“丝文 in Uzbekistan” Team’s First Day Research in Uzbekistan

Preface

On January 27, 2026, the “Siwen in Uzbekistan” overseas practice team from Tsinghua University’s Zhishan Academy arrived in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. The next day, they launched an in-depth research project themed “China-Uzbekistan Economic and Cultural Exchange Against the Background of the Belt and Road Initiative.” On that day, the teachers and students visited the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Institute of Modern History of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan, and the Ministry of Higher Education of Uzbekistan. Through three rounds of dialogue, they gained an initial understanding of Uzbekistan’s economy, culture, and education, aiming to further explore the historical logic, practical drivers, and future prospects of China-Uzbekistan cooperation, and to provide youth perspectives and solutions for the development of the two countries and the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Embassy Dialogue

The team first visited the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Republic of Uzbekistan. After a simple greeting, Minister Counsellor Wang Jiwei introduced some basic overviews of China-Uzbekistan relations. During the discussion, the China-Uzbekistan comprehensive strategic partnership for a new era was repeatedly mentioned by both sides. This relationship is the highest level of China’s foreign partnership and also the highest positioning of Uzbekistan’s foreign exchanges.

The solidity of China-Uzbekistan relations is reflected in the three-wheel drive of “stability,” “substance,” and “connectivity.” “Stability” lies in the high-frequency interactions under the guidance of head-of-state diplomacy. More than 5,000 Chinese enterprises form a stable basic disk, especially central enterprises that play the role of “stabilizers” in key areas. “Substance” is reflected in the intensive weekly direct flights, the ubiquitous Chinese elements, as well as the 33 pairs of friendly provinces and cities, and the vibrant educational cooperation and youth exchanges. The all-round people-to-people and economic and trade exchanges make the cooperation achievements tangible. “Connectivity” refers to the development philosophy of mutual connectivity between the two countries and the continuous alignment in legal practice and business environment. Chinese-funded enterprises focus on localized operation and talent cultivation, fulfill social responsibilities, and achieve interest integration and people-to-people connectivity. Despite facing localization challenges, with high-level mutual trust as the rudder, practical cooperation as the sail, and conceptual connectivity as the oar, China-Uzbekistan relations are moving forward steadily and far.

Academy of Sciences Seminar

In the afternoon, the team entered the Institute of Modern History of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan. This building, which was built during the Stalin era, is itself a witness to history.

The Institute of Modern History of the Academy of Sciences is divided into three directions: biochemistry, humanities and social sciences, and mathematical physics. In 2017, the new president separated it from the Ministry of Higher Education, making it an important institution on an equal footing with the latter. In 2025, the Institute of Modern History of the Academy of Sciences signed a cooperation memorandum with Professor Yang Chen from Shanghai International Studies University, and began translating Chinese books.

During the seminar, in response to the students’ questions about the history of the Silk Road, the teachers from the Institute of Modern History of the Academy of Sciences talked about their understanding of the Silk Road and mentioned its value: human mobility, economic cooperation, global stability, and national security. The students of the team benefited a lot from the seminar. At the end of the seminar, Professor Vladimir Paramonov presented the team with a book co-authored with Chinese scholars, “China and Central Asia’s Strategic Partnership and Economic Cooperation: On the Past, Present and Future of Central Asia and China in Political, Security and Economic Fields.”

Education Insights

Subsequently, the team visited the Ministry of Higher Education of Uzbekistan, focusing on the reality and future of China-Uzbekistan education cooperation.

Uzbekistan has 207 institutions of higher learning, with a long history of higher education. In recent years, the number of Uzbek students studying in China has jumped from about 150 to more than 1,500, a tenfold increase, becoming a vivid footnote to the warming of relations between the two countries. Many Uzbek universities have recognized Chinese double degrees and carried out diverse cooperation such as “2+2” joint training and summer camps.

Education cooperation can not only help Uzbekistan cultivate modern talents but also open a window for Chinese youth to understand Central Asia. The dialogue started from Zhang Qian staying for more than ten years to lay the foundation for exchanges, and talked about the historical story of Xuanzang studying Buddhism in Samarkand. Thousands of years later, education is still the warmest channel for mutual learning among civilizations. Both sides expect to expand cooperation forms such as joint education and teacher-student exchanges in the future, so that young people can become the inheritors of the Silk Road spirit in the new era.

Conclusion: Siwen in Uzbekistan, Youth Going Far

Visiting three places in one day, from the strategic overall situation of the embassy, the historical depth of the Academy of Sciences, to the education scene of the Ministry of Education, the “Siwen in Uzbekistan” team personally experienced the three dimensions of China-Uzbekistan cooperation: “stability” is like a rock, consolidating the foundation under high-level guidance and enterprise deep cultivation; “substance” blooms like flowers, bearing fruits from the interweaving of flights and people-to-people exchanges; “connectivity” reaches the future, opening up new paths from conceptual resonance to people-to-people affinity.

“Siwen in Uzbekistan” conveys that the Silk Road civilizations converge here, and the youth’s pens are writing a new chapter for it.