The World Today

October & November 2015: Silk Road for the 21st century

Beijing is rolling out an ambitious plan to create trade routes that stretch to the heart of Europe. This will bring much-needed investment to the countries in its path, but threatens to change the balance of power between rising Asia and the Old Continent

Britain should be wary of copying Germany’s special relationship with China

Tang Dynasty fresco of travelers on the Silk Road

China’s big idea could face problems ahead

Liu Xiaoming, the Chinese Ambassador to Britain, looks forward to closer ties and a presidential visit

China’s slowing economy is making the US a more attractive investor

China hopes to one day challenge the dollar’s dominance

The Silk Road – a name invented by a romantic German geographer, Ferdinand von Richtofen, in 1877 – is most likely a misnomer. Its historic importance lies not in the number of bolts of silk carried by soft-footed camel caravans, but in the two-way traffic of ideas and technologies. Religions – Buddhism and Islam – moved east, while the Chinese technique of paper making filtered westwards.

Articles

Sajid Javid looks forward to a closer partnership with Beijing

Can European countries still afford their welfare states? It is a question that greatly exercises political leaders, but one they are reluctant to confront for fear of alienating their electorates.