The conversion is rejuvenating China's ancient Silk Road to the west, immortalised by Marco Polo in the 14th century but rarely used since sea routes made the camel trains redundant.
BBC: News | oldBusiness | The future shines for China's Silk Road
Western traders brought these counting boards east on the Silk Road to China.
Sericulture and silk craftsmanship of China, based in Zhejiang and Jiangsu Provinces near Shanghai and Chengdu in Sichuan Province, have an ancient history.
And examples of ancient silk garments, accessories and textiles are being shown outside China for the first time as Nottingham Castle hosts the Living in Silk exhibition as part of the East Midlands' Cultural Olympiad, the council said.
Pakistan and Russia are as enthused about the Silk Trade Route's revival as China itself.
BBC: News | oldBusiness | The future shines for China's Silk Road
Mr Thubron spent eight months travelling the 11, 300 kilometres (7, 000 miles) of the old Silk Road from Xian in the heart of China to Antioch (Antakya) in Turkey and, although he scrupulously admits in a note that his trip was broken by fighting in northern Afghanistan and that he was obliged to continue the following year, this interruption does not disrupt the flow of his narrative.
Jewish history in China dates to at least the 8th century, when West Asian traders roamed the Silk Road.
For most Chinese companies, the domestic market is already so big and dynamic, the additional revenues offered by investing in smaller markets in the Gulf fail to justify the difficulty of operating there, according to Ben Simpfendorfer, an economist and author of The New Silk Road: How a Rising Arab World is Turning Away from the West and Rediscovering China.
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Chang Mai straddles one of Asia's great crossroads - a southern spur of the Silk Road - fusing commerce and culture between points farther north and west in modern-day China, Laos and Myanmar.
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