Special report | Foreign investment
The new Silk Road
China’s latest wave of globalisers will enrich their country—and the world
AN ENORMOUS MAP of the historic Silk Road hangs on a wall at Wensli, a leading Chinese silk producer. Nearby exhibits put China’s silkmaking tradition into context. The Chinese first encountered silkworms about 6,000 years ago. Two millennia later they built the first silk machine. When France emerged as Europe’s silk centre in the 16th century, it learned techniques from China, then the world’s most advanced economy.
This article appeared in the Special report section of the print edition under the headline “The new Silk Road”
From the September 12th 2015 edition
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