Geography of the Silk Road

Here's a link to an interesting article on the geography of the silk road. Interestingly, the article and associated web site makes this comparison of the old silk road and the world wide web:

"The historical Silk Road repersents for us a time in history where people were forced to deal with cultural, national, and racial differences. We look back at the historical Silk Road for guidance as we try to face problems like discrimination and religious rights. We here at Humboldt State University refer to the Silk Road not only as a trade route, but as a metaphore for the age of information in which we live. The World Wide Web provides a vast sea of information in the form of ideas, points of view, pictures, stories, and reports of occurances around the globe. In an instant, we can talk with someone in Saudi Arabia or China (so long as they have a computer) and encounter a foreign culture and way of life, just like people did on the Silk Road a thousand years ago, somewhere between China and Europe."

Wikipedia also hosts a richly detailed entry on the silk road spanning the whole of Central Asia.

Nathu La opens for trade on September 30

NEW DELHI, JULY 13: The Nathu La Pass linking China and India will be formally opened for border trade on September 30. This was decided at a high-level meeting chaired by Cabinet Secretary B K Chaturvedi on Monday.

It is understood that trade marts will be set up at Requinggang — the border market in the Tibet Autonomous Region — and Sherathang, on the Indian side of the border.

Ministry officials said the change at the Centre, lack of infrastructure at the border outpost to deal with the inflow and outflow of goods and security issues were responsible for the delay in opening the route even though the route was cleared from the security point of view earlier this year.

The 150-km road on the Nathu La-Gangtok-Siliguri route had to be upgraded and strengthened, and passport, immigration and customs, and excise controls still needed to be established before the route is opened. A warehouse facility was also needed around Changgu to facilitate border trade. [more]