Reviving the ancient Silk Road in Asia has been a frequent point of discussion among Chinese policy makers recently. The New Silk Road is not about rebuilding the ancient Silk Road as it existed many centuries ago. Instead, it is about re-connecting those countries that have had a shared trading past, to build bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements, joint infrastructure projects, and promoting other forms of high-level economic and cultural exchanges.

The New Silk Road will begin in Xi’an in Northwest China before stretching west through Urumqi, which is near the border with Kazakhstan. It then runs southwest from Central Asia to northern Iran before swinging west through Iraq and Turkey. From Istanbul, the Silk Road heads northwest through Europe, and finally meets up with the Maritime Silk Road.

The Maritime Silk Road will begin from East China’s Fujian province, heading south to the Malacca Strait. It then crosses the Indian Ocean to Nairobi and goes north into the Mediterranean.