Cooperation between China and Central Asian countries in the field of cultural heritage preservation in the context of the “One Belt, One Road” initiative

About the authors:

Gulnur R. Sufiyanova, Cand. Sci. (Hist.), Head of the Department of International Relations, Regional Studies and Tourism, University of Tyumen, Tyumen, Russia

g.r.sufiyanova@utmn.ru, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9020-7771

Anna G. Palchikova, Senior Lecturer, Department of International Relations, Regional Studies and Tourism, University of Tyumen, Tyumen, Russia

a.g.palchikova@utmn.ru, https://orcid.org/0009-0005-1451-1412

Anna A. Saitova, Undergraduate Student, University of Tyumen, Tyumen, Russia

stud0000292467@study.utmn.ru, https://orcid.org/0009-0003-7955-6481

Abstract:

The article explores the role of cultural heritage preservation as a form of China’s cultural diplomacy. This approach allows the state to address several important objectives and contributes to the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative. This area of China’s foreign policy in the Central Asian region is viewed as one of the key strategic elements of the entire Initiative, enabling the filling of a major economic megaproject with humanitarian content, creating a shared value foundation for participating countries, and shaping a positive image of China. The theoretical framework of the study is based on constructivism and the concept of “heritage diplomacy,” which make it possible to examine heritage as a tool of diplomacy and as an important component of intra-regional economic and political ties that unite states and populations through the shared memory of the Silk Road. Using the case study method, areas of cooperation such as joint archaeological excavations, the study and preservation of historical monuments, and museum projects are examined. Conclusions are drawn regarding the objectives of China’s cultural policy in the context of implementing the Belt and Road Initiative.

References:

Ivanova Yu. V. (2025). Dunhuang in the digital age: The mediatization of sacred heritage and China’s cultural diplomacy. Culture and Art, (10). https://www.elibrary.ru/NVDQMH [In Russian]

Kozyreva, M. A. (2021). China and Russia’s humanitarian cooperation with Central Asian countries: Comparison of the effectiveness. In Yu. V. Kulintsev (Ed.), East Asia: Past, Present and Future. 2021 (pp. 262–270). IFES RAS. Retrieved July 23, 2026, from https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/gumanitarnoe-sotrudnichestvo-kitaya-i-rossii-so-stranami-tsentraln... [In Russian]

Lomanov, A. V. (2017). Strategy of China’s cultural influence in the “One Belt, One Road” project. China in World and Regional Politics. History And Modernity, (22). Retrieved July 22, 2026, from https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/strategiya-kulturnogo-vliyaniya-kitaya-v-proekte-odin-poyas-odin-p... [In Russian]

Trufanova, E. O., Emelyanova, N. N., & Yakovleva, A. F. (Eds.). (2022). Individual and Collective Memory in the Digital Age. Akvilon. [In Russian]

Chu Chengcheng. (2022). Confucius Institutes and their activities in countries of Central Asian region. Social and Humanitarian Knowledge, (1), 282–288. Retrieved July 23, 2026, from https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/instituty-konfutsiya-i-ih-deyatelnost-v-stranah-tsentralno-aziatsk... [In Russian]

Grincheva, N. (2013). Cultural diplomacy 2.0: Challenges and opportunities in museum international practices. Museum & Society, (1), 39–49.

Grincheva, N. (2022). Cultural diplomacy under the “digital lockdown”: Pandemic challenges and opportunities in museum diplomacy. Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, (1), 8–11. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41254-021-00237-z

Grincheva, N. (2023). “Contact zones” of heritage diplomacy: Transformations of museums in the (post)pandemic reality. In T. Lähdesmäki & V. L. A. Čeginskas (Eds.), Heritage Diplomacy: Discourses, Imaginaries and Practices of Heritage and Power (pp. 76–93). Routledge.

Kurek, A. (2025). Silk Road legacy and China’s cultural diplomacy in Central Asia. Nowa Polityka Wschodnia, 47(1), 115–132. Retrieved July 22, 2026, from https://czasopisma.marszalek.com.pl/uploads/periodicals/npw/2025/npw4701.pdf

Lähdesmäki, T., & Čeginskas, V. L. A. (2022). Conceptualisation of heritage diplomacy in scholarship. International Journal of Cultural Policy, 28(5), 535–550. https://doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2022.2054846

Li, A. (2018). “One Belt One Road” and Central Asia: A new trend in internationalization of higher education? // International Higher Education, (92), 14–16. http://doi.org/10.6017/ihe.2018.92.10216

Sciorati, G. (2022). “Constructing” heritage diplomacy in Central Asia: China’s Sinocentric historicisation of transnational World Heritage Sites. International Journal of Cultural Policy, (1), 94–112. https://doi.org/10.1080/10286632.2022.2141718

Wang, L. (2025). Research on the social functions of Silk Road cultural heritage: Cross-border tourism and the reconstruction of national memory. In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Interdisciplinary Humanities and Communication Studies (pp. 19–26).

Winter, T. (2015). Heritage diplomacy. International Journal of Heritage Studies, 21(10), 997–1015. https://doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2015.1041412

Winter, T. (2023). Heritage diplomacy. International Journal of Cultural Policy, (1), 130–134. https://doi.org/10.1080/10286632.2022.2141728