Tea Route
The Tea Route was another important international trade route between European and Asian continents. It grew busy after the Silk Road fell into disuse between the 17th and 19th centuries. The Tea Route begins in Wuyishan, then travels through Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei, Henan, Shanxi, Hebei, Inner Mongolia, and then enters the territory of Mongolia via Erenhot. It then passes by the Altai army station, through the desert and Ulan Bator to reach the Sino-Russian border treaty port Kiakhta. Distance travelled over water is 1480 kilometers, and 3280 kilometers over land.
Text
Beijing and Zhangjiakou launch joint bid to host 2022 Winter Olympic Games
By Paul Osborne November 5 - Beijing will launch a surprise bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics with Zhangjiakou as a co-host, the Chinese Olympic Committee (COC) revealed today. In the announcement, made this morning, the COC revealed Beijing, hosts of the 2008 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, would hold the ice sports, whilst Zhangjiakou would host the snow sports. Beijing sports authorities believe that their experience of hosting the Games in 2008 will give them an edge in the 2022 bid. "The 2008 Olympics has left many legacies to Beijing, which includes experience and sufficient infrastructure," said Beijing Sports Bureau chief Li Yingchuan. "Take the Capital Stadium as an example, it has about 10,000 seats. "What we need now is a speedskating venue." Issues concerning the distance between Beijing and Zhangjiakou, which is around 200 kilometres north-west of the capital in the Hebei Province, were answered with the announcement of a new inter-city express railway, which is to be built between the two cities. Construction of this inter-city express railway is said to begin at the end of this year, with the travel distance set to be around 40 minutes. Zhangjiakou, known as "Beijing's Northern Door", was historically the chief northern gate in the Great Wall to China for Europeans travelling along the Tea Road. The city, which has a population of nearly five million, is located in the northwest part of Hebei Province, and is defined by mostly rough terrain created by the Yin Mountains. The east of the prefecture marks the Yan Mountains. But Li admitted the bid may be affected by the fact that Pyeongchang in South Korea is set to host the 2018 Winter Games and Tokyo the 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics. "There is a rotation rule, though unwritten, in the bid," he said. "Since Pyeongchang won the 2018 bid, Beijing as another Asian city will face a daunting task to beat the odds. "I would say anything is possible. "Even if Beijing loses this time, we will continue our efforts in the future." The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has set the bid application deadline for November 14, with the host city election due to take place at its Session in Kuala Lumpur on July 31, 2015. Kazakhstan's Almaty has already submitted its bid for the 2022 Games, while Ukraine's Lviv is expected to put itself forward. Slovakia's Low Tatras, along with Polish city Krakow, are also planning a joint bid, which will be officially announced on Thursday (November 7). Norwegian capital Oslo is also expected to bid, while Munich are planning to put themselves forward after an unsuccessful campaign for 2018, providing they receive support in a local referendum due to take place on Sunday (November 10).
Money Talks: China-Russia Energy Relations after Xi Jinping’s Visit to Moscow
The series of energy deals signed during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow in March 2013 underscore the important role that Chinese capital — primarily in the form of loans from China Development Bank (CDB) –plays in spurring Eurasian economic integration. The nonbinding agreements inked by Chinese and Russian firms have laid the groundwork for the creation of new energy corridors stretching from Russia to China. Indeed, Xi spoke of oil and natural gas pipelines functioning as an artery connecting China and Russia in the 21st century like the tea road over which traders exchanged Chinese tea for Russian furs did in centuries past. The key to substantially expanding energy trade between Russia (one of the world’s largest exporters of oil, natural gas and coal) and China (one of the world’s largest importers of oil and coal and a growing importer of natural gas) is likely to be CDB. The bank not only has the motivation and means to finance the infrastructure needed for the cost-effective delivery of substantially larger volumes of Russian energy to China. It also has an established track record as a driver of regional economic integration. The latest China-Russia summit set the stage for dramatically increasing the flows of oil, coal and natural gas from Russia to China. First, Rosneft pledged to triple its oil deliveries to China from 300,000 barrels per day (b/d) to as much as one million b/d, which is double the amount of oil Russia exported to China in 2012 and equal to the amount of oil Saudi Arabia, China’s top crude oil supplier, delivered to China last year. Second, China’s Shenhua Group and Russia’s EN+ Group agreed to develop coal resources and related infrastructure in East Siberia and the Russian Far East with an eye to expanding Russian coal exports to China. Third, Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) signed a memorandum of understanding for the delivery of 38 bcm of natural gas to China over for 30 years starting in 2018 with the option of expanding deliveries to 60 bcm. A supply contract of this size would help fill the projected gap of 150 bcm between China’s natural gas demand and China’s domestic natural gas supply in 2020 projected by CNPC last year. CDB features in the oil and coal agreements. The increased volumes of oil that Rosneft pledged to deliver to China reportedly are being used to support a $2 billion loan from CDB. The bank also agreed to extend a $2 billion line of credit to Shenhua Group and EN+ Group for the development of coal resources and infrastructure to transport them to markets. CDB may also become part of Chinese and Russian efforts to transform their long-discussed dream of a cross-border natural gas pipeline into a reality. This project has a strong logic for both parties; Russia is looking to diversify its markets away from Europe, while China is looking for supplies to meet its growing demand. The principle obstacle to moving this pipeline off the drawing board has been a disagreement over price. Gazprom has long insisted on selling natural gas to China at prices that would provide the same level of profits it earns from sales to Europe, while CNPC has repeatedly refused to pay international prices for Russian gas due to domestic price controls. (The company lost almost $7 billion on natural gas imports in 2012 because it could not pass the full cost of its imports to Chinese customers.) However, a multibillion dollar loan from CDB to Gazprom may resolve the stalemate. Indeed, Gazprom Deputy CEO recently indicated that his company would reconsider its position that its standard terms of deliveries for European customers should apply to China if China were to provide a loan that could be repaid with natural gas exports. CDB is no stranger to breaking impasses in the China-Russia energy relationship. In 2009, the $25 billion in oil-backed loans that the bank extended to Rosneft and Transneft (the Russian pipeline monopoly) persuaded Moscow to give the green light to the construction of a spur from the East Siberia Pacific Ocean oil pipeline to the Chinese border. The Russians were thrilled with the large volume, low cost and long duration of their loans, and the Chinese were delighted to see Russian oil exports to China jump after the ESPO spur began operation in 2011. CDB also helped open up energy corridors between Central Asia — one of the least economically integrated regions of the world — and China by bankrolling the construction of the Kazakhstan-China oil pipeline and the Trans-Asia Gas Pipeline. Before these pipelines were built, most of the oil and natural gas produced in Central Asia were shipped to points west. Today, increasing volumes of energy are going to China. It’s hardly surprising that CDB has emerged as a premier financier of energy development and related infrastructure projects in Eurasia. The bank has a mission to advance the interests of the Chinese leadership as the leadership understands those interests at any given time. In the past, those interests included financing the domestic infrastructure necessary for China’s economic boom. Today, those interests include increasing the flows of energy from Russia and Central Asia to China. CDB also has the means to support those interests. It is China’s largest overseas lender, and its outstanding foreign currency loans – a rough proxy for its international lending – have ballooned from nearly $17 billion in 2005 to $210 billon in 2011. If history is any guide, CDB’s involvement in the energy deals signed during Xi’s visit to Moscow improves the likelihood that these nonbinding agreements will be finalized. The past decade of negotiations over cross-border pipeline projects indicate that geographic proximity and economic complementariness are necessary –but not sufficient – for the development of a robust bilateral energy relationship. An increase in the flow of Chinese capital across the border for infrastructure construction should expand the flow of energy in the other direction.
Tea Road' Railway Tours Bring More Chinese Tourists to Russia
Russia is a huge country which stretches so far from west to east that, perhaps, the only way to get a full idea of the diversity of its landscapes and lifestyles of its peoples is to cross the country by train. Such railway tours which also include stops in major cities on the long way are growing in popularity among tourists. The major operator, Russian Railway Tours, has various offers for tourists both from inside the country and abroad. No wonder that the Chinese who set off for Moscow by train directly from Beijing are the largest group of foreign clients. To draw even more of them, the company is working now to develop the new “Tea Road” Tour departing from Manchuria, Russian Railway Tours Deputy Director General Alexander Lvov told Sputnik China. The first tourist train from Manchuria to Russian Irkutsk was launched in August 2015 and carried 272 Chinese passengers. Within 8 days of their journey along the Trans-Siberian Railway they visited three Eastern Siberian cities: Chita, Ulan-Ude and Irkutsk, as well as Lake Baikal, before they returned back to the point of their departure. “All of them enjoyed the trip, according to their comments. We did not get any complaints,” Lvov said. Support from Russian President Vladimir Putin became the impetus for the promotion of this new tourist product. In March 2016 the company organized a tour for Chinese journalists and representatives of travel agencies. In summer, tourist trains started to run the route on a regular schedule. “Today, 1,500 Chinese tourists have traveled the ‘Tea Road’ route,” Lvov added. “Lake Baikal is one of the major highlights of the trip and never fails to fascinate the guests,” he said. Tourists spend at least one day on the shores of Baikal, which is the deepest lake on the planet and the largest natural reservoir of fresh water. The program includes an excursion to the picturesque Circum-Baikal Railway, visiting local villages with their unique fish markets, traditional Russian wooden architecture, and even boating on the lake. “In winter the tourists can see even more Siberian exotics,” Lvov said. “They are offered to take part in ice fishing and take a ride in a dog sled on the frozen lake.” Speaking about the plans of the company for 2017, Lvov noted that they plan to extend the “Tea Road” route to Krasnoyarsk which is 1,000 kilometers west of Irkutsk where the trip ends now. He explained that it will allow the tourists to go back home by plane, while another group arriving to Krasnoyarsk by air will make their way back by train enjoying the excursion. “It will also make the trip longer, up to 10 days, instead of the eight days we have now. It corresponds to the wishes of Chinese tourists many of whom said they wanted to stay in Russia a bit longer,” Lvov explained. He added that the company also has discussed the plan to expand the route to Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Currently, they already operate a route called “Imperial Russia,” but it runs between Moscow and Beijing, not Moscow and Manchuria. According to Lvov, the company calculates that the number of Chinese tourists will grow by half in 2017. While according to the Russian Railway Tours’ official web site, prices are not cheap, but the tours are still growing in demand.
Knowledge Graph
Examples
1 The 13,000-kilometer trade route is also known as the "Tea Road" through which Chinese tea was exported to Europe.
2 As a reward for his part in securing a favourable treaty with China and establishing the Tea Road between the two countries, he was invested with the Order of Alexander Nevsky.
3 Coming up later this month is an exhibition of a private Chinese art collection amassed from locations near the Tea Road, a famous trade route through China.