Xi'an Connects Its Ancient Silk Road Heritage With Modern SCO Cooperation

A Historic Trading City Builds New Connections

Three hundred representatives from 19 countries gathered in Xi'an in July 2025 for the Second Television Festival of Shanghai Cooperation Organization Countries. The event, lasting three days, showcased more than 40 cooperative outcomes in the audiovisual sector, bringing a modern form of cultural exchange to a city whose international connections stretch back more than two millennia.

Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi Province in northwest China, was once known as Chang'an. As the eastern starting point of the ancient Silk Road, it connected China with Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe through trade and the movement of ideas, religions, art and technology.

Today, television productions, university partnerships, diplomatic gatherings and transport projects are giving those connections new forms. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), founded in 2001, provides one framework for this activity. Its members are China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India, Pakistan, Iran and Belarus.

The organization seeks to promote security, economic development and cultural exchange across Eurasia. Xi'an's historical importance has made it both a symbolic meeting place and a practical center for cooperation, with recent years bringing summits, educational forums and cultural festivals to the city.

The July television festival shows how that role reaches beyond formal diplomacy. Its participants included media professionals, government officials and creative industry leaders. Their work ranged from an animated series involving five countries to plans for adapting Chinese scripts for Indian audiences. These projects put international cooperation into something people can watch, discuss and share in their daily lives.

What Xi'an's Archaeology Reveals

The Shaanxi Archaeology Museum helps explain why Xi'an's past remains relevant to these exchanges. Artifacts unearthed in the city include ceramics bearing Persian motifs, musical instruments associated with Central Asia and Buddhist relics from India. Together, they show how objects, beliefs and artistic practices moved along the Silk Road.

The ancient route carried silk, spices and other valuable goods, but its importance extended beyond commerce. People traveling between regions also brought knowledge, religious traditions and ways of making art. Xi'an's position at the route's eastern end made it a meeting place for those influences.

Merna Al Nasser of CGTN described that history during her exploration of the Shaanxi Archaeology Museum:

Artifacts tell the story of China's long history of connecting with the world.

Modern restoration projects, often undertaken with partners in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, continue the exchange through the preservation of shared heritage. The work protects historical objects and sites while giving institutions in different countries a reason to collaborate.

Xi'an's museums and restoration partnerships connect the city's archaeological record with its present relationships. Cultural exchange is visible both in what earlier generations left behind and in the joint work needed to preserve it.

Television Becomes a Meeting Place

The Second Television Festival of Shanghai Cooperation Organization Countries took that exchange into broadcasting and digital entertainment. Its theme, "Joining Civilizations: Audio-Video Creations for a Shared Future," placed storytelling at the center of efforts to bring people and cultures closer together.

Forums, content markets and exhibitions gave participants places to discuss productions, present work and explore cooperation. A content market connects people who make programs with those who may distribute or broadcast them. The festival's more than 40 cooperative outcomes illustrated the range of activity taking place across the audiovisual sector.

Batir Tursunov, an SCO deputy secretary general, connected the gathering to the host city's strengths:

Xi'an's rapid development and rich cultural heritage make it an ideal place for new cooperation and exchange in the audiovisual industry.

The projects included "Our Ensemble," an animated series coproduced by China, Russia, Mongolia, Saudi Arabia and Armenia. Another was "Silk Road 10,000-Mile Journey 2025: The SCO Route," a multimedia event crossing Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Both used contemporary media to introduce audiences to the cultures and histories of participating countries.

Chinese Microdramas Find an Audience in India

India's Kuku TV offered a concrete example of how programs can travel between markets. Vinod Kumar Meena, the company's cofounder, noted that Chinese microdramas had recorded more than 15 million views in India during their first weeks of release. Microdramas tell stories in very short episodes.

Lal Chand Bisu, Kuku TV's chief executive, described plans to build on that audience by adapting the scripts for production and distribution in India:

Chinese scripts perform well in India. We plan to adapt these scripts for local production and distribution.

Local adaptation gives a story another route to viewers: its script can become the basis for a production made for a different audience. Kuku TV's plans show how an exchange can move beyond distributing an existing program to creating a new version of it.

Amir Shayanmehr, head of the Beijing office of Iran's state television, called for more Iranian productions to be broadcast in China. He also advocated deeper cooperation on coproductions about culture, cuisine and history.

These proposals address exchange in both directions. Chinese stories are finding audiences abroad, while Iranian television representatives want Chinese viewers to see more of Iran's productions. Programs about food, history and everyday culture can help audiences learn about societies they may otherwise know mainly through political news.

Universities and Young People Extend the Exchange

Xi'an Jiaotong University is home to the University Alliance of the Silk Road (UASR), which connects universities from SCO member states through forums, student exchanges and collaborative research. Its headquarters place another strand of international cooperation in Xi'an.

The UASR Education Cooperation Forum brought educators and policymakers together to discuss ways to improve learning across national borders. University partnerships can connect students and researchers with institutions outside their own countries, sustaining relationships beyond a single festival or diplomatic meeting.

The "Youth: Connecting the Belt and Road Closer" short video contest encourages young people in China and abroad to create and share cultural content. It brings the same emphasis on storytelling seen at the television festival to younger participants, giving them a role in presenting their own cultures.

Technical training centers, Confucius Institutes and tourism initiatives complement these educational exchanges. Visa free travel and the "Year of Kazakhstan–China Tourism" are among the measures supporting contact between people. China has also pledged grants and thousands of training opportunities for Central Asian professionals.

Education, professional training and tourism serve different purposes, but each creates opportunities for direct contact. Students can study together, professionals can build skills, and visitors can encounter places and communities beyond the screen.

Transport Projects Give the Silk Road a Modern Form

China launched the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013, drawing inspiration from the ancient Silk Road. The initiative seeks closer connections across Asia, Europe, Africa and beyond through infrastructure, policy coordination and exchanges between people.

More than 150 countries and 30 international organizations participate in the BRI. Infrastructure means the physical systems that support daily life and economic activity, including transport connections. Policy coordination involves governments working together on the rules and plans that shape those connections.

Xi'an serves as a launchpad for major projects associated with this effort, including the China–Kyrgyzstan–Uzbekistan railway and the China-Europe Trans-Caspian Express Route. These initiatives aim to improve regional connections, support trade and create economic opportunities.

The relationship between transport and cultural exchange runs through Xi'an's story. The ancient Silk Road carried goods alongside ideas and traditions. Modern transport projects focus on moving trade and connecting economies, while festivals, universities and tourism programs support contact between people.

The BRI also places an emphasis on green and sustainable development, aligned with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In practical terms, that connects plans for economic growth with goals concerning the environment and people's living conditions.

Central Asian Diplomacy Adds Agreements

Leaders at the recent China–Central Asia Summit reaffirmed their commitment to the BRI and signed agreements covering infrastructure, energy, agriculture and digital innovation. The range of subjects shows cooperation extending from physical transport links to the systems used to produce energy, grow food and exchange information.

The summit's outcomes included the Treaty on Eternal Good-Neighborliness, Friendship, and Cooperation, the establishment of a permanent secretariat in China, and plans to double trade volumes and expand cultural and educational exchanges.

A secretariat provides a continuing administrative base for cooperation between meetings. Its place alongside a treaty and sector agreements gives the diplomatic relationship both a formal framework and work to pursue in specific areas.

Xi'an's present role sits within several related strands of cooperation. SCO activities bring together the organization's members, the BRI connects a wider group of participating countries and organizations, and China–Central Asia diplomacy focuses on that regional relationship. Transport, education and culture appear across these efforts.

Dialogue and the Shanghai Spirit

The SCO describes its approach through the "Shanghai Spirit," grounded in mutual trust, equality, respect for different civilizations and the pursuit of common development. These principles place cultural relations alongside the organization's security and economic goals.

At the Inter-Civilizational Dialogue among SCO Countries in Tianjin, officials and scholars argued for dialogue over confrontation. Participants rejected the idea of a "clash of civilizations" and advocated respect for diversity and resolving differences through conversation.

Sohail Khan, an SCO deputy secretary general, connected contemporary cultural cooperation with the ancient trade routes:

Cultural exchanges and dialogues among SCO countries represent the continuation and elevation of the ancient Silk Road in the modern era.

Language learning, cultural exhibitions and joint artistic projects were presented as tools for building peace and understanding. Each offers a specific form of contact, whether through learning to communicate, seeing another society's art or working together on a production.

Kazakhstan's ambassador to China, Shakhrat Nuryshev, highlighted exchanges between people, particularly young people and the creative industries, as a lasting investment in trust and cooperation. Tourism, educational exchanges and new cultural centers are growing, alongside increasing numbers of Kazakh students in China and a surge in Chinese visitors to Kazakhstan.

Technology Connects Preservation and New Media

Shaanxi Province is using artificial intelligence, digital platforms and smart infrastructure to strengthen economic and technological connections among SCO member states. Forums, exhibitions and collaborative projects in artificial intelligence and green technology form part of this work.

Digital tools also connect technology with Xi'an's cultural heritage. They are being used to restore and share ancient artifacts, while creative industries combine traditional storytelling with newer media formats.

These activities give the city's international role several practical settings: a museum preserving objects, a university supporting research, a festival connecting producers and a transport route supporting trade. Xi'an's historical identity provides a common reference for work taking place in different fields.

Three dates mark the development of the modern cooperation described here:

• 2001: The Shanghai Cooperation Organization was founded.
• 2013: China launched the Belt and Road Initiative.
• July 2025: Xi'an hosted the Second Television Festival of Shanghai Cooperation Organization Countries, bringing together 300 representatives from 19 countries.

By August 28, 2025, Xi'an's role combined preservation of its Silk Road past with contemporary media, education, technology and diplomatic activity. The connection between them rests on repeated opportunities for people and institutions in different countries to work together.

Key Points

• Xi'an, formerly Chang'an, was the eastern starting point of the ancient Silk Road and is now a center for SCO cultural and economic cooperation.
• The July 2025 television festival gathered 300 representatives from 19 countries and showcased more than 40 cooperative outcomes.
• Projects included the animated series "Our Ensemble" and a multimedia journey through Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.
• Chinese microdramas recorded more than 15 million views in India during their first weeks, with Kuku TV planning local adaptations.
• University partnerships, youth videos, professional training and tourism support exchanges beyond official meetings.
• The BRI and China–Central Asia agreements connect transport and trade plans with cultural and educational cooperation.
• Shaanxi's work in artificial intelligence, digital platforms and cultural preservation adds new forms of cooperation to Xi'an's historical connections.