Silk Road 2.0 - Chinese influence in Central Asia | Theodore Kaye

A local merchant at the Irkeshtam border crossing between China and Kyrgyzstan, a key transit point for Chinese goods to Central Asia.

Kyrgyz shepherds wrapping up the summer pasture yurt settlement. The final item loaded onto the truck is the Chinese solar panel that provides electricity at night. Photo taken near Rangkul, in the Murghab area of Tajikistan.

Kazakh college and high school students of Chinese language come to the 'Confucius Institute' at the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University. Students here expressed a keen interest in studying Chinese as a 'global language.' Other Confucius Institutes in the region include centers in Astana, Almaty, Tashkent and Tbilisi.

Students in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, stand outside the Chinese embassy, while waiting for study-visa applications.

Chinese workers along the Dushanbe-Khojand-Chanak highway, a massive Chinese construction project linking Tajikistan's north and south with over 5km of tunnels. Supported by Chinese heavy machinery, engineers and labor, the project is funded in large part by a Chinese government 20-year loan of $281 million to Tajikistan.

Chinese workers take a break along the Dushanbe-Khojand-Chanak highway, a massive Chinese construction project linking Tajikistan's north and south with over 5km of tunnels. Supported by Chinese heavy machinery, engineers and labor, the project is funded in large part by a Chinese government 20-year loan of $281 million to Tajikistan.

After delivering their shipments, a convoy of Chinese trucks en route to China drive through Murghab, a remote settlement and shipping hub in Tajikistan's far east.

Truck-yard workers in Murghab wait for a shipment of Chinese goods. Due to Tajikistan's poor road quality, goods from heavy Chinese trucks often need to be transferred to smaller trucks that can handle the rough terrain.

Chinese merchants from Fujian have set up shops inside containers in the Kara-Suu market in southern Kyrgyzstan, selling everything from the latest dvd players to cement to stuffed leopards.

Chinese merchants from Fujian have set up shops inside containers in the Kara-Suu market in southern Kyrgyzstan, selling everything from the latest dvd players to cement to stuffed leopards.

Chinese merchants from Fujian have set up shops inside containers in the Kara-Suu market in southern Kyrgyzstan, selling everything from the latest dvd players to cement to stuffed leopards.

Drivers refuel at a Sininoil gas station in Zharkent, eastern Kazakhstan, some 30 kilometers from the China-Kazakhstan border. Sinoil is a large chain of gas stations run by China National Petroleum Corporation, the Chinese government-run company heavily involved the development and extraction of hydrocarbon resources in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.

Extra pipe segments in Massak, eastern Kazakhstan (roughly 200km from China) are stacked in preparation for expansion of the existing Kazakhstan-China gas pipeline. The Chinese government-run China National Petroleum Corporation is heavily involved in the development and extraction of hydrocarbon resources in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.

Chinese workers prepare a road for paving on the way to Irkeshtam pass, a key border and transit point between China and Kyrgyzstan.

In Tajik cities like Khorog, pictured here, affordable Chinese imported cars such as the FuRaiDa from ChangHe Motors are heavily used. These imported vans have gained such popularity as make-shift buses that they are banned in Dushanbe and new imports into Tajikistan are restricted.

A Chinese businessman smokes a cigarette outside a restaurant in Bishkek, one of the many Chinese establishments that have sprung up in Kyrgyzstan.

Wallpaper at a money-changing station in Almaty displays a reminder of the shifting balances in dominant currencies in the region.

Theodore Kaye

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