Roads Bridges in Chapter 20,

Roads Bridges

In Chapter 20, "Roads and Bridges, Tourism and Pipelines," the author invokes all of the romanticism and the stark reality of the Silk Road. The ancient trade routes linking the Far East with Europe and the Near East have been a source of historical interest as well as a major tourism draw. As the author points out, "One of the most remarkable features of society in the Western world and Japan since 1960 has been the development of mass tourism," (p. 418). Mass tourism has enabled access to regions of the world once deemed inaccessible, including those that were hidden behind the dual iron curtains of the U.S.S.R. And the People's Republic of China. With the U.S.S.R. now non-existent and the PRC now totally open to travel, visiting the exotic ancient lands of Central Asia is once again feasible. An insatiable hunger to learn via experiential travel, increasing affluence, more leisure, and more freedom of movement have created the social conditions by which people travel to regions like Central Asia. The travel bug turns into "habits which have now become well entrenched" in the society (p. 419). As much as it may be disparaged for its impact on homogenization and environmental degradation, travel has a net positive value and also creates jobs in local economies.

The term "Silk Road" is a modern invention, a kind of tourism propaganda used to sell visitors on the romance of the ancient trade routes throughout Central Asia. The concept of Silk Road travel became especially meaningful after the breakdown of the Soviet Union and the opening up of China. However, the author notes that the phrase "Silk Road" was absent from ancient texts, only to have been used in China especially since 1978. By 1986, Chinese tourism magazines had latched onto term, which came to connote a few singular new road constructions that basically followed the ancient routes of trade from and to China, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. One of the first large-scale modern projects related to the Silk Road was the new "road linking Kashgar to Islamabad in Pakistan," which was open to foreigners in 1986 and is even cleared of snow to enable year-round travel. The next major project was the Karakoram Highway (KKH), an 800-kilometer engineering extravaganza built almost more with a geopolitical "than real commercial" purpose (p. 419). In fact, the construction and maintenance of "technically difficult and expensive modern roads...has been a specific feature of Chinese foreign policy since the creation of the People's Republic of China," (p. 419-420). Ambitious roads were not just a means of stimulating trade and investment but also as a "method of controlling and integrating the population as much as an essential feature of economic development," (p. 420). Population control functions of Chinese roads and railroads is especially evident in Western China's Muslim regions and also in Tibet. The net effect for the local residents in these regions is, the author argues, positive.

There is no doubt that roads and railroads like the so-called Road of Friendship, the Lianyunggang-Rotterdam line, have express commercial functions. In fact, one of China's most notable engineering feats links Xinjiang with Kazakstan, which has strategic oil reserves.

The quest for oil is one of the main reasons for China's massive engineering projects in Central Asia. One of the most challenging issues that has arisen since the downfall of the Soviet Union has been the new international borders that the former Soviet States present. Sovereign states like Tajikistan, Kyrgystan, Russia, Kazakhstan "suddenly increased the regional, bilateral importance of the new railway," (p. 426). There has also been some interest in forging a new Muslim economic zone that would challenge the PRC's dominance of Kazak and other regional oil reserves.

The author touches upon some fascinating subjects related to the history, culture, and development of Central Asia. One of these issues is Central Asian archaeology. Towards the end of the chapter, the author notes that there may be whole cities buried beneath the desert sands in Central Asia. Because the author also mentions the importance of tourism for the economic empowerment of the region, it is clear that archaeology may become a major tourist draw.

In 1997, the author notes, an expedition on foot was undertaken to capture the Taklamakan desert on camera. Such adventures are rare, and not for the common visitor. Similarly, the common visitor will not be an archaeology scholar but rather, an amateur interested in ancient sites. For the same reason why tourists visit Egypt and Greece as much for ancient as modern culture, tourists to Central Asia may be driven by this core curiosity.

Lawler (2006) describes Viktor Sarianidi's unearthing of Gonur, one of many ancient settlements in Central Asia. Under the Soviet Union, access to such sites was nearly impossible. Now, Gomur is in the nation of Turkmenistan, where archaeologists like Sarianidi can explore. Central Asia and places like eastern Turkmenistan still seem too remote for most tourists. After all, it is a lot more difficult to make one's way to the site of Gomur than it is to Athens.

Some of the most exciting archaeological sites are located in Central Asia. One Web site details the Buddhist artifacts in Afghanistan as well as the major sites of the Mohenjo-Daro Civilization in Pakistan (Central Asia Archaeology n.d.). Sites like these would be major tourism draws were it not for the political problems plaguing the region. In fact, this is one of the main themes of Chapter 20, "Roads and Bridges, Tourism and Pipelines." Tourism, scholarship, economics, and politics are inextricably entwined. In China, it has become relatively easy to traverse the entire nation without any problems but not so for Afghanistan.