In 2014, with the joint efforts of China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, “Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang’an-Tianshan Corridor” was listed as a UNESCO world heritage site. It denotes a strong sense of pride people of Central Asian countries have in being part of the historical Silk Road.

Cultural mutual appreciation and understanding among countries underpin the facilitation of the new Silk Road -- Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In his keynote speech at the first Belt and Road Forum in 2017, President Xi Jinping called for building the BRI a bridge connecting different civilizations. To be specific, he stressed that a multi-tier mechanism for cultural and people-to-people exchanges should be built, which covers a wide spectrum of sectors from education, sports, health care to cultural heritage.

In the past five years since BRI was proposed, cultural cooperation between China and Central Asian countries has borne fruit.

However, compared with progress in policy coordination and infrastructure connectivity, arduous effort is still needed to create a benign environment for people-to-people exchange.

Priorities should be given to culture, education and tourism, and cooperation in these sectors needs accelerated.

Since the “Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang’an-Tianshan Corridor” was successfully included in the UNESCO world heritage list, universities and academic institutes based in central-western China have actively participated in the cross-national cooperation.

The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Northwest University have been working closely with archaeology institutes from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan on major sites of cultural relics along the ancient Silk Road.

Art along the ancient Silk Road draws special and wide attention. Dunhuang Academy of China set up a center in July 2017 specializing on artistic research of Dunhuang Grottoes and the Silk Road and its extensions to Central Asia. Lanzhou University focuses their research on the mutual influence and exchanges in art between China and Central Asian countries.

These activities have been carried out at the academic level. Given the importance of cultural understanding, government departments should take the initiative to offer essential assistance, such as coordinating counterpart department in Central Asian countries and including them to national-level cultural development plan. More publicity is also needed to promote people’s awareness about the common cultural heritage.

Education cooperation is important for promoting youth exchange, a key facet of the people-to-people exchange. In October 2016, initiated by Xinjiang University, a college alliance was set up composing of 51 members from China and Central Asian countries. Among them are Chinese universities like Tsinghua University, as well as top universities of seven countries including L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University of Kazakhstan, Osh State University of Kyrgyzstan, Altai State Technical University of Russia.

In November 2017, another alliance for humanities and social sciences, initiated by Shaanxi Normal University, was established, involving over 20 universities and research institutes including Lanzhou University, Herzen University of Russia and Tajikistan National Normal University.

These alliances serve as an open and transnational platform for academic exchange and collaboration. Therefore, a relatively stable mechanism is expected to come into being, which includes programs for student exchange, credits transfer and mutual recognition of certificates. Besides, many preferential policies are in place for promoting the higher-education communication.

However, universities in different countries do not have the same standards in terms of disciplines, teaching languages and academic systems. So it is necessary to explore down-to-earth ways to innovatively cooperate, especially when it comes to much-needed majors in this region.

For example, in 2015 Xinjiang Normal University and Osh State University took the lead to offer the course of Chinese language for undergraduates in Kyrgyzstan. Shanghai University and University of World Economy and Diplomacy (UWED) of Uzbekistan came to agreement to establish the Shanghai International Business School in Uzbekistan in 2017.

As a byproduct of economic globalization, tourism has become one of the pillar sectors of economic development in the world. In 2017, global tourism revenue was equivalent to 10.4 percent of global GDP. China has maintained its status as No 1 source country of tourists for many years. In 2017, 129 million Chinese tourists made outbound trips and spent $257.7 billion overseas, contributing nearly 20 percent of the total global tourism revenue.

At the same time, tourism is also a good way to promote cultural exchanges between different countries and ethnic groups.

Central Asia is one of the world’s most attractive tourist destinations with its long history, varied geography and splendid cultures. In recent years, Central Asian countries paid much more attention to attracting foreign tourists, especially burgeoning Chinese tourism market.

In 2018, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan held large-scale tourism promotion activities in Beijing. In March of that year, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan jointly launched a unified Silk Road tourist visa, with detailed technique issues under discussion. Later Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan also expressed their willingness to join.

For in-depth cooperation between China and Central Asian countries, tourism is not only an emerging sector, but also a way to promote people-to-people exchanges, so creating a good climate for more extensive, comprehensive cooperation.

As the platforms and framework have been established with regarding the cultural exchange in Central Asia, more specific, feasible policies are expected to be unveiled in the April Belt and Road Forum.

The author contributed this article to China Watch exclusively. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of China Watch.

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