Cross-border Minorities as Cultural and Economic Mediators between China and Central Asia

Type Journal Article - China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly
Title Cross-border Minorities as Cultural and Economic Mediators between China and Central Asia
Author(s)
Volume 7
Issue 1
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2009
Page numbers 93-119
URL http://kms2.isn.ethz.ch/serviceengine/Files/RESSpecNet/105549/ichaptersection_singledocument/FC05DA6​9-73F2-497C-8E76-0B43C00D9A86/en/06_cccmcma20090293-119.pdf
Abstract
Sino-Central Asian trade is for the most part in the hands either of large state-run
enterprises, or of the Hans from Xinjiang—particularly the Xinjiang Production
and Construction Corps—or lastly of private entrepreneurs from Zhejiang. The
Uyghurs, Dungans, and China’s Central Asians minorities have therefore a
limited room for trade and their competitiveness remains modest. However, these
cross-border minorities play, have played, or might be called upon to play, a role in
the development of Sino-Central Asian economic relations and in the cultural
mediations between the two worlds. Even if this niche remains modest compared
to the overall Sino-Central-Asian relations, it constitutes a key element in the
social strategies of trans-nationalization being put into place by these minorities.

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