Den nye silkeveien

Magne sendte meg til dette intervjuet i The New Yorker for litt siden. Med en britisk bankmann som lenge har jobbet i midtøsten og Kina og nå skriver en blogg kalt Silk Road Economy og har gitt out en bok kalt The New Silk Road. Kort sagt handler begge om at Araberne har begynt å finne tilbake til Kina og i stadig økende grad orienterer seg i den retningen i stedet for vesten. Det har vært viet lite oppmerksomhet til dette fenomenet på vår side av kloden, så disse bidragene tror jeg er vel verdt å ta notis av. 

Arabs have been visiting China since at least 600 CE. The majority arrived along the Silk Road, one of the world’s historic trade routes. However, trade along the Silk Road dried up after the sixteen-hundreds, in part because the ruling Ming Dynasty turned inwards and attempted to assimilate Arab traders with the local population. (Their descendents are still living in China). And arrivals along the Silk Road soon turned into a trickle. This is what makes today’s events so remarkable. I mean, the sheer number of Arabs travelling to China is something we haven’t seen for over four hundred years. And, for the romantics of the world, the resurrection of the Silk Road is a more attractive side of globalization than is the inexorable spread of box-like Wal-Marts or Carrefours.