BAMYAN province in central Afghanistan had a rare chance to see the world’s tallest standing Buddha again after a visiting Chinese couple showed one of the two tallest Buddhas through image projection technology.

On June 6, 2015, the Chinese couple successfully projected an image of the tallest Buddha in Bamyan Valley, winning cheers from the local people.

Bamyan, once a prosperous town in Afghanistan in the pre-war period some three and a half decades ago, is strategically located, being a major town straddling the ancient Silk Road.

To promote common development and prosperity, China proposed the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, which is comprised of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. Since the implementation of the initiative, China, through technological innovation, has brought tangible benefits to countries along the routes.

In Kyrgyzstan, China’s high-tech seeds and agricultural technology and skills have helped local families live a better life.

Sherba Kalimovich, the breadwinner of a big Kyrgyz family, had a harvest several times better than years before when he began to grow corn with high-tech seeds developed in China.

The Kyrgyz farmer planted the Zheng 1002 and Zheng Huangnuo No. 2 corn seeds developed by China’s Henan Academy of Agricultural Sciences and successfully grew the crop in an industrial cooperation zone developed by China’s Henan Guiyou Industrial Group within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative.

He said his cornfield used to produce only 4 tons per hectare with the old seeds; now it produces 10 tons. He added that seed quality is also no longer a concern.

In 2014, to answer the call of the Belt and Road Initiative and Going Out policy, China’s Zhongtai Group and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, with strong support from the Tajik Government, jointly started the construction of the Zhongtai New Silk Road Agriculture and Textile Industrial Park in Tajikistan’s Dangara Basin.

In just over three years, the industrial park has gone from a blueprint to reality. Three Chinese agricultural and textile companies have been established in the park, bringing a total investment of 1.1 billion yuan (US$160 million) and a complete production cycle from cotton growing to processing and selling.

The park has enabled the two sides of the industry to coexist complimentarily. Tajikistan’s Dangara Basin enjoys a big temperature difference between day and night, thus local cotton boasts high quality thin fibers, high strength and a low degree of sugar.

Due to ineffective agricultural methods and aging agricultural machinery, local cotton growers largely rely on nature, resulting in very low production output.

Chinese companies, on the other hand, possess advanced cotton-growing technologies, textile processing expertise and rich stores of capital.

China’s technological innovation not only improves local people’s daily life but is also changing their traditional way of thinking.

Mitet Zhumabaev, a resident of Kazakhstan’s largest city Almaty, has grown accustomed to shopping online from his rural home town, which has a less developed light industry and mainly depends on imports to meet its demand for daily necessities, delivered by China’s AliExpress.

As a frequent visitor to the online shopping site, he said the site is very easy and safe to use and that he can now purchase inexpensive and quality Chinese products without leaving home.

“AliExpress provides an excellent shopping experience,” Zhumabaev said.

Two thousand years ago, China-produced silk opened up ancient trading routes, and at present, China’s initiative has again connected countries along the Belt and Road. It is expected that the new routes will reproduce the glory of the past. (Xinhua)