In 2004, NPR correspondent Rob Gifford went “On the Road in China,” traveling 3000 miles from Shanghai to Korgaz along China’s Route 312 through Nanjing, Hefei, Xinyang, Xian, Lanzhou, Jiayuguan, and Urumi over 14 days. His seven-part report is available at <http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2004/aug/china_road/>.
Gifford’s fifth segment comes from a bus on the Silk Road, where his fellow travelers have spent the morning pulling at the hair on his arm. Conversing with Jang Guoching, a cell phone salesman along Route 312 and an Arabic-speaking Muslim of the Hui minority, reveals the change in the New Silk Road, where silk and spices have given way to cell phones and construction equipment. In conversations with Jang and the bus’ other passengers, American foreign policy is viewed critically. Still other passengers point out the rapid progress – though lagging far behind that of the Eastern cities – that in the Western regions of China is astonishing to people. At the end of the report, the bus breaks down and passengers are forced to hitch on another bus.