Ross Ulbricth is a prisoner, known for having made the Silk Road site, began in 2011 and proceeded until 2013, until his catch. Their wrongdoings included unlawful tax avoidance, hacking and other false intrigues. A jury condemned Ross William Ulbricth for seven checks in light of the Silk Road action. The Silk Road was a puzzling criminal exchanging focus. The Silk Road client base relied upon the deal and buy of medications, false documentation and hacking. Silk Road utilizes Bit-coin as cash for trades, as it is an obscure PC cash. Silk Road has been utilized by countless to sell $ 183 million of illicit medications. Ulbricth has earned cash from commissions for the advantages of the Silk Road.
1. Look for the Silk Road.
At the point when the Silk Road was made, the site was expelled in the light of a genuine worry of the Justice Department and the Attorney’s Office of the United States of Maryland and South New York. In 2012 and 2013, authorities inspected individuals in Silk Street, which included Ulbricth, AnandAthavale and Mark Karpeles.
Two of view have added to the conviction of the pre-procurement examination of the DPR which was acquired by confirming the traffic of the Internet Protocol identified with Ulbricth and the ruffian conduct of the masters who got an opportunity in the test.
2. Stop of Ulbricth.
He was caught in San Francisco in 2013 after the organization gathered basic proof that recognized him as DPR. Ulbritch was caught on the standard Silk Road appear as a DPR. The experts saw him enter the library opened in San Francisco, and following two or three minutes he went online as DPR in the Silk Road discourse. Der-Yeghiayan was the in secret master who began the visit with the DPR. When he was compelled to sign into his DPR account, he called another administrator to impact the catch. After the catch, his PC was caught by the organization that gathered a great deal of proof against him.
3. The procedure
Three weeks was the finish of his fundamental. Judge Forrest utilized commendable resilience and experience to manage this confounding case.
A. The instance of the legislature
The administrator indicated monster test estimates that were gotten by catching the DPR workstation in which they found how he teamed up with merchants and different illegal practices.
B. The safeguard case
Ulbritch endeavored to free himself as opposed to barring his blame and the different allegations enduring his work towards the start of the Silk Road and the finish of complicity, it was the fight that truly sold the Silk Road to someone else. With all due respect, he additionally said that the person who filled in as DPR tried the framework on his PC to portray it.
The administration has led various cross-examination of government witnesses, master guard observers and proclamations of voices.
C. The decision
The jury contemplated three and a half hours and came back with a dependable choice on the entirety of its seven in its report.
4. Sentence
In March 2015, the RDP was made by the probation office. He deciphered every one of the fitting activities that incorporated the five homicides that Ulbritch supposedly enlisted Redandwhite to display. The RDP additionally discussed many medication related disappointments amidst their conviction. Every one of Ulbritch’s merged charges was indicted for a twofold life sentence.
The new world request is flourishing in the light of rise of China. It is endeavoring to modify the worldwide perceived leverage. China has proposed ‘One Belt One Road’ activities and built up Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). It is currently extending its worldwide nearness as far as financial and political viewpoints. China presently is by all accounts equipped for shaking the post-war American authority.
‘One Belt One Road’ is a national-level political system that China has proposed to progress into the West. It intends to include 62 nations and the impetus time frame alone arrives at 150 years to finish. It was first proposed by President Xi Jinping in 2013 in Kazakhstan. This is a monetary belt for foundation, exchange, money related and social trades which associates China with Southeast, West, Central Asia, Africa, and Europe via land, ocean, and air. OBOR includes 55% of world total national output and 72% of the total populace .
This activity helps to remember the noteworthy Eurasian exchange courses from the Han administration. The Silk Road was a wellspring of riches and success for a few city states in Central Asia and traveling clans in Eurasia. Social trades among East and West occurred all through this exchange course. The approach of the Age of Exploration in the sixteenth century connoted the significance of the sea exchange and the Silk Road turned out to be generally less significant on the planet economy.
The rising Chinese force presently looks for possession again of the Silk Road and has actualized the One Belt One Road activities. It presently plans to bring the previous exchange courses to success again in current indication.
China has additionally conceived a worldwide monetary association in 2013. Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) was introduced by President Xi Jinping in 2013. It is a bank for huge scale foundation interest in the Asia Pacific locale. The reason for the establishing of AIIB, asserted by the Chinese government, is that the current International Monetary Fund and the World Bank organized the premiums of the First World countries, for example, the United States, Europe, and Japan. It intends to reshape the US-drove money related request with its huge monetary nearness in the Asia Pacific area.
The foundation of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank can be seen as a reason to switch the Bretton Woods framework, which started the present US dollar-based monetary framework. It intends to build the Yuan’s job as a worldwide cash. AIIB draws in various creating nations with its adaptable enrollment terms. The current Asian Development Bank (ADB) is firmly affected by the United States and Japan and requires its part states to determine human rights and other local issues. In this way, a few creating nations, for example, Pakistan, Myanmar, Iran yet in addition master Western nations, for example, the Philippines, Kuwait, and Jordan have likewise taken an interest in the AIIB.
Benefits for China
‘One Belt One Road’ benefits China from various perspectives, including economy, framework, common trades, and common trades. Financial advantages and expanded exchange have been seen and the activities are being conceived by the state to grow human and monetary trades with different nations.
Ventures rose 18.2% in 2015 from the earlier year, with contracts for re-appropriating administrations coming to USD17.83 billion and usage coming to USD12.15 billion, individually, up 42.6% and 23.45% on-year , separately. What’s more, China has given members of the One Belt One Road Initiatives with different bleeding edge advances to forestall fake cash.
Beginning with Nepal in 2015, China’s state-run China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation (CBPMC) has been working industrial facilities in Thailand, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, India, Brazil, Poland, and different nations that are taking an interest in the activities. This brought about China’s monetary and regional development just as cash fabricating plants of a few nations recorded over that had halted tasks because of absence of work.
China is a main player in fintech installment and intends to be a cashless society. The appearance of a few portable installment advancements, for example, WeChat Pay and Alipay has prompted the downturn of banknote printing enterprises. In this way, a few processing plants couldn’t work the banknote printing machines, and figured out how to defeat such downturn through elective printing organizations, for example, driver’s licenses and marriage declarations.
The One Belt One Road activities switched this downturn. Banknote printing manufacturing plants have been working again as interest for the transfer of cash from nations around the globe has expanded. The activities have given its taking an interest countries advances to forestall fake bills at a lower cost in kind of allocating Chinese organizations to print their banknotes.
Up until now, the worldwide money showcase has been ruled by Western nations. England and Germany, which can actualize different forefront innovations to forestall fake bills, have cornered the interest for endowed assembling. English money producer De La Rue has 140 nations as its clients around the globe, while Germany’s G&D trades its cash to 60 nations. China, which has built up its own money fabricating innovation since at an early stage, has had the option to challenge the Western-drove worldwide cash producing market because of the one-on-one anticipate.
It has been dissected that China’s committal to print outside nations’ banknotes would bring about the extension of Chinese impact on the planet arrange. This is on the grounds that it is not really conceivable to endow money producing without the arrangement of trust and association inside the nations.
The monetary and political effects of such transfer have been demonstrated during the Libyan Civil War in 2011. The Libyan money – Dinar was authorized to be fabricated by the British organization De La Rue. In 2011, the British government USD1.5 billion worth of dinars from De La Rue, managing a substantial hit to Gadhafi’s system. This, partially, has prompted the decrease in the inventory of money and in the end beat Muammar Gadhafi’s system in October, 2011.
The Silk Road monetary belt alludes to the new financial development belt of waterfront and overland sections that infiltrate Western Europe and the Middle East from inland China, and through Southwestern Asia and Southeast Asia. Given the present traffic conditions, at any rate 10 courses, for example, Kunming–Singapore Railway and Trans-Eurasian Railway are relied upon to frame a bit by bit monetary development belt along the seaside line over the long haul.
The oceanic new Silk Road is for the most part an ocean transportation course from each port city in China’s waterfront zone to nations in Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa. China means to recapture its noteworthy sentimentality as a superpower along the Zheng He’s endeavor courses in the Ming Dynasty.
Generally, when China was solid was the point at which the improvement of outside exchange was at its best and the tranquility of Asia was steady. After over 30 years of change and opening up, China’s economy has accomplished fast advancement, and it has just gotten furnished with huge scale remote exchange and speculation capacities. China intends to additionally extend monetary participation with neighboring nations and connected line nations through the restoration of the Silk Road. Thusly, China trusts that every nation can understand the quickening of financial advancement by completely using China’s gigantic market and regularly expanding speculation, and make a noteworthy commitment to harmony and security in Asia by going on the way to co-success. It is additionally expected to contribute significantly to China’s proceeded with improvement.
The activities additionally accompany a few inner advantages. It plans to rebuild China’s monetary conditions. China has confronted an unevenness in market interest brought about by a gigantic oversupply. China’s monetary development has backed off in the most recent decade and China started to confront update in modern structure. The One Belt One Road initiatives mark another move in rebuilding strategy in the time of such changes and vulnerability. At the end of the day, the administration is showing another course to determine the oversupply issues through the expansion in abroad interest for Chinese products. The Chinese government expects to execute a two-way approach – decrease in supply and development popular.
‘One Belt One Road’ Initiatives and Imperialism
Regardless of the underlying goals, the One Belt One Road initiatives have confronted a few reactions as to be a neocolonialism and government. As the task is singularly driven by the Chinese government, it is generally seen as a methods for controlling Chinese authority.
There are a few viewpoints that help to remember colonialism and can be contrasted and government. Hobson and Lenin contended that dominion was driven by the residential needs came about because of the policymakers, agents, and financial specialists. In such sense, the activities coordinated with this clarification of colonialism, as the underlying aim was to rebuild the issues of the local economy – counterattack the oversupply with increment in remote requests.
In addition, the activities have experienced a few reactions to be the reenactment of Chinese patriotism and Sino-anti-extremism. This raised worries among the neighboring nations and the West. They are currently suspicious of the activities and have raised concerns. So as to battle such observation, China has abstained from utilizing the term Chinese Dream and focused on the interests of the entire world, including the Eurasian mainland. It has additionally focused on that the activities are a success win procedure to advance social trades between neighboring nations and look for regular thriving among them.
All things considered, the results of the One Belt One Road initiatives infer the acts of government. The activities have military and vital intensions too. Since the mid 2000s, China had a methodology to assemble huge ports in neighboring nations in the Indian Ocean, for example, Pakistan, Myanmar, and Bangladesh.
It additionally has military and key aims. Since the mid 2000s, China has had a methodology to fabricate enormous ports in neighboring nations in the Indian Ocean, for example, Pakistan, Myanmar and Bangladesh, and is viewed as an extended rendition of String of Pearl Necklaces Strategy.
This likewise intends to bar U.S. naval force if there should be an occurrence of a crisis from the locale. The Initiatives are a China’s elevated level system to maintain a strategic distance from a U.S. maritime barricade on the off chance that it faces an inevitable circumstance, for example, war. It likewise plans to assemble a sea Silk Road connecting the South China Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean and imprint China as a world super force. China has just started to construct and utilize marine bases from nations flanking the Indian Ocean, for example, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and is assembling fast rail organizes that start in China through monetary collaboration with neighboring nations. It doesn’t conceal its arrangement to fabricate a tremendous financial alliance fixated on China by uniting coordinations, vitality and enterprises in these areas.
The taking an interest countries are one-sided toward a third reality where conciliatory relations with the U.S. are not friendly or befuddled by political issues. At the end of the day, to take an interest in the activities is to remain at the intersection of the United States. At any rate it implies splitting ceaselessly from the U.S.- Japan-India check and turning into their potential enemy. India has broke down the potential dangers of the activities and contradicted them from the earliest starting point.
Conclusion
All things considered, the One Belt One Road initiatives endeavored to build a bound together huge market. This is practiced through the arrangement of social and financial trades, expecting to wind up in an imaginative example with increment in capital streams. In addition, the One Belt One Road initiatives are viewed as one of the biggest foundation and venture extends ever.
The Silk Roads were one of the most successful models for development of Asia, Africa, and Europe. Lately, China has been working on a new (and ancient) development. A new Silk Road. The Belt and Road initiative is a global development strategy by the Chinese government advancing infrastructure development and investments globally. However, China needs assistance from serious global actors, such as the economic powerhouse that is the European Union. If the EU were to join the One Belt One Road initiative (BRI), China would be able to finish the highly successful BRI that will ultimately benefit Europe. The European Union ought to enter the Belt and Road Initiative to promote their economic prosperity and to mitigate climate change.
The BRI will improve infrastructure, thus increasing trade, reducing poverty and boosting the European economy. A World Bank summary indicated that BRI transport projects will reduce travel times along economic corridors by 12%, increase trade by 9.7%, increase income by 3.4% and perhaps most importantly, lift 7.6 million people from poverty. Further, China’s model is proven to cut regional and global poverty. This can be observed when President Xi announced $60 billion of funding in different forms, including interest-free loans and grants, in order to promote economic development in Africa. China’s history in battling poverty is a significant factor as to why 53 African leaders are promoting Sino-African relations. Domestically, China has also axed the poverty rate from 84% in 1980 to 10% now and foreign leaders are looking for Chinese guidance that would replicate such success worldwide. Not only is decreasing poverty important to saving lives, it helps establish more workers and advances the economy. In terms of the economy, from the European perspective, the most relevant infrastructural projects of the BRI are railways and ports. Fortunately, the BRI’s 240 billion-dollar investments in railway and port infrastructure will tremendously influence trade relations between China and Europe by establishing new infrastructure, thus lowering transportation costs and increasing overall trade volumes. This positively impacts each European country’s trade turnover with Asia. Evidence of this can be observed when Greece experienced rapid growth shifting from 2% of total Mediterranean traffic absorbed in 2008 to 13% in 2015, which was when they joined the BRI. It is important that the EU joins the BRI because it is the only way that the EU may gain the important economic benefits that will increase trade, reduce poverty, and boost the economy.
China’s BRI is the best and fastest way to move the world towards renewable energy. To this end, China has issued $25 billion dollars worth of green bonds for renewable infrastructure investments. According to the IEA, China now has one-third of the world’s wind power, four of the top ten wind-turbine makers, six of the top ten solar-panel manufacturers, and a quarter of the world’s solar capacity. As the principal market for renewable energy worldwide, China has the means to provide ‘green, low-carbon and circular development’ to billions in the development of a green Belt and Road. As pointed out in a recent NRDC report, based on BRI countries’ targets for renewable energy, the projected installed capacity of renewable energy for 38 countries in the BRI could reach 644 Gigawatts from 2020-2030, and total investment from Beijing in wind and solar power could reach $644 billion dollars. Fortunately, this means that there is a huge window of opportunity to increase investments in renewable energy through the BRI. Chinas General Certification Center’s promotion of a mutual recognition system for international standards for new energy based on wind and solar means that there is huge potential for the BRI’s renewable energy cooperation. The EU needs to join the BRI in order to assist the development of China’s global Belt and Road initiative that will mitigate the devastating effects of climate change.
It is often thought that China is using the BRI as a source to trap countries into debt, thus gaining access to infrastructure. Moreover, the Sri Lanka example of when the country had their port seized to a supposed ‘debt trap’ by China’s BRI is commonly cited. While this position is popular, it is not supported by the studies and the reality of the Sri Lanka situation. Firstly, on debt traps, China is writing off debts to countries that are in debt. In fact, A Rhodium Group’s research looked at “40 cases of debt renegotiation between the years 2007 and 2019” and found there was only one confirmed case of asset seizure, which was in Sri Lanka (Zhou). This report concluded that “China had renegotiated 50 billion dollars of loans” and in almost all cases, debts to Beijing had either been written off or payment was completely deferred (Zhou). China has been renegotiating debts with numerous countries because it is not economically viable for China to be in debt with its projects. When trade partners are doing well, China does well too. Moreover, looking specifically at the case of Sri Lanka, leasing the Hambantota port to a Chinese company was a commercial decision, not one of debt. According to Sri Lankan economists, “the country’s debt is not of China’s making” (Moak). Chinese loans only constituted 10 percent of Sri Lanka’s total foreign debt, so the high debt of Sri Lanka is not due to the money owed to China, but mainly because Sri Lanka did not do a “good assessment on the financial terms and repayment requirements” (Bicocca). The entire notion of debt traps and the seizure of assets being a formidable threat to the EU’s financial and hegemonic wellbeing, is not supported by the reality of what is occurring in the Status Quo.
The One Belt One Road project is developed by China, aiming to commercially connect more than 60 countries, from Asia to Middle East and finally to Europe. This project is based on the ancient Silk Road, while it is known as the Modern Silk Road Belt. OBOR is an aspiring project mainly aiming to open EU market to Chinese companies on which there is extensive analysis in the literature. However, will this project only serve China’s expansion plans or it will also offer bilateral development to both China and EU? Several questions are also raised concerning potential indirect motives from China’s side and the short and long term benefits for both parties.
Literature Review
The OBOR’s Initiatives and Statistics
The project was first introduced to the global community in 2013 by president Xi Jinping (Julan Du, 2018). The project’s goal was to commercially, geographically and culturally connect countries of Asia with countries located in North, South and West Europe (Yakov Silin, 2017). According to the project’s financial estimations, these countries represent almost 30% of the global GDP. The overall investment in the OBOR countries is also expected to exceed $4 trillion (Yang, 2018). As Wang analyzed in his study (Wang X., 2017), the initiative will be focused on developing five main areas, including infrastructure investments, policies and regulations, commercial relationships, social interaction and bonds and trade without obstacles.
Reflection on China’s Motives
China’s foreign policy has become increasingly pluralistic compared to the one of Mao’s era (Yu, 2018). China seems committed to implement projects and initiatives not only at a local or national but also at an international strategy level (Julan Du, 2018). China traditionally chose to invest on developing countries, with natural resources but with unstable political environments which could have been evaluated as risky under the perspective of business development. Nowadays, China is interested in investing on high tech projects and products designed in developed countries in order to gain access to the most innovative technology developed by local and international branches and institutions. The global financial crisis together with the ‘Going Global’ strategy have also served as a trigger for Chinese companies to increase their investments in EU (Yu, 2018).
On the other hand, countries seem skeptical and criticize China’s motives. Chinese government is believed to take advantage of its economic growth and liquidity in order to accomplish economic inducements (Reilly, 2017). It is also criticized of ‘harvesting’ the project’s magnitude, in order to increase its economic and political influence in the West (Meunier S. , 2014). Beijing is even criticized that implements a ‘divide and rule’ plan towards EU members so as to earn the most for its growth (Yu, 2018).
OBOR and EU
The relationship between China and EU is not fresh news. Both parties are among the biggest trading partners for each other, with EU holding €304 billion as Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) stocks in China investments in 2016 and €136 billion for the opposite site (Eurostat, 2017). China’s FDI stock may be big as a number, but under its perspective it is still considered as ‘small’ (Voss, 2016).
At the same time, the global economic crisis had significantly affected Europe making legal or political barriers smother and creating competition amongst the EU members that were trying to attract foreign investors (Meunier S. , 2014) (Meunier S. , 2014). Europe having already commercial relationships with China, evaluated the positive benefits that would easily be derived from China’s additional plan and agreed on it while some EU country members even showed enthusiasm (Wang X., 2017). Short and long term economic investment would flow in the EU from economic resources outside Europe (Meunier S. , 2014) while at the same time, China’s surplus production would be accessible to Europe to cover its increasing needs. Moreover, Europe’s big infrastructure projects would gain immediate funding that otherwise would have been cancelled or delayed.
Thus, in 2015, China was the first non-EU country that was involved in the ‘Junker financial plan’ including an €315 billion monetary investment (Commission, 2015). Moreover, China has already signed a ‘CEE 16 + 1′ agreement which gave the green light to cross country projects (T.Bieliński, 2019). As a matter of fact, financial investments are already flowing towards many ‘belted-road’ projects (Julan Du, 2018). Some of them are Belgrade-Montenegro Bar Port Motorway, the Europe-China – Rail Link I & II and the expansion of Piraeus port (Wang X., 2017). This leads to what F.Godement and A.Vasselier wrote that China is now inside Europe (Vasselier, 2017).
However, the legal and economic context of EU investment in China is not yet adequately defined. China and EU are at the moment in the middle of negotiations regarding the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment, a set of regulations and agreement that are expected to bring bilateral positive outcomes. Both parties expect investment securities, removal of legal investment barriers and increase of the two- ways cash flow. The last goal of this process is to set the basis on negotiating China’s next goal, signing a free trade agreement (FTA) with EU (A.Garcia-Herrero, 2016).
Conclusion
OBOR is a plan developed by China and supported by China’s global expansion strategy which consequently serves first and above all the Chinese interests and position in the global economic and political scenery. Though, the question remains if this is a one-way trading route or this master plan will also assist European companies to expand their activities in China and in greater Asia. Will this new commercial route enforce bilateral commerce or Europe will only absorb investments, cash and products from China in the long run and its exports to Asia will remain steady or even decline? Further analysis is identified towards this direction.
References
A.Garcia-Herrero, J. (2016). China’s Belt and Road initiative: can Europe expect trade gains?
Commission, E. (2015, September 28). Investment Plan for Europe goes global: China announces its contribution to #investEU. Retrieved December 12, 2019, from https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_15_5723
Eurostat. (2017, December 21). Eurostat newsrelease. Retrieved December 12, 2019, from Foreign Direct Investment stocks at the end of 2016: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/8558940/2-21122017-BP-EN.pdf/ee180a2c-5dd4-44c6-b2e1-856bc8946c29
Julan Du, Y. Z. (2018, February). Does One Belt One Road initiative promote Chinese overseas direct investment? China Economic Review 47 , Volume 47, pp. 189–205.
Meunier, S. (2014, March 10). ‘Beggars can’t be Choosers’: The European Crisis and Chinese Direct Investment in the European Union. Journal of European Integration , 3.
Meunier, S. (2014, June 16). Divide and conquer? China and the cacophony of foreign investment rules in the EU. Journal of European Public Policy, Issue 7, pp. 996-1016.
Reilly, J. (2017, March 27). China’s economic statecraft in Europe. Asia Europe Journal (15), pp. 173–185.
T.Bieliński, M. E. (2019). Do Central and Eastern Europe Countries Play a Role in the Belt and Road Initiative? The Case of Chinese OFDI into the CEE–16 Countries. Comparative Economic Research. Central and Eastern Europe , Volume 22 (Number 2).
Vasselier, F. G. (2017). Chine at the Gates – A new power audit of EU-China relations. 239.
Voss, J. C. (2016, July 11). The new two-way street of Chinese direct investment in the European Union. China-EU Law Journal volume .
X.Wang, J. &. (2017, March). One Belt One Road and the reconfiguration of China-EU relations.
Yakov Silin, L. K. (2017, December 6). China’s economic interests in the “One Belt, One Road” initiative. SHS Web Conf. (39).
Yang, F. Y. (2018, October 25). Greening the one belt and one road initiative. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change (24), pp. 735–748.
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China has summitted huge sums of money for investments in Kazakhstan.On March 2015 at Boao Forum, Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang signed off some 33 deals worth US $ 23,6 billion. These varied from projects in then steel, non-ferrous metals, sheet glass, and auto industries to the more usual oil refining, and hydropower industries. Li praised the deals as a sign of the complementary nature of the Chinese and Kazakh economies.Kazakhstan itself is also committing serious sums of money to its own infrastructure and development.This is partly driven by the need to decrease economic reliance on Russia, particularly as the Russian economy suffers under Western sanctions.
This program, titled ‘Bright Road’, will see Kazakhstan fund US $ 3 billion worth of infrastructure projects each year fort he next three years, and includes plans for extending high speed rail from China through to Russia. Qazaqstan Temir Zholy, the national rail company of Kazakhstan, has awarded a contract to oversee the design and construction of a high-speed line from Astana (country’s capital) to Almaty .The line is expected to be 1.011 km long, and will travel via Karaganda and Balkash , and include a 10 km viaduct across Lake Balkash. The trains are expected to be built by Tulpar-Talgo (a joint venture established in 2011 between Qazaqstan Temir Zholy and Spanish manufacturer Talgo), and when finished will complete the journey in five and half hours. The system will use Russian gauge, the same as used by Kazakhstan’s existing conventional lines, and will become a crucial rail link between Beijing and Moscow.
The China-Kazakh Pipeline consists of several lines, with the gas pipeline a feeder across Kazakhstan from the huge fields of Turkmenistan. Oil pipelines also run the length of the country and integrate oil supplies from Siberia and Kazakhstan fields. The oil pipelines are operated by China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC). These pass through into China at the border crossing at Alashankou in North-West Xinjiang, which has recently become China’s largest inland port of entry-demonstrating that where oil and gas flows across borders, subsidiary industries develop and create wealth.
The New Silk Road –a unique opportunity. Few anticipated the revival of the ancient trade routes that once spun the Eurasian continent. In the15 th century, the discovery of new sea routes and development of modern vessels by European empires all but extinguished a network that atone point crossed all of Eurasia. Even less envisaged what the One Belt One Road initiative entailed after it was announced by President Xi Jinping in Astana in 2013. Slowly but surely,the governments of 65 states currently partaking in the initiative, have grasped the importance and the development opportunities that trade and infrastructure investment present.The network connects Asia, Europe and Africa, and promises to further integrate the 4.4 billion people in its sphere into a global network, facilitating the exchange of goods and ideas.
As the 9th largest state in the world, and the largest landlocked one, Kazakhstan has not benefitted as much from the rise of transcontinental trade followed by the industrial revolution as other nations. The Soviet Union’s political ideology and Southern borders also presented little opportunity for commerce in the 20th century. The rapid revival of the Silkroad, and massive infrastructure spending over the next decade, however, forebode there-emergence of Kazakhstan as a trading hub in Central Asia. With trade between China and Europe increasing yearly, and the distinct trend of smaller, high tech goods increasing in value, the balance of trade seems to be shifting towards faster, albeit costlier, railways. More than 90% of trade between China and Europe occurs by ships, and only less than 5% passes by rail. Continuing investment of political and financial capital can increase trade by rail to 10% by 2025. Kazakhstan is set to gain significantly as the geographic centre piece of the land part of the New Silk Road. Opportunities for trade and industry are countless as local businesses can benefit from cheaper costs of exports and imports, and by providing services to freight forwarders and railway carriers.
The key to fully exploiting the opportunity presented to Kazakhstan is to adapt its biggest stakeholders and their business model to the One Belt One Road initiative. This means focusing on international transit and the client.It also means developing a digital culture, capable of adjusting to new challenges and possibilities given an adequate infrastructure. For now, Kazakhstan is falling behind its partners on the New Silk Road in terms of digitizing and the benefit it entails. But still Kazakhstan has a window of opportunity and needs to act fast.
In September of 2013, President Xi Jinping presented China’s vision for engaging the world in re-creating the historic ‘Silk Road’ during a speech in Kazakhstan at Nazarbayev University. This effort is alternatively known as ‘One Belt, One Road’ (OBOR) or ‘Belt and Road Initiative’. The aim is to develop closer economic ties, deepen cooperation, and expand development in the Euro-Asia region. This speech and subsequent announcements officially set the stage for the establishment of a sprawling network of railroads, highways, gas and oil pipelines, ports, cities, and investments in modern infrastructure to recreate successful ancient Silk Road trade routes but with a 21st-century strategy. By early 2015, Beijing’s specific strategy began to emerge as China’s leadership laid out a plan for OBOR. The land strategy runs through Central Asia—with Kazakhstan playing a keyrole.
Significant investments have been made in Kazakhstan to strengthen its capabilities as a transit corridor. This includes over $3,5 bln in Khorgos Eastern Gate, a dry port on the Eastern border with China. COSCO Shipping, one of the world’s largest logistics service providers, and Lianyungang Port Holding, have recently acquired stakes in the project, making it a transnational endeavor and allowing the Kazakhstani side to benefit from the immense experience of its counterpart.
Other significant investments include the Shalkar-Beineu railroad, the Zheskazgan-Saksaulskaya railroad, and the Kuryk ferry terminal. The resulting increase in corridors and capacity will cement Kazakhstan’s role as a transit region. Samruk Kazyna estimates that infrastructure investments will contribute between 0.1 % and 0.2 % annually to Kazakhstan’s economic growth over the next decade.
As is the case with most supply chains, OBOR is only as strong as its weakest link. For Kazakhstan’s national railway operator and its parent company, it means moving at an equal pace with the modernization of their infrastructure and business model as their foreign counterparts.
KTZ’s role in this should be focused on improving processes to create a reliable platform for transiting car go through Kazakhstan, while Samruk Kazyna should support the long term objective of developing a multimodal transport system, which includes significant investments in energy distribution and transportations infrastructure, as well as using its influence to cut regulations to ease the bureaucratic processes necessary for transiting Kazakhstan.
The Fourth Amendment makes preparations for preposterous ventures and seizures by requiring (with constrained exemptions) that administration specialists initially acquire a warrant before they go snooping around or taking somebody’s property. Yet, what precisely does this mean in the advanced universe of cell phones, wi-fi, and broadened Socratic discoursed with Siri? In the event that the New York-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is to be trusted, it implies that the legislature can screen and gather your web traffic if this data is simply ‘likely’ to be ‘applicable’ to a progressing criminal examination.
That is actually the end result for Ross Ulbricht, the designer of a site known as ‘Silk Road,’ which empowered clients to secretly purchase and sell merchandise and ventures. Over the span of an examination concerning unlawful exercises related with the site, the legislature got five ‘pen/trap’ orders approving law requirement to gather IP (web convention) addresses for any web traffic going to or from Ulbricht’s remote switch and other electronic gadgets. These requests were acquired in lieu of a warrant under a statutory ‘importance’ standard that misses the mark concerning the Fourth Amendment’s necessity for reasonable justification.
In February 2015, a jury indicted Ross William Ulbricht on seven checks emerging from his creation and activity of Silk Road under the username Dread Pirate Roberts (‘DPR’).1 Silk Road was a monstrous, unknown criminal commercial center that worked utilizing the Tor Network, which renders Internet traffic through the Tor program very hard to trace.2 Silk Road clients chiefly purchased and sold medications, false distinguishing proof records, and PC hacking software. Exchanges on the Silk Road only utilized Bitcoins, an unknown yet detectable advanced currency.3 The site likewise contained a private message framework, which enabled clients to send messages to one another (like imparting through email), an open gathering to talk about subjects identified with Silk Road, and a ‘wiki,’ which resembles a reference book that clients could access to get counsel about utilizing the site. Silk Road clients and sellers could likewise get to a help area of the site to look for assistance from the commercial center’s executives when an issue emerged.
As per the legislature, somewhere in the range of 2011 and 2013, a huge number of merchants utilized Silk Road to sell roughly $183 million worth of unlawful medications, just as different products and enterprises. Ulbricht, going about as DPR, earned a large number of dollars in benefits from the commissions gathered by Silk Road on buys. In October 2013, the administration captured Ulbricht, caught the Silk Road servers, and shut down the site.
The court likewise contemplated that since pen/trap gadgets just uncover IP addresses related to the client’s web-based perusing, the gathered data doesn’t consider ‘content’ deserving of security—in spite of the immediate relationship between’s individual IP addresses and sites, alongside the plentiful data that can be gathered from learning of a person’s perusing history. The court appeared to reason that there was no substance uncovered in light of the fact that an IP address just reveals the site visited as opposed to any individual page inside that site. This shallow methodology completely disregards advanced reality.
At long last, the court neglected to perceive that the rule approving pen/trap information seizure forces practically no restrictions on government lawyers’ carefulness. These requests are exceedingly expansive in extension and access to about any administration office directing a criminal examination. More terrible still, the court’s job in endorsing the requests is simply pastoral, with the resolution commanding that ‘the court will enter an ex parte request approving the establishment’ of these gadgets.
“The original concept behind the Dark Net was to provide a secure form of communication to those who need it. Compare the pros and cons that the Dark Net provide and evaluate their value to society.”
According to (Reiff, 2020), “The ‘dark net,’ also known as the ‘dark web,’ is part of the greater ‘deep web,’ a network of secret websites that exist on an encrypted network.” Again, The Dark Net is an overlay system to the internet that must be gotten to by particular programming, designs and extraordinary approvals, and regularly utilizes non-standard communication protocols with the goal for it to be purposely difficult to reach by the internet. Dark Net is the hidden and inaccessible side of the internet world. Dark Net consist of mostly illegal contents which we can’t browse through surface web. No one really knows the size of the dark web but it’s estimated that it’s about 5% of the total internet. Through dark net a person’s identity remains hidden as it creates an anonymous environment. To browse Dark Net it requires a special web browser name Tor which routes web page request to multiple nodes before reaching the final destination and makes the user’s IP address quite untraceable. So if a person is browsing the Dark Net it’s very difficult to trace him/her which makes it a secure place for communication. For example, a person wants to send a hidden message to another person and so to secure his/her identity he can easily use Dark Net to communicate with the other person using Dark Net which will help to stay anonymous. So Dark Net is the haven for free speech and expression for the people around the world. But it’s anonymity has created a secure environment for doing all the criminal activities around the world. As a result, the impact of Dark Net in the modern world is huge. In this research essay we will have a clear view of the pros and cons of the Dark Net, it’s value to our society and how it affecting our society in various ways. According to Anthony T. Hincks – “The dark of the web is illuminated from within.”
The biggest advantage of dark net is that it allows you to browse anonymously and it’s really difficult to monitor. Most of the people thinks that dark net is only about criminal activities, but it’s totally wrong. Dark net creates a secure environment for the people who can share their thoughts by staying anonymous, it gives freedom of speech to people which it’s quite difficult to have in the surface web. Suppose someone wants to share a blog which might offend lots of people, dark net is the place where you can share your thoughts without the fear of exposing your identity. A person can even revolt against their dictator leadership in the dark net which you can’t do in the surface web. Thus we can say it enables transparent governance. Dark net can also be a huge source of information. Lots of journalist and scholars use dark net as the source of their information. High sensitive information flow around the dark web and sometimes it helps investigators even solving various crime through the information from dark web. The biggest benefit from is the dark net is it’s market place and it creates a huge business opportunities for the entrepreneurs all around the globe. To summarize the huge business going through the dark web Silk Road is the best way to start. Silk Road can be said as the ebay of the dark web. It was the biggest and most well-known market place in the dark net. It was launched by Ross Ulbricht (“Dread Pirate Roberts”) in February 2011. “n 2013, Silk Road founder and dark net drug emperor Ross Ulbricht, AKA Dread Pirate Roberts (DPR), seemed convinced that his website was destined to become the catalyst for a revolution. After all, his site linked nearly 4,000 drug dealers around the world to sell their wares to more than 100,000 buyers, and could you get you anything from falsified documents to heroin — even a rocket launcher. (Harnfenist, 2019)” The most impressive thing about the Silk Road is it very trustworthy. In road they buyer and seller can review each other and the buyer can even get refund money if he/she didn’t receive the product. Silk road took the business to another level in dark net and showed the world how real business is done. Although in October 2013, the FBI shut down Silk Road and arrested Ross Ulbricht. But it gave hope for many struggling entrepreneurs and people started doing business in dark net and earning a huge amount of money through it. People can buy stuffs from dark web which are illegal to sell in surface web and lots of people got benefitted from it though it’s illegal. Dark net took cryptocurrencies to another level. “According to the study, total market sales in crypto grew 70% in 2019 to account for more than $790 million worth of cryptocurrency after seeing a small decline in 2018. This was the first time when sales surpassed $600 million, Chainalysis says. (Partz, 2020)” This statistics clearly shows the rise of cryptocurrencies as dark net only uses cryptocurrencies people are getting more influenced to use it. Again dark net help us to interact with group of people who has same mentality. Another bright side of dark net are the hacktivist group who plays vigilante roles in destroying the harmful content of the dark sides and help to catch criminals. For example “Hacktivist group Anonymous has briefly taken offline 40 sites it claims traded in images of child sexual abuse. (BBC, 2011)” So we can say Dark Net doesn’t only have dark sides it has bright sides too. According to Jamie Bartlett – “The dark net is a world of power and freedom: of expression, of creativity, of information, of ideas. Power and freedom endow our creative and our destructive faculties. The dark net magnifies both, making it easier to explore every desire, to act on every dark impulse, to indulge every neurosis.”
Dark net can be safe haven for criminals as it help criminals to stay anonymous which makes dark net a very dangerous place. Dark net creates the perfect environment for trading drugs. Drug traders earning huge money via dark net. Again Silk Road used to be known as the ebay of drugs in the dark net. “Between 2011 and 2013, its period of operation, an estimated $1.2 billion in sales took place on the Silk Road forum, involving 150,000 customers and 4,000 distributors. (Malik, 2019)” But after the shutdown of Silk Road in 2013 didn’t stop the trade of drug, Silk Road was just the beginning of the drug trade business. That’s why drug trade business has become the most demanding business in the dark net. Child pornography is another dark net business which earning a huge amount of money. Child pornography is a severe crime but this there are so many websites in the dark net trading child pornography and earning a huge amount of money with it. “More than 80% of so-called “dark net” internet traffic is generated by visits to websites offering child-abuse material, according to a study of Tor “hidden services” websites conducted at the University of Portsmouth (Dredge, 2018)”. It’s very shocking by seeing the number of views in a dark net child porn videos being watched my paedophiles around the globe. Dark net realizes us that there’s many creepy people living among us. Benjamin Faulkner, a Canadian, who is the owner of “Child’s Play” a child pornographic site had over 1 million profiles and had over 100 producers of child being raped and humiliated for entertaining the paedophiles around the world. There are sites in the dark web where human trafficking takes place. Young virgin girl being sold on auctions in various websites of the dark net for using them as a sex slave. There are even websites where gangs are willing to abduct person according to the will of the people which come at considerable price rate. An evidence of human trafficking is Chloe Ayling, a British model, who has been abducted by a group name “The Black Death Angel Group” and demanded £300,000 from her agency otherwise they would sell her off in auction for sex slave. Dark net has become a secure place for terrorists and there are even websites in the dark net where terrorists are being recruited. Terrorist uses dark net for communications as it helps them stay anonymous. Hackers also earns huge amounts of money in the dark net by hacking social media IDs according to the people choice. People can even hire hitman to murder other people in the dark net. An example of that is Albanian Mafia, who gives hitman services to anywhere in the world. Weapon trade is another huge business in the dark net. Huge amount of weapons are being sold in the dark net every year and criminal or terrorist organizations usually use dark net websites as their platform to buy weapons. People can buy fake passports, driving license and stolen credit cards from the dark web. Different hacking tools and malwares are being sold in dark net. Dark web is a very tricky place and it’s full of scams and fake requests to hack in to people systems, lots of people lost their private information because of not being careful in the dark net as it’s full of fraud people. There websites even where live tortures takes place in the dark net. There are even websites in the dark web where people tells their experience being a cannibal and even creepy websites where it’s said that you can summon devil for services with exchange of fair amount of money.
Dark net has done a huge effect to our society. It shows us that still many creepy people lives in this world and it shows the places where changes needed to take place. Like Dark net now enforcing the government to make new rules which is completely new to the society and further changes needs to be taken place. To protect the society values the government bodies need to be stronger. Child pornography, human trafficking, human assault, cannibalism, hiring people to kill and many other dark side of the dark net is really killing our social values. Catching criminal like Ross Ulbricht the creator of Silk Road, Peter Scully the infamous Australian paedophile and many other people like them would help us to protect our social values. People need to come together in this to eradicate the negative effects of the dark web. New forensics investigative procedure needs to be taken place to stay one step ahead of the criminals al around the word. Even many hackers come forward to destroy various child porn sites and we need more hackers like them for the well-being of the society. Now we are getting better in catching the dark net criminals, we have many success stories recently related to catching dark web criminals, if we keep going in this way hopefully in future dark net won’t be able to affect the value of our society.
Dark net is not only for criminals, we all should make sure that we use the dark net in a proper way that people will start to notice the bright sides of the dark net rather than dark sides. It’s our duty to protect our society values and we all should encourage other people to help the governing body to catch criminals in the dark web who are destroying our social values. We all want to live in a peaceful society not in a society full of paedophiles, killers, torturers and sick people like them. We already managed to shut down many illegal market place like Silk Road, Hansa, Wall Street Market and many others. So the future of dark web depends on us and it’s our duty use it the correct manner in which it was meant to be used. Lastly, I would love to finish this research paper with this mazing quote of Og Mandino “I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars.” As dark net is surrounded by dark materials we should always use the light (good side) in ourselves to use it in the right way so that we can bring out bright materials from it.
References:
Fourie, M. (2019) The Advantages Of Exploring The Deep Web[online] https://www.truthfinder.com/infomania/technology/advantages-of-the-deep-web/ [Accessed 23rd May 2020]
Reiff, N. (2020) What Is the Dark Net? [online] https://www.investopedia.com/insights/what-dark-net/ [Accessed 23rd May 2020]
Harfenist, E. (2019) The Dream Of The Silk Road Is Alive On The Darknet [online] https://www.oxygen.com/crime-time/ross-ulbricht-silk-road-darknet-dream-market-wall-street [Accessed 23rd May 2020]
Partz, H. (2020) Crypto Payments on Darknet Markets Doubled for First Time Since 2015 [online] https://cointelegraph.com/news/crypto-payments-on-darknet-markets-doubled-for-first-time-since-2015 [Accessed 23rd May 2020]
Malik, N (2019) How Criminals Exploit The Dark Net To Sell Drugs [online] https://www.forbes.com/sites/nikitamalik/2019/06/10/how-criminals-exploit-the-darknet-to-sell-drugs/#7bc504541db2 [Accessed 23rd May 2020]
Dredge, S. (2014) Study claims more than 80% of ‘dark net’ traffic is to child abuse sites [online] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/dec/31/dark-web-traffic-child-abuse-sites [Accessed 23rd May 2020]
Murali, J (2020) Human-trafficking on the dark-web [online] https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/in-other-news/020919/human-trafficking-on-the-dark-web.html [Accessed 23rd May 2020]
Viney, S. (2016) What is the dark net, and how will it shape the future of the digital age? [online] https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-27/explainer-what-is-the-dark-net/7038878 [Accessed 23rd May 2020]
Torres, E. (2019) 5 Of The World’s Worst Criminals Caught On The Dark Web https://www.truthfinder.com/infomania/dark-web/5-worst-dark-web-criminals/ [Accessed 23rd May 2020]
Find Law (2019) Dark Web Crimes https://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-charges/dark-web-crimes.html [Accessed 23rd May 2020]
Murray, A. (2014) The dark web is not just for paedophiles, drug dealers and terrorists [online] https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-dark-web-is-not-just-for-paedophiles-drug-dealers-and-terrorists-9920667.html [Accessed 23rd May 2020]
BBC. (2011) Hackers take down child pornography sites [online] https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-15428203 [Accessed 23rd May 2020]
On August 21, 2014 the government of USA has filed a case on Ulbricht with seven criminal cases, Narcotic Trafficking, Distribution of the Narcotic by Internet, narcotic conspiracy, counting criminal enterprise, Conspiracy to commit and aid and computer hacking, Conspiracy to traffic in fraudulent identification documents and money laundering conspiracy.
Ulbericht was designed and launched the silk road which means the online marketplace with name of dead pirate Roberts. The entire online marketplace is maintained by the Silk Road and the programming and website creation and the administrative staff are responsible for the Silk Road is maintained by the Ulbericht. The site is managed worldwide, and it managed to avoid the worldwide law enforcement for two years. On Oct 2013 the FBI seized the Silk Road. The Dark Web is the global network which users are used to access the Silk Road. The Dark web is intentionally is hide from the regular internet. This is the internet which blends in the regular internet. The Dark web began with the ARPANET, this is developed by the pentagon in 1969. This network is the medium of choice for the US Naval Research lab which introduced to a browser called the Onion Router. This software is publicly available on 2004, The Onion router is also called as Tor. This Tor will remove the IP address from the connection altogether and establish a link between source and destination. The Silk Road users are around 150,000 and almost 4000 vendors. Most of the users are from United States of America and remaining are from rest of the world. This Tor based form of connection will give access to the vendors and the bitcoin currency, transaction capabilities. This makes the site very popular and the form a global community. From the consumer point of view the users doesn’t have any idea what they are buying and what is the value for. The vendor used to provide the actual value and the users will estimate the value of the prescription opioids. The Silk road contains not only the drugs information but also that something sold and which items are readily available. The Silk Road forum which make a good information of the drug and provide as much information they can provide to the community. The User has to right at least 50 comments or posts on their website to get the membership. If you are new to the Silk Road creates are forum that’s says a newbie boards which avoid creating a new account before joining the larger conversation. Once they are understanding the community and then the user will be created, and he/she can be a member of the Silk Road Community. After the Silk Road is down the users are waiting for someone to take over it and maintain the website. But this never happened. The users are still waiting for their response form there community head. After that Silk Road is collapsed by November 2014. As on March 2015 the evolution of the Silk road is closed.
References
Lacson, W., & Jones, B. (2016). The 21st century DarkNet market: Lessons from the fall of silk road. International Journal of Cyber Criminology, 10(1), 40-61. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.58521
aras, M.-H. (2014). Inside Darknet: the takedown of Silk Road. Criminal Justice Matters, 98(1), 22. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=edb&AN=99338142
The Silk Road is a network of trade routes that interconnected the western, Eastern and Southern Asia with Europe, East and North Africa, and the Mediterranean. These trade routes started being used at around the second century BC in the Han Dynasty. The routes were both on land and sea.
There were sea routes connecting the Red Sea and India, China, East Africa and Southeast Asia. The countries using the Silk Road traded various goods. India exported pepper, ivory, precious stones, and textiles.
On the other hand, China exported silk, porcelain, tea and spices. The Roman Empire traded jewels, gold, glassware, silver, carpets and wine. The Silk Road got its name from the Chinese trade of silk.
The most important good traded along the Silk Road was silk. Religion was also carried along the Silk Road as traders from different continents engaged in trade. Religions like Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, and Christianity were spread in China.
The Chinese adopted these religions and incorporated their culture into them1. This changed these religions from the original form. This discussion explores the extent to which the religions that were spread along the Silk Road were transformed by the Chinese. Comparisons are made between the original religions and the transformed ones in China.
Buddhism
Buddhism was introduced in China from India and led to the transformation of towns along the Silk Road. Buddhist monks and nuns used to receive material donations and in return offered Buddhist literature and instructions to the donors.
Thus, Buddhism was spread. When Buddhism was spread to China, most of its elements were retained, for instance, sacred writings, monastic system, worship rites, among others. However, Buddhism went through several changes in China2.
At the time when Buddhism was introduced in China, Taoism and Confucianism were the major religions in this country. At first, many people did not convert to Buddhism but after sometime at around the second century, lots of people converted to the religion owing to its simple requirements and likeness to Taoism.
Many Buddhist scholars came to China and Buddhism gained more followers. Many Buddhist scriptures were translated into Chinese language. By the sixth century AD, Buddhism was strongly rooted in China owing to a need to get rid of old religions like Taoism and Confucianism and embrace something new.
At this time, Buddhism went through various changes with one group of Buddhists following the religion in its spiritual and philosophical sense while another group followed it in their simple ways and incorporated their superstitious Chinese nature into it3.
Both Indian and Chinese scholars continued translating Buddhist texts into Chinese in order to win more converts. The Chinese also developed many schools of Buddhism using ancient Buddhist principles.
Some of these schools include the Pure-land, the Dharmalaksana, the Kosa, the Satysiddhi, the Three Sastra, the Lotus, the Vatamsaka, the Intuitive, the Esoteric, and the Discipline schools, among others4. Each of these schools was based on a certain Buddhist doctrine, and was developed by the disciples of Buddha.
Emperor Wu-Tsung ordered for the destruction of Buddhist enterprises and the return to normal life of all nuns and monks since they had become very greedy and had left their religious ways to engage in activities such as business, farming, and lending money.
From this time, Buddhism began to decline in China and people resumed to their original religions. The advent of communism in China signaled the end of Buddhism religion and public worship and monasteries were destroyed5.
Even though the Indians were able to spread Buddhism in China, it underwent some transformation. Some aspects of Indian Buddhism were not accepted by the Chinese. They dismissed some practices as irrelevant. The Chinese also interpreted Buddhist ideologies in their language.
They modified facts and invented other details and added them to the scriptures. Some original texts have been modified to mean something different and others even have the opposite meaning. Continuity and order are some of the principles that guide the Chinese in their daily lives. Therefore, they added their own facts where clarity was lacking in order to maintain these two principles.
Both the Chinese and Indians believe in and follow the teachings of Buddha, the founder of the religion. However, there are various differences between the religions. According to Indian Buddhism, there are no souls; but the Chinese Buddhists believe that human beings have souls.
The Chinese Buddhists also worship the dead and their departed relatives’ images. However, this is not the case in Indian Buddhism as they want nothing to do with the dead.
The Indian Buddhists believe that when one dies, they are completely separated from the life on earth. The Chinese on the other hand believe that after death, one continues with earthly living and even the human relations are maintained in the next life.
As Buddhism developed in China, it interacted with other Chinese religions like Taoism. Buddhism allowed followers to be both Buddhists and to follow other religions. Therefore, most Chinese became Taoists and Buddhists at the same time.
Islam
Islam spread to China through the land and water silk routes. Muslim traders, mostly Arabian and Persian, established businesses in the Chinese capital during the Tang Dynasty. These merchants were allowed to build their mosques and were not seen as a threat since they did not conduct missionary activities in China.
Islam scriptures were translated into Chinese and this made the religion to be accepted in China and also to incorporate some aspects of the Chinese culture. Chinese cultural aspects of customs, architecture and festivals were incorporated in Islam.
The architecture of Chinese mosques is different from that of other Muslims. Ordinary mosques have minarets and domes on the roofs while the Chinese ones are built using the traditional Chinese style with buildings surrounding a squire yard. The inside of the mosque is also decorated the traditional Chinese way6.
The Chinese Muslims have also changed the way the Islamic festivals are celebrated by other Muslims around the world. Most of the festivals are in line with other Islamic countries, for instance, the end of Ramadan, the birthday of Prophet Muhammad, among others. However, some festivals differ.
For instance, the Islamic festival of sacrifice is referred to as the festival of fidelity in China. Moreover, the Chinese Muslims do not celebrate the birth and death of prophet Muhammad on 12th March like other Muslims but do so on a different date and celebrate this festival together with the commemoration of the death of their ancestors.
The manner of commemoration and the story behind the Islamic festival of the salvation of prophets Nuh, Adam, and Ibrahim from danger are different in China. The Chinese also respect the daughter of the prophet Muhammad more than his wife, which is contrary to what other Muslims believe7.
The Chinese Muslims also changed the religious customs of the original Islam. They have incorporated traditional Chinese customs into their funerals, weddings, language, dressing, and naming. Arabic and Persian are the languages of Islam around the world.
However, the Chinese use these languages only during religious services and use Chinese at all other times. The Chinese Muslims have also changed the way ordinary Muslims dress. The Chinese Muslims also use Chinese names or combine a Chinese and Muslim name. The Chinese also do not follow the Islamic law in marriage and burial rites.
In addition to believing in the Qur’an and Hadith, the Chinese Muslims have also adopted other principles from their culture to guide them. They have incorporated principles from other religions like Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism into Islam.
The Chinese Muslims have also integrated Confucian ethics into Islam and tried to quote the Hadith and the Qur’an to validate them. An example is the Confucian concept of ethical human relationships between the father and son, the ruler and subject, the husband and wife and an individual with the friends.
This concept was expounded and incorporated into Islam8. The Chinese looked for Qur’an verses that are close to these teachings and used them to prove that they should be accepted into Islam.
It was important to integrate Chinese culture into Islam. Most aspects of the Chinese culture are from the Confucian religion, which is the main religion in China.
Religions that do not accept the Confucian ideologies do not easily get accepted. Incorporating Confucian ideologies in a religion attracts many followers and therefore the religion is able to develop. Even if the Islam in China is very different from other parts of the world, other Muslim communities still accept them as their own since they still uphold the basic principles of Islam.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it is clear that the silk trade played a great role in spreading various religions to China. As the traders traded their goods, they influenced other people to adopt their religions. The Chinese adopted several religions from their trade partners.
However, they made modifications to these religions in order for them to fit into their cultural beliefs and practices. As a result, these religions changed a great deal from their original form; to the extent that they became very different from the original religions practiced in other parts of the world.
The transformations that the religions of Buddhism and Islam underwent in China have been discussed. It was the incorporation of the Chinese culture into these religions that enabled them to spread very rapidly as the people could identify with them.
Reference List
Chen, K. (1973). The Chinese Transformation of Buddhism. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Foltz, R. (1999). Religions of the Silk Road. New York: St Martin’s Press.
Xinru, L. (1996). Silk and Religion. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Footnotes
1 L. Xinru (1996). Silk and Religion. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
2 K. Chen (1973). The Chinese Transformation of Buddhism. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
3 R. Foltz (1999). Religions of the Silk Road. New York: St Martin’s Press.
4 R. Foltz (1999). Religions of the Silk Road. New York: St Martin’s Press.
5 K. Chen (1973). The Chinese Transformation of Buddhism. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
6 R. Foltz (1999). Religions of the Silk Road. New York: St Martin’s Press.
7 L. Xinru (1996). Silk and Religion. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
8 L. Xinru (1996). Silk and Religion. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
The Silk Road, also known or referred to as the silk route, is a wide-ranging interconnected set of connections of trade routes which transverse the Asian continent. It connects East, West, and Southern Asia with the Mediterranean countries, as well as the eastern and northern Europe and Africa.
The origin of the name Silk Road is linked to the extensive trans-continental silk trade that takes place in China. The silk trade came into operation at a time when China had the reign of Han dynasty.
In addition, to silk, the other significant feature is the Silk Road, which was also used to carry some other commodity, which form part of the significant world history. In that same light, the Silk Road is regarded as the world’s oldest intercontinental routes that stretches and upholds a considerable number of religions, in particulars Buddhism all the way through Central Asia.
This broadcast/diffusion has not only made a considerable impact on the lives and cultures on particular countries within the continent but it has also left the citizens of those countries with an ocean of wonders in literature and art. Art and iconography are the two main forms that have played a noteworthy role in the transmission of religious traditions all along the Silk Road.
For that reason, in the following essay, an analysis and discussion will be sought on various questions such as rationale why, as well as how religions make use of material culture to support their basis. Whether there is a call for for religions to articulate its identity and faith through architecture and art, and at the same time, discuss the exceptional role that art provide in shaping a certain religious world standpoint (Foltz, 1999, p. 81).
Art acts as a noteworthy agent concerning cultural diffusion all along the Silk Road. The available art takes the form of design motifs, an art object, buildings or statues, and as such, the art and iconography play a significant role as a medium of cultural diffusion. Furthermore, the art plays another equally central role of acting as an agent, which facilitate for trans-continent switch over of religious traditions down the Silk Road.
In the light of this point, it is necessary to note that the single most significant features of art and iconography that smooth the progress of its role in advancing various religious traditions, as well as religious global standpoint at the time is the piece of information that art is a worldwide language across all cultures and nations. This means that art utilize a language that can be understood by all people in the world and all cultures, as well.
In view of that, ideas and worldviews in respect of religious traditions can be promoted and at the same time spread by the use of architecture, visual arts, and iconography down the Silk Road. Ideally, it is important to point out that while religious art strives to launch a firm claim in relation to emotions, as well as extending the metaphorical meaning about religious tradition, on the other side artwork, especially sculpture and painting can at the same time function as the vital vehicles of religious messages.
As such, the message that is being transmitted can be left freely for interpretation, as well as being spiritually felt by the populace in their individual chosen way.
This can only happen when the religious sculptures are considered as living things more than just mere objects, and as such, religious arts were designed to take the form of living beings through the incorporation of emotion to fright and draw the faithful. This points out that, human beings are animals that are visually oriented, and in that connection, human solely gather the necessary information of the world surrounding them with a sense of vision (Ames, 2008, p. 78).
Moreover, religions have, as a result, make use of both arts and architecture with the intention of, as well as, as a conservatory of story telling. This is owing to the fact that both written and oral stories, for a considerable number of years, form the basis for religious faiths.
This has been established through the formation of shared cultural heritage among groups. As a result, they have ensured and contributed greatly to metaphorical insights and poetic beauty. In addition, the cultural heritage of a number of religious gatherings has thus turn out to be more solidified, as a result, of preservation and at the same time the visual expression of their stories through a considerable variety of art works.
Additionally, according to a number of research, religious art work by extension make use of symbols, and forms, as well, for depositing the instantaneous and concrete events into perspectives and settings that are considered to be idealistic and imaginative. As such, the nature of the artwork facilitates an easier combination of both the ideal and the real.
Moreover, it illuminates the current situation with the bequest of the past and at the same time, outreaches of the upcoming. This ensures magnification of the perceptual experience through the conceptual (Rice, 1965, p. 64).
Art and religion serve an immense purpose of creating the power of imagination that will help individuals to conceive and understand both the past and the future, as well. Both religion and art used intellectual and physical skills in their outstanding and marvelous creations. These creations give human life two important life aspects, that is, a purpose together with beauty further than mere survival.
To derive a more concrete and clear understanding in regard to the role that art and iconography has deposited to the transmission of religious traditions down the Silk Route, it is necessary and significant to, first, value the nature of human art and human religion, as well. As mentioned earlier, art and religion do have other functions that go far beyond the instant survival purposes.
One of the other functions includes; they at a halt strike towards the objective of species survival through strengthening of the social bond among humans beings. This is shaped through religious art works. In light of this point, one outstanding example is what is regarded as religious architecture.
As such, religious architecture is well thought-out to be the furthermost statement of human beings dedication, grandeur, community, as well as pride away from any measure. Importantly, and as a result, religious architecture has thrown in considerably to the transmission of religious traditions down the Silk Route. For instance, the fundamental structural features that are incorporated in a Mosque can largely reflect the live out of Islam.
Apart from the mosque serving as a centre of worship, as well as of community activity, it also goes together with the spread of Islam. There exist a close link between religion and religious architecture and religion. This is owed to the fact that, with the lapse of time religious architecture goes on with it goal to offer enticements to assurances and aspiration of strength and grace (Barrett, 2005, p.76).
More to the point, not only does architecture reflect religions art work, but, religious art can be and ideally they are in a number of diverse forms. For instance, in Buddhism, they have an art work referred to as Buddha which is regarded as a spiritually perfect being, and as such the art work was given a superlative physique image.
The creation of the image was in accordance to the systems of fraction, and at the same time in harmony with certain features. The features were from time to time given well-known origins. For example, the stiff curls that are noticeable on the heads of nearly all the Buddha statues and images represent what those who design it define as snails that ascended up to guard the statue from sun for the period of meditation.
Furthermore, the Buddhist images and statues were sent out along traders and missionaries who travel down the Silk Route who took along with them, Buddhist illustrated text and copybooks, which was made easy by printing, the single most inventions of the country of China. In addition, the arts serve a central purpose for Mahayana Buddhist since they use if for the transmission their message.
For instance, well known Buddha monuments or images have consequently fascinated pilgrims from the different parts of Asia; enormous cave temples packed with paintings and sculpture were used for the purpose of meditation and worship (Daniel, 2007, p. 67).
In conclusion, art and iconography can be said to have made a considerable contributions to the transmission of religious traditions down the Silk Route. In the light of this point, credit rests in the natures of art in as far as its ability to be regarded as a universal language. The universality of art works in terms of language it has seen and facilitated the process, as well as serve an extraordinary role in determining religious world standpoint.
Artwork, for instance, sculptures, religious architecture, statues, and paintings all play an imperative, central, and integrated role in the trans-continental swap over of religious traditions and ideas down the Silk Route (Whitfield, 2004, p. 69). Ideally, and according to Ames (2008, p. 91), art is noteworthy to religion in relation to the proportion and the balance that art plays in promoting the causes of religion.
As such, it is not accidental to conclude that religion has deposited to art a considerable number of material and at the same time a wealth of inspiration. The unified link sandwiched between art and religion has been far beyond established, and has been in existence for as long as possible.
It is still, and it is evident that the interrelationship will surely go on to solidify and register an impact upon the contemporary world to the transmission of religious ideas and traditions in the present day around the globe. It is indispensable to underpin the contribution of art and iconography in shaping the current world religious ideas and traditions.
References
Ames, ES 2008, Religion and Art. The Journal of Religion, Chicago: The University of Chicago press.
Barrett,TH 2005, “The religious meaning of Buddhist sculpture in its cultural setting: the Buddha images of Qingzhou in the light of recent scholarship”. Buddhist Studies Review 22.
Daniel, W 2007, Toward the Archaeology of a Concept: The Silk Road, New York: Cengage Learning.
Foltz, R 1999, Religions of the Silk Road, New York: St Martins Press.
Rice, TT 1965, Ancient Arts of Central Asia, London: Thames & Hudson.
Sven, H 2009, The Silk Road: Ten Thousand Miles through Central Asia, London: Tauris Parke Paperbacks.
Whitfield, S 2004, The Silk Road. Trade, Travel, War and Faith, Hong Kong: Serindia Publications.