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The purpose of this paper is to analyze the perspectives of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Belt and Road strategy. The challenge in terms of studying the New Silk Road concept comes from the fact of dramatic difference between the declared ambitions of the Chinese state and the elusive character of concrete Chinese involvement, in particular as far as the digital dimension of the strategy is concerned.

The goal will be achieved by comparing the Chinese expansion in the Post-Soviet Central Asia with nowadays declarations concerning the digital version of the New Silk Road. For China, the Post-Soviet Central Asia was the first frontier approached on the basis of genuinely own integration strategy: the New Silk Road Diplomacy, which later evolved into the New Silk Road concept. An overview of Chinese activity in the region tells a lot about its grand strategy of today.

To paraphrase T.S. Kuhn, what one sees depends on not only what one is looking at but also what one has learned to notice. The Post-Soviet Central Asia shows the way Beijing thinks about integration. PRC achieved the most by basing on the free rider effect: concentrating on economic expansion, while other Powers provided relative regional security and stability.

The comparison of the beginnings of the New Silk Diplomacy in the 1990s with the plans of the New Digital Road gives a unique angle to grasp the specific features of the Chinese approach to international integration.

Using the Social Network Analysis(SNA) method, this paper examines inter-country relationships between countries that may be part of the New Silk Road. Based on bilateral-trade data from more than 70 countries, the paper provides a more vivid understanding of overall features and effects of the New Silk Road policy. According to the results, India, Turkey, and Russia have the highest degree centrality, indicating that the success of the New Silk Road policy depends mainly on the ability of the Chinese government to incorporate these countries. Among European countries, only Germany can be successfully incorporated into the New Silk Road network. In addition, Central Asian countries such as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan show no potential as hubs in the network. Most importantly, China has a dominant position in the New Silk Road network. China's focal and dominating status is also supported by the fact that there is no change in the clustering coefficient in the network, which implies that the Chinese government has to absorb into the system those countries that are less likely to benefit from the policy.

The paper aims to contribute to the current research on China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) from a historical point of view. The paper investigates why the history of the Silk Roads is important to the BRI, what is in the guiding thought underpinning China's Silk Roads narrative and how this narrative is presented transnationally, through an insightful analysis of the Communist Party of China's (CPC) view of the Silk Roads history, as well as its perception of the connections between the Silk Roads history and the BRI.

The paper sits in the interface between history, heritage and state power. The argument is framed in concepts of historical constructionism and soft power. It is based on the discourse analysis of China's official narrative of Silk Roads and a case study of the planning for the World Heritage nomination of the Maritime Silk Routes (MSR) (China section). The case study is conducted through a qualitative analysis of academic publications, media reports and programs, official speeches and documents that are available to the public in hardcopy or on the Internet.

The paper reveals the relationship between the state-endorsed Silk Roads narrative and the BRI. The paper argues that the state-backed Silk Roads narrative as well as the planning for the World Heritage nomination of the MSR (China section) is guided by the Chinese Communist Party's perception of the BRI. In this respect, the Silk Roads-associated history, heritage and memory are shaped and deployed to serve as a convenient platform for the promotion of the BRI. The Party leaders' perception of the BRI is in large part about the revival of China's past glory, its national rejuvenation and the demonstration of China's soft power.

The paper contributes to the existing literature on the BRI through its enquiries into how the CPC reconcile nationalist ambitions with notions of peace, harmony and cosmopolitanism and how CPC's view of the Silk Roads history shapes its vision of the BRI. The paper examines the role of the state in the construction and articulation of the Silk Roads-associated history, heritage and memory. It investigates how China's official interpretation of the Silk Road heritage serves China's BRI.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the application of documentation and recording techniques for World Heritage conservation using the case studies of the Petra Archeological Park (PAP) in Jordan and the Silk Roads Cultural Heritage Information System (CHRIS) in Central Asia. In the PAP case study, these techniques could aid in the assessment of risks faced by World Heritage properties and threats to the integrity of the Outstanding Universal Values (OUV). With respect to the Silk Roads CHRIS case study the Geospatial Content Management System (Geo‐CMS) proposed aims to improve information management and collaboration among all stakeholders.

Integrated surveying techniques and information management systems together with active stakeholder participation can be used as conservation and management tools. In the case of PAP, using a systematic documentation tool (MEGA‐J) to conduct site condition and risk assessment of cultural heritage and combining photographs, maps and GPS measurements within a GIS platform allows for identifying the location and intensity of risks, and the degree of vulnerability within the PAP boundaries and buffer zone. In the Silk Roads CHRIS project the Geo‐CMS brings together data from different fields, e.g. geography, geology, history, conservation, to allow for a holistic approach towards documentation, protection and management of a number of diverse sites to be combined in serial transnational World Heritage.

The study provides insight into how digital technologies can aid in heritage documentation and conservation, including stakeholder involvement and training. Moreover, by means of the two case studies it can be shown that a combination of digital technologies allows for an efficient mapping of buffer zones and risks and how a Geo‐CMS can form a common platform to manage large quantities of information of different origin and make it accessible to stakeholders in transnational projects.

This paper discusses the use of digital technology and the participation of stakeholders in heritage conservation and documentation when dealing with complex World Heritage properties, e.g. serial transnational and archaeological ensembles at high risk.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss China’s New Silk Road initiative as an opportunity for European small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to export to Chinese market. It offers research propositions on redefining the business process of European SMEs and Chinese importers in light of the initiative.

SMEs’ export barriers, particularly in SCM and marketing, are identified through literature review. Then they are discussed in accordance with the measures that New Silk Road proposed.

Logistic infrastructure development under the New Silk Road significantly lowers the supply chain barrier. Marketing remains a challenge for European SMEs to export to China. This paper argues that the European SMEs and the Chinese importers should create closer collaboration, expand their relationship beyond SCM, and integrate their marketing efforts for mutual benefits.

Several future research areas are proposed in this paper. The authors invite researchers and practitioners to deepen the discussion with empirical evidence.

The New Silk Road has already become a high stake project for many countries involved. Many measures are yet to be defined and the stakeholders, including industries and businesses, should have an influence on their definition. This paper provides the authors’ viewpoints on how businesses should act in this initiative.

Despite being an important topic of the world’s economy in the recent years, the New Silk Road initiative has rarely been studied in management research, possibly due to lack of evidence. As its development significantly sped up since 2017, it is high time that the research community starts to contribute to the knowledge building in this project. This paper is among the firsts to call for and to propose avenues for future research efforts.

Although there is a growing number concerning articles/papers on China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ (OBOR), it is difficult to find comprehensive research regarding the economic background in spite of the OBOR initiative involving multi-dimensional considerations. Although China targets to become a soft power leader by reviving the spirit of the old Silk Road, the OBOR is a large-scale investment project, whose rate of investment (ROI) is important for sustainability. Since new infrastructure in isolated regions is likely to be used less frequently, anticipated profitability is low. In spite of this risk, China promotes the OBOR for its economic and political purposes. China will promote the OBOR in spite of the U.S. withdrawal from TPP membership, since boosting aggregate demand is of critical importance for the country. This paper analyzes the economic background of the OBOR, which establishes China’s own model of regional integration, eases unemployment, and internationalizes its currency. Finally, this paper discusses diverse risks for China in the process of implementing the OBOR.

This article looks at the differences and similarities between globalization and the role of China on globalization, in particular for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China (HKSAR).

This article is based on research, reading, and interviews on globalization.

China is promoting the new globalization of the century called Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) which is a unique way to boost again the economy of China.

Studies of the New Maritime and Land Silk Road of China are rare; in particular, the role of the HKSAR is ignored. Macau also plays a role because it was the first point of globalization in the seventeenth century. China is really a global country, and the Chinese are numerous in all continents. Chinese Internet role is also mentioned.

Globalization is a key concept not only for China and Asia but also for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), Africa, and countries in Latin America such as Bolivia and Venezuela. This article looks at the differences and similarities between globalization and the role of China on globalization. The HKSAR and the Greater Bay Area are part of the same country. China is developing the new globalization of the century called, in 2017, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The current definition of Chinese globalization includes land and maritime Silk Road, now the BRI.

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the China’s outward FDI efficiency and it determinants in 69 countries along the Belt and Road over the period of 2003-2013.

This paper defines the extent of the Belt and Road in terms of geographical boundaries, justifying the application of the stochastic frontier gravity model to the FDI analysis, and then constructing a frontier regression model to assess the China’s outward FDI efficiency and it determinants in countries along the Belt and Road.

Regarding the core gravity parameter estimates, China’s outward FDI was highly consistent with the gravity model. As far as policy parameters are concerned, China’s outward FDI was significantly restricted by some man-made barriers in host countries. According to the estimated FDI efficiency scores, China has huge outward FDI potential in countries along the Belt and Road. In general, China’s outward FDI efficiency demonstrated a consistent uptrend from the perspectives of both FDI flows and stocks over the period of 2003-2013. Although China’s outward FDI performance indicated a very uneven pattern across different countries and periods, there were no significant performance differences between the Road and Belt.

The Belt and Road initiative can be largely beneficial to China’s outward FDI, but the specific framework of cooperation should be designed on the basis of determinants of China’s outward FDI. The regional cooperation with the Road countries should mainly focus on the removal of business barriers and financial barriers. The regional cooperation with the Belt countries should mainly concern the improvement of local intellectual property protection, the reduction of local tax burden, and removal of business barriers and financial barriers.

To the authors’ best knowledge, no existing literature has specifically examined the efficiency of China’s outward FDI in the countries along the Belt and Road and its determinants.

The ability to sift through the ever‐increasing amounts of information made available online to find quality and accurate data is becoming more important every day. Using credibility, accuracy, reasonableness, support, and uniqueness as criteria for Web site evaluation, the authors analyse five Web sites in an effort to determine the value and quality of the information. This article discusses the evaluation of Web sites dedicated to Chinese archaeology, and also points to six main characters of online resources for the subject area. In addition, questions are raised concerning the extent to which online Chinese archaeological resources can advance general awareness of the field and contribute to a growing body of knowledge. The authors hope this article sheds light on some of the challenges that need to be overcome when attempting to present this information to the global community.