The Belt and Road Initiative and Xinjiang
Editors: Foreign Affairs Office of the People’s Government of
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region & China Global Television Network of China Media Group
Paperback, 187 pages
Published by Foreign Languages Press
As a key junction along the ancient Silk Road, Xinjiang served as a vital crossroads for cultural exchanges between the Eastern and Western civilizations. Thanks to its unique geographic advantages, the region has been designated as a core area of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and is playing a pivotal role in China’s westward opening-up.
The Belt and Road Initiative and Xinjiang, a full-color, 50,000-word book with over 300 photographs, portrays a confident and open Xinjiang at the heart of the BRI.
The book offers a panoramic view of Xinjiang’s strategic pivot, economic vitality, cross-border partnerships, and cultural dialogue within the Belt and Road framework, highlighting the region’s distinctive contribution to global cooperation.
Written for audiences at home and abroad, it also tells the story of Xinjiang’s rapid integration into world markets, capturing the dynamism unleashed by the BRI and the region’s new era of openness.
Chapter One, “International Corridor,” traces the origins of the Silk Road back to the second century B.C., when the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220) envoy Zhang Qian blazed a westward trail that became the Silk Road. Starting at Chang’an, the Han capital, the route crossed the Hexi Corridor and Xinjiang – then known as the Western Regions, before extending into Central and West Asia and finally reaching the Mediterranean.
Today, Xinjiang’s 5,700-kilometre land frontier touches eight countries, turning the region into China’s bridge to Central, West, and South Asia. The China-Europe Railway Express is an international container rail service linking China with Europe and with BRI partner states. The westward corridor crosses Xinjiang via the Alashankou and Khorgos gateways, deepening trade ties with every country along the line.
By the end of May 2024, more than 90,000 trains had carried goods worth over US $380 billion, reaching 224 cities in 25 European countries and 100-plus cities in 11 Asian countries.
Chapter Two, “Embracing Openness,” notes that on November 1, 2023, the China (Xinjiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone became the country’s first FTZ in its northwestern borderlands. Within four months, the three areas of Urumqi, Kashgar, and Khorgos had welcomed more than 7,000 new market entities.
Inside the Khorgos Economic Development Zone lies the China-Kazakhstan Khorgos International Border Cooperation Center, the first cross-border economic zone ever built by China. Straddling the frontier, the fully enclosed 5.6 km² enclave admits in Chinese, Kazakh, and third-country visitors on a passport or other valid ID and grants each traveler a duty-free allowance.
Today the center also serves as a healthcare hub for the Silk Road Economic Belt, a regional financial platform and a digital cooperation base for Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states.
Chapter Three, “Cooperation for Mutual Benefit,” argues that full-spectrum and pragmatic collaboration, spanning trade, industry, energy, and green protection, is bringing the world into a closer, shared future.
In Tajikistan’s Khatlon region, the small city of Dangara hosts the New Silk Road Textile Industrial Park, invested by Xinjiang Zhongtai Group. From plant layout to machinery, every component is world-class, catapulting Tajikistan’s textile sector three decades forward. Among the industrial park’s 453 employees, 420 are Tajik citizens, boosting local employment.
As the Belt and Road’s core corridor and China’s western gateway, Xinjiang keeps opening space for exchange, unlocking every partner’s potential and clearing a path to development that benefits all sides.
Chapter Four, “Beauty in Harmony,” invites the world to an open Xinjiang and lets every visitor see its prosperity, beauty, and cohesion.
Kashgar Old City, renowned as a living legacy of the Silk Road, holds centuries of life within its every lane, wall and arch. Time has softened stone and story alike, creating a calm, distinctive spell that draws an ever growing number of travelers to wander, breathe, and be restored by a culture still quietly enriching every life it touches.
In June 2014, the Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang’an-Tianshan Corridor became the first World Heritage property to be added to the UNESCO’s list through a joint nomination, submitted by China, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.
Today, the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, conceived with a long-range view of history, offer the world a blueprint for common prosperity, suffused with Eastern wisdom.
