Politics or profits along the “Silk Road”: what drives Chinese farms in Tajikistan and helps them thrive?

Abstract

China’s influence in neighboring Central Asian states is growing at a fast pace. Since the launch of the One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative to accelerate China’s engagement in Central Asia and beyond, nearly all Chinese activity in this region has been gathered under OBOR. OBOR now seems to cover a plethora of spatially and temporally expanding state and privately driven projects. In this paper, I discuss large- and small-scale Chinese farm enterprises in Tajikistan, in which discussions around China’s “global land investments” and OBOR intersect. Beneath abstract conceptualizations of OBOR and the Chinese presence in Central Asia, my analysis shows that Chinese land investments in Tajikistan are shaped by Chinese dynamics of agrarian change and are contingent upon country-specific conditions. Rather than state-led endeavors as is often assumed, the main Chinese actors in Tajik agriculture are capitalist yet partially state-embedded enterprises driven by profit-oriented goals. Chinese farm enterprises tap into specific market demands that are either unanswered or underdeveloped in Tajikistan, or which have emerged due to the growing number of Chinese consumers in Tajikistan. The nature and drivers of Chinese land acquisitions in Tajikistan shed light on the various, sometimes competing, factors driving China’s broader foreign “land rush,” in Central Asia (and beyond).     

Built environment and tourism as road safety determinants in Benidorm (Spain)

The rise in the number of urban road accidents is a challenge shared by all European cities, which seek to improve mobility while reducing transport problems. In recent years, urban road accidents in Spain have been constantly increasing and now account for a larger share of the total number of road accidents. This paper aims to analyse the impact of urban factors on road accidents. For this purpose, a small-scale analysis of land use and road infrastructure has been conducted in the town of Benidorm, one of the main tourist destinations in Spain. In addition, a regression analysis has been carried out using a Negative Binomial distribution. The results show that factors such as the level of mixed land uses, population density and road infrastructure are related to urban road accidents. The findings also reveal that tourism environments have a positive impact on pedestrian road safety. Small-scale analyses, particularly those related to exclusively-oriented environments, such as tourism developments, should be studied in detail in order to promote safety, liveability and sustainability in our cities.     

兰新高铁对西北地区可达性及经济联系的影响

高铁正在深刻改变和影响我国区域空间格局，兰新高铁作为丝绸之路经济带上重要交通线，对西北地区经济发展具有重要推动作用。通过GIS网络分析及成本加权栅格法构建模型，综合选用最短时间距离、加权平均旅行时间及经济联系强度指标，定量分析兰新高铁对西北地区可达性及经济联系的影响。结果发现：兰新高铁引发了非均衡的时空收敛效应，影响和重塑了区域空间结构，沿线城市可达性提升优于非沿线城市，“核心-边缘”格局得到强化；兰新高铁提升了中心城市的辐射能力，加速中心城市的空间扩张和重构，中心城市一日交流圈面积（3h）均有增加，在空间上沿高铁线呈带状分布；兰新高铁增强了城市间经济联系，促进高铁沿线经济带的发展，沿线城市经济联系中心度得到提高，区域经济联系模式“廊道效应”明显。本研究为完善西北地区交通网络及推动丝绸之路经济带建设提供参考。     

WHEN SHOULD SEISMIC RETROFITTING OF EXISTING STRUCTURES BE IMPLEMENTED IN ORDER TO MINIMIZE EXPECTED LOSSES

The usual outcomes of the seismic safety analysis for an existing civil engineering structure axe the probability of exceedance of specified limit states and the increase in safety due to retrofitting interventions. This information can be used in several ways. For a single structure, one can compare it with desired target reliability values; for structures belonging to a network, e.g. highway bridges [Donferri et al., 1998], electric networks [Vanzi 1996, 2000) or strategic buildings [Nuti and Vanzi, 1998] they can also be used to assess the priority of interventions.

In this study, an alternative use of the reliability values for existing structures is proposed, which answers the following question: when, i.e. in which year from the date of construction, should seismic retrofitting be implemented so as to minimize the expected total cost? In the expected total cost, here, both the costs of retrofitting and possible disruption, due to delayed retrofitting, are accounted for.

The method proposed computes the expected costs by analysing the branches of the event tree for the problem built after strong but reasonable and highly simplifying assumptions on the problem. Although these assumptions limit the general applicability of the solutions obtained, they allow the building up of an extremely agile and effective solution scheme.

The results obtained from the study, i.e. the year in which it is economically best to implement retrofitting and what the expected annual equivalent cost is, are presented in diagrams and in analytical form, as a function of the most important variables. Finally, an example application on a real structure is presented, which shows all the steps to undertake with the proposed method.     

SEISMIC SAFETY OF AGED CONCRETE GRAVITY DAMS CONSIDERING FLUID-STRUCTURE INTERACTION

It is important to predict the behaviour of an aged concrete gravity dam during an earthquake and to assess its degraded capacity to withstand future earthquakes, so that remedial measures can be taken at the right time. The assessment of operating and ageing dams is more important, since the analyses procedures may become obsolete and state of the art may change since the time of construction. In this paper, an approach to include the time dependent degradation of concrete owing to environmental factors and mechanical loading in terms of isotropic damage index is presented. An effective numerical algorithm for seismic analysis of a concrete dam in the vicinity of an infinite reservoir with the application of damage mechanics considering fluid-structure interaction is presented. The performance of an aged dam with a known percentage of isotropic or orthotropic damage due to seismic excitation is studied.     

Inter‐artifactual Technology Transfer: Road Building Technology in the Netherlands and the Competition Between Bricks,Macadam, Asphalt and Concrete

How did asphalt become dominant in pavement technology? This analysis argues that the victory of asphalt, as of many other technologies that compete with alternatives, is not so much the result of substitution at the level of the artifact or of the technology, but rather is the result of competition at the level of (technical) properties and (user) functions. The case of pavement technology shows that that technology becomes dominant which appears to be able to integrate as many functions as possible, and notably those originally provided by rival technologies, into its own system. This analysis concludes that in the history of technology the artifact does not always seem to be the most fruitful unit of analysis. Seen from the perspective of the user, artifacts are carriers of function sets. From the perspective of the designer or producer, the technology or artifact that contains the set of properties which best enables the preferred function set has a better chance of becoming dominant.     

近代澳门半岛北部的市域扩张与道路建设

1840年鸦片战争以后,中国国势衰微。澳葡当局趁机逐步向澳门城外扩张,突破了维持几百年的葡城界限。界墙以北的大片农田与村落被逐步占领,澳葡当局且进行大规模的建设。其中,最为重要的是马路的修建,它将澳门半岛北部的华人村落联系了起来。这样,一方面强化了澳门老城区与关闸外中国大陆的陆路联系,另一方面也为澳葡当局以后强行征用华人村落的土地、实现殖民统治创造了条件。本文主要利用澳门街道名册和地图数据,分析了澳门半岛北部主要道路的沿革,最大程度地复原其历史面貌。     

Silk Road glass in Xinjiang,China: chemical compositional analysis and interpretation using a high-resolution portable XRF spectrometer

In this paper we explore the major, minor and some trace elements of sixty-five glass beads from eighteen oasis sites both north and south of the Taklamakan Desert, the ancient centre of the Silk Routes linking East and West; the samples date from the Warring States period (475–2211 BCE) to the Tang Dynasty (618–907 CE). Using a high-resolution portable XRF spectrometer, with special attention to issues of surface weathering and sample preparation, we obtained quantitative chemical compositional data that, when combined with archaeological context and the technology of bead manufacture, provide the basis for an understanding of both changes in glass type over time, and possible source areas for the Xinjiang glasses. While glass beads at the early sites (1st c. BCE to 4th c. CE) were coming primarily from Kushan-controlled territories in northern India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, with a small contribution from central China, most of the later glass (4th–10th c. CE) is similar to that produced in the Sasanian Empire at such sites as Veh Ardashir in central Iraq. These changes most likely reflect changing cultural and economic conditions in the Silk Road towns.     

秦汉直道研究与直道遗迹的历史价值

本文针对当前在秦汉直道研究方面的种种不同说法,重新分析有关秦汉直道的历史文献和考古调查结果,指出直道南端起始于甘泉,是以甘泉至咸阳间的已有道路为基础,这条道路的南端起点,实质上应是咸阳。根据唐代以前比较可靠的文献记载,目前只能完全肯定直道乃是连通云阳(甘泉)和九原两地,但在这两地之间具体究竟怎样连接,并没有特别可靠的证据足以复原。史念海主要依据唐代文献记载对直道路线所做的复原,亦即西线方案,反对者并没有能够提出有力的文献依据,所以,在目前看来,还是一种相对比较可信的说法。