Of Silk Roads and Global Transformations: China’s Rise and its Impact on the Developing World

Strauss, Julia

Abstract

On a random Tuesday in May 2019, I found myself in Shanghai's Pudong International Airport, waiting in a fortunately short and quickly moving immigration line prior to a return flight home. Just to the right was an immigration desk with what appeared to be a new sign: a “Belt-and-Road” channel (Yidai yilu tongdao). There was no one behind the BRI desk. I was intrigued by this, but of course did not dare to take a photograph of the sign in a restricted zone. Twenty minutes later I attempted to log on from the airline lounge, and ended with failure. The relevant two-step process now involved a passport scan, the receipt of a registration number that required inputting an (overseas) mobile number and receiving SMS verification with further password. The juxtaposition of the fast-track but empty BRI immigration desk and the clunky double verification procedure to get online at all seemed to encapsulate much China's current position in the world.

Citation

Strauss, J. (2019). Of Silk Roads and Global Transformations: China’s Rise and its Impact on the Developing World. The China Quarterly, 239, 804-812. https://doi.org/10.1017/S030574101900105X

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 10, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Sep 9, 2019
• Publication Date: Sep 1, 2019
• Deposit Date: Sep 30, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 30, 2019
• Journal: The China Quarterly
• Print ISSN: 0305-7410
• Electronic ISSN: 1468-2648
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 239
• Pages: 804-812
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S030574101900105X