On a windswept plain near Quva in Uzbekistan's Fergana Valley, a joint team of Chinese and Uzbek archaeologists carefully brushed soil from a set of ancient walls, revealing the outline of a long-forgotten Silk Road settlement dating from the third century BCE. The discovery, reported with enthusiasm by Chinese state media, was framed not simply as a scientific breakthrough, but as a moment of shared historical recovery—evidence of civilizational exchange stretching back millennia. For Beijing, such scenes have become increasingly common across greater Central Asia: Chinese archaeologists at work in Xinjiang's Kazakh-populated Ili Valley, Kyrgyzstan's Chui Valley, Tajikistan's Zarafshan Valley, and the fertile basins of Uzbekistan's Fergana Valley. Each excavation is presented as a collaborative scholarly endeavor. Yet, taken together, these projects form something larger and more strategic: a sustained campaign of heritage diplomacy.
Over the past decade, China has dramatically expanded its archaeological footprint across the Silk Road countries of Central Asia. These initiatives are embedded within broader frameworks of cultural diplomacy, heritage cooperation, and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which China launched in 2013. Xi Jinping, when announcing BRI in Kazakhstan in 2013, framed it as a continuation of the past, stating that "throughout the millennia, the people of various countries along the ancient Silk Road have jointly written a chapter of friendship that has been passed on to this very day." They are conducted through joint expeditions, shared laboratories, UNESCO nominations, museum alliances, exhibitions, and training programs.
While often described in technical or academic terms, these efforts also serve clear political and narrative functions. They promote a China-centric interpretation of Eurasian history, reinforce claims about China's long-standing civilizational presence in regions bordering Xinjiang, and challenge Western- and Russian-dominated historiographies of the region.
Read the full article at the National Bureau of Asian Research →