tried to find ideas or places that matched Polo's words. . . The most interesting thing was finding what he wrote in the book was right in front of my eyes. "he shared.
Codello is very interested in the markets along the way，as lively trades and exchanges took place in those places. From time to time，he was invited to give speeches and attend meetings at universities. He mentioned that as a physicist，he couldn't wait to find anything related to science along the way. He talked about his trip to Khiva in Uzbekistan. It is the hometown of mathematician Al﹣Khwarizmi （780﹣850），from whom the word"algorithm（算法）"gets its name. "It's closely related with Shenzhen today，"he said. "It is very important to many problems and technologies that engineers in Shenzhen meet. "
When Codello finally arrived in China at the end of his journey，he felt the same curiosity as Marco Polo. "When I first arrived in China，I was not used to paying with a phone. I was amazed that banknotes were not commonly used. However，when Marco Polo was here，he was amazed that people in China were using paper money. Once again，I shared the same feeling with Marco Polo，"Codello said.
For Schultz, a 77-year-old man, this is a chance of a lifetime. Schultz is part of a group of around 50 Germans who are on a bus journey along the ancient Silk Road.
Speaking of his journey, he says: "I have been deeply interested in the Silk Road since I was a child, but now I finally have a chance to experience it. "
The two-month bus journey will take the group through Germany, Russia, and other four European countries. They will then enter China from the country's western part. It will be an unforgettable memory for them.
Nearly half of the 13000-kilometer trip will be inside China. From Xinjiang in the west to Shanghai in the east, the German visitors will see more than 20 Chinese cities. "We have managed the trip of the Silk Road for around 10 years. An increasing number of people, not only from German-speaking countries, have been joining us," says Liu Guoqiang from China Tours.
Almost 26 million foreigners traveled to China in 2015, and about 5million of them were from Europe. Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai and the Changjiang River are traditional Chinese travel destinations for European tourists. Speaking of where he wants to go, Schultz says, "Compared with modern cities, the culture in western China attracts（吸引）me more.
As Shi Xiang, head of the China Tours, says, "Being a new brand to attract foreign visitors, the Silk Road is good for people to know more about China, especially the northwestern part of the country. "
Tea has a long history with more than two thousand years. Its hometown is certainly China.
At first, tea was considered as a kind of good thing that could make people awake so that they could study comfortably. Many knowledgeable people thought it was helpful for their study, because their minds could keep awake after drinking too much tea. During the Tang Dynasty, tea was sent to European countries first through the Silk Road. It was tea that made Chinese culture spread over in Western countries. The first book about tea was The Classic of Tea by Lu Yu in the Tang Dynasty. In the book, he described all the tea cultures.
However, the tea culture changed into a kind of new form. Many people could find something bad in it in the Song Dynasty. Many people spent much time on it instead of thinking about the safety of their country. Between the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, plenty of people paid more attention to tea. People thought of it as the symbol of spirit.
Nowadays, tea has become the most gentle and comfortable drink in France. It also becomes a helpful drink that is good for people's skin and health in England. Lots of Chinese look on tea as one of the most popular presents that they give others on important festivals.
On May 18th, 2023, the China-Central Asia Summit (中亚峰会) was held in Xi'an. Many guests from other Asian countries attended this important meeting. President Xi Jinping made a speech on "One Belt, One Road" (一带一路). It has been 10 years since President Xi announced (提出) the initiative (政策).
The great initiative has offered the chances to do business between countries. It helps products from other countries enter China's market. At the same time, all kinds of products made in China are sold to other countries, too. It leads to a win-win situation. Many countries hope to get stronger and stronger through "The Belt and Road". Besides international trade, China has built plenty of high-speed railways for neighbor countries. The China-Laos Railway (中老铁路) is a typical project of "The Belt and Road." It is a lot more convenient tor Chinese to visit Laos. The high-speed railway runs 1,035 kilometers, from the city of Kunming to Vientiance (万象), the capital of Laos.
"The Belt and Road" is based on (基干) the ancient Silk Road. However, there are differences between them. It focuses on (集中) the Asian, European and African countries, and is also open to all the other counties. It's not only the name of trade roads but also a bridge of culture between China and many other countries. China also works more closely with the countries in languages, science and education. A lot of countries which have joined the team exchange culture freely. There is even a Silk Route Museum (丝绸之路博物馆) in Jiuquan in China. It has over 35,000 objects from all along the Silk Road.
Over the past 10 years, "The Belt and Road" has made a great progress in economy (经济) development, cultural exchange and quality of life.
China now has more than 30, 000 kilometers of high speed track (轨道), and this is expected to increase to 38, 000 kilometers by 2025, fully two thirds of the world's high speed rail (by length) is in China. Here, we track the exciting technological developments in high speed rail and consider their cultural influence.
While the main advantage of the high speed rail lines is convenience for people to get from one city to another as quickly as possible, some of these high speed lines have become popular tourist attractions( places that many tourists visit ). A good example of this is the Hefei-Fuzhou high speed line. Technically speaking, this was one of the most challenging high speed rail routes ever built nearly 90% of the track was laid either on bridges or in tunnels (隧道). However, the amazing views are worth it, as the train goes through some of China's most beautiful mountainous areas, including the Huangshan and the Wuvi Mountains Ranges.
As China has gained skills and knowledge in high sped all, it is trying to export (出口)is technology to other countries. Its first project on the international market was the line connecting Istanbul with Turkey's capital, Ankara. 530 kilometers away. This was followed by projects among other counties. Perhaps is most challenging project is a Trans Asian network(横贯亚洲铁路网)connecting China with Europe. Although it is diffcult, China will make every effort to take on his plan. It is hoped to be completed by 2030 as a part of China's Belt and Road Initiative(一带一路的倡议).
Thanks to high speed rail, the travel time between main cities in China has already been reduced to only a few hours. So his convince should improve the development within(在……内)and out of China. No doubt, it will also bring the people of the county closer together, and in time bring about deep social changes.
Starting in Greece and finishing in Switzerland, my journey to focus on how European countries are responding to the Belt and Road Initiative （一带一路），which President Xi Jinping raised five years ago.
Patiently talking with about 100 politicians, officials, thinkers, lawyers, businesspersons and looking for stories in airports, factories and building sites during the early 40 days have made the journey more enlightening. These modem Silk Road messengers in Europe had accepted Xi's plan as Beijing prepared to host the first-ever international cooperation forum （合作论坛）on May 14th — 15th.
The interviews have enriched my understanding even though I have been closely noticing this initiative since its announcement （公告），aiming to connect Europe, Asia and Africa.
Talks with former Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi well states my major findings: by calling it a century project that will benefit half humanity, he says Europeans are competing with each other to find synergies （合并效果）with China's Belt and Road Initiative.
Italy has recently cooperated with the ZTE in a 1-billion-dollar project in improving its telecommunication infrastructure （电信基础设施）and preparing the country for the 5G era. This means improving cooperation even has opportunity in the developed economies if both sides decide to do so.
Nearly all the rich countries in Europe are members of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank （亚洲基础设施投资银行）and through it, they will find more cooperation opportunities.
High-speed trains, Alipay (支付宝), shared bikes and online payment are seen as the new Four Great Achievements of China by young foreigners, according to a video survey by Beijing Foreign Studies University. In the video, young people from different countries along Belt and Road Routes (一带一路) were asked to name great inventions that had influenced their lives in China. The following is what they said from 4 young people of them.
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The Silk Road is a historically important international trade route between China and the Mediterranean(地中海). It began during the Western Han Dynasty and has been a bridge between East and West for over 2,000 years.
The ancient road started from Chang'an(now Xi'an) and ended in Eastern Europe, near today's Turkey and the Mediterranean Sea. It was about 6,500 kilometers long and went across one-fourth of the earth.
The Silk Road got its name in the 19th century because Chinese silk used to be carried along this road. Silk, jade, ceramics and iron went west to Rome. And from the west came glass, gems and food like carrots.
The Silk Road was very important to both China and the rest of the world. It was more than an ancient international trade route. Besides trade, knowledge about art science and literature, as well as crafts and technologies was shared across the Silk Road. In this way, languages and cultures developed（发展） and influenced（影响） each other.
Today，China is trying to build the"21st Century Marine（海洋的）Silk Road". With the help of APEC held in Beijing in November 2014, the dream of One Belt One Road (the "Silk Road Economic（经济的）Belt" and "21st Century Marine Silk Road")（"一带一路"） is coming true.
The construction (建设) of high-speed railways in China began with the building of the Qinhuangdao- Shenyang High-Speed Railway (HSR) in 1999. Now the high-speed rail network in China is the largest in the world. So far, there have been about 1,700 kilometers of HSR in service, along with trains of an average (平均) speed of 220 km/h.
Now Chinese government plans to spend $300 million building the largest and fastest HSR system in the world by 2020. It's said that the trains can run 400 km/h and create new business for China and other countries through the Belt and Road (一带一路).
It's predicted that the HSR network in China will reach 30,000 kilometers and it will be like a grid, which is mainly made up of 8 long-distance high-speed rail lines: four north-south HSR lines and four east-west HSR lines. Except for the Qingdao-Taiyuan HSR, all HSR lines of the rail grid are longer than 1,000 kilometers.
Feng Hao, an expert, says "Many markets along the Belt and Road, especially in Central Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Eastern European countries, are planning to build HSR lines. They look forward to getting technological support from China".
Have you ever heard of the Silk Road? Do you know what an important role it plays in the whole world? Did you visit any famous places along the road? Although it's called the Silk Road, people bought and sold much more than silk. The Silk Road went through Asia, the Middle East, North Africa and Europe. It was 6,500 km from Xi'an to Rome.
My dad is very interested in the Silk Road and he has told me many things about it. Last summer, my family got away for a holiday and went to some places on the road.
We started at Lanzhou and went on to Wuwei. Wuwei was a very important city on the Silk Road. It connected (连接) three main cities in the area. In ancient times, it was also a capital. Although it's now a modern city, you can get a feeling of history when you visit it. We saw lots of very old stone monuments and people there were very proud of their city's long history.
The next stop was Jiayuguan. It's on the edge (边缘) of the desert, and was also an important place on the Silk Road. It was a busy city with a lot of people coming and going. Even today, it's a city that many business people travel through. An important part of the Great Wall was also built here.
After that, we went on to Yumenguan. I first found out about Yumenguan in the famous poem written by Wang Zhihuan. It was in the Gobi Desert and was the only connection between Central Asia and China. I wonder how people ever made it through the hot desert so long ago.
This trip wasn't just a scenic (观光的) journey. It helped me understand the history of the area and see how people from different places influenced (影响) each other in many ways.
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