Summary of The New Silk Road, Part 1: From China to Pakistan | DW Documentary

00:00:00 - 00:40:00

The video discusses the Chinese government's plans to build the New Silk Road, which will connect China to Pakistan. The project is expected to take many years to complete, and will be built piece-by-piece. The video also shows footage of the construction site, which is in the mountains of Pakistan.

• 00:00:00 The New Silk Road is a vast undertaking started by China to revive and expand trade routes between China and 65 different countries. The project is bringing opportunity and misery to some people, with some benefiting and others suffering. The New Silk Road is a testament to China's revived ambitions on the global stage.
• 00:05:00 The video provides a history of the New Silk Road, which is a project by China to extend its reach westward. Doon Wong, a Chinese-Cambodian woman, discusses how the influx of Chinese tourists has changed her city.
• 00:10:00 This video documents the economic and social changes in a Chinese-majority city in Cambodia, See Anouk, as it transitions from a sleepy, rural town to a bustling, cityscape. Crime and tensions between the Chinese and Cambodians are on the rise, and the Chinese are taking advantage of the situation by exploiting the locals. The Chinese are not adapting to the culture or the language of the Cambodians, and the old, cosmopolitan Kashgar is gradually disappearing as the dominant culture in the city.
• 00:15:00 This DW documentary follows a group of people as they travel from China to Pakistan along the new Silk Road. Along the way, they see religious extremists lurking everywhere, as well as the destruction of old Weger city to make way for a new Chinese one. Human rights organizations estimate that up to 1 million Gers are being held in so-called re-education camps.
• 00:20:00 This video tells the story of a group of people in Myanmar who are fighting against a Chinese-funded dam project. The people are protesting, and the Chinese middlemen who are buying the jade are being forced to leave the country.
• 00:25:00 The video discusses the Chinese government's efforts to expand its economy by developing Sri Lanka's ports, which have resulted in displacement of local farmers and businesses. It also discusses the debt Sri Lanka owes to China, which has led to concerns about a potential military base.
• 00:30:00 This YouTube video introduces the New Silk Road, a project that aims to connect China to Pakistan. The airport built as part of the project is empty, and there are no passenger services currently in operation. The video also follows a truck carrying goods from Pakistan to China, which is risky due to the dangerous conditions on the Karakoram Highway.
• 00:35:00 The New Silk Road is a long, dangerous drive through beautiful but dangerous terrain in China and Pakistan. The road is not clear what purpose it will serve, and it is a very tenuous strand on the Silk Road. The Karakoram mountains also seem to prefer their isolation, and a massive landslide killed 20 people in the village of Audubon in 2010, blocking the road. The highway was rerouted through the mountains before setting out to cross the Alps with a team of elephants. After 600 kilometers, we reach the construction site where another stretch of road is being carved into the mountains. The drills carving out space for the next blast are extremely loud, and the workers wear ear protection, but the danger of falling rocks is ever-present. Hard time sleeping especially when something unexpected has happened? Then I can't sleep the same holds for everyone here at the construction site. In our bosses in Beijing, 7,000 Pakistanis work here and 1,200 Chinese, but their families are thousands of kilometers away and the internet connection is unreliable.
• 00:40:00 The video introduces the New Silk Road, which will connect China to Pakistan. The head engineer explains that the road will be built piece-by-piece over the course of many years, and will be 60 meters above ground. The video also shows footage of the construction site, which is in the mountains of Pakistan.