On bbc news, it is time for our world. China calls it the project of the century. As the west steps back from global leadership, this is china stepping forward remaking the map of the global economy. With no other Country Offering a big idea right now, this is the most ambitious bid to shape our century. Translation im under a lot of pressure. A massive roll out of infrastructure built by china. To drive trade across more than 60 countries. Translation its like a promised land. Chinas president claims its a win win for all. Translation we will not resort to outdated geopolitical manoeuvring. Critics say the only winner will be china. Translation the chinese have done nothing. Im setting out on a 7000 mile journey to meet the people of the new silk road, to understand how it will change their lives and our world. They call them the ships of the desert. For centuries the camel trains of the silk road dominated trade between china and the west. Now china wants to build a new silk road. Chinas belt and road vision is so vast it may be decades before we can tell whether its a worthy successor to the ancient silk road. But what we can say is that with no other Country Offering a big idea right now, this is the most ambitious bid to shape our century. Its not camels this time. These containers full of chinese goods are going by train. Chinas grand plan is to build roads, rails, container ports, All The Way Across Asia and into europe. Its hoping to wrap more than 60 countries in its embrace. Now, that is a massive new sphere of influence. Yiwu is the starting point for the train to europe. Famous as the town that makes christmas, and probably many of the things in your home. Oh, my gosh. Thats quite a weird feeling. China once sold silk, tea, ceramics, along the ancient silk route. Now it sells absolutely everything, and people come from All Over The World to buy their goods here. Ill tell you 7200. 0k. Nigels been exporting from here for 12 years. He loves the thrill of the deal. Can you doi. 75 . Come on, for an old friend. Now hes keen to bring goods back the other way. Ok, so you got this one. But red tape can make importing to china a nightmare. Nigel, you dont import from europe back into china, do you . No. Now, why is that . What makes importing to this market hard . The government can change the law at any time. For example, i was ready to import a container of wine last year had it all ready, but i didnt push the button on it because i was worried that they might change the law once its on the water. Its a very grey area at the moment. A Potential Market of nearly 1. 4 billion people. And the Chinese Government controls access. The emperors once claimed to rule all under heaven. With the United States no longer leading on trade, president xi has seized his chance, with a vision for land and sea routes wrapping the globe. Translation we will not resort to outdated geopolitical manoeuvring. Instead, we hope to achieve a new model of win win cooperation. Applause critics say it makes little sense to move 50 containers by rail when you can shift thousands by sea on a single ship. But its often a mistake to underestimate chinese ambition. Beijings invested huge political and Financial Capital in its new silk route, and this train is an important symbol of the Biggest Development plan in the world right now. Nearly half of the journey from china to europe lies inside china. A lot of ground to cover, and the wealth gap between east and west a challenge as immense as the terrain. Chinas new silk road needs to solve chinas problems this china out here, notjust the one ive left behind in yiwu. The silk road was once unimaginably remote to most chinese not any more. In less than a decade, chinas built twice as much high speed rail as the rest of the world combined, and pushed it out to the far west. Using the lure of the silk road to draw the biggest Tourist Force in the world. China hopes its new silk road, laden with tourists, can bring wealth to the west. Xinjiang is home to the uighur ethnic minority. Theyre mostly muslim, culturally closer to central asia, but outnumbered in their homeland. The region has witnessed a vicious cycle. Bitterness over Marginalisation Driving Bomb and Knife Attacks by uighurs, and met by overwhelming force and religious repression. China is investing here more than 250 million to build this theatre alone and the more china invests, the more it has to protect. But this Silk Road Show works hard to spin a story of ethnic harmony. Behind her stage make up, buhalima is a uighur. 0nce Xinjiang was known for music and dance, and shes sad her homelands now more famous for violence. Translation tourists ive met told me they heard xinjiang was unsafe, that they couldnt be sure to get out unharmed if they came here. Some people did some bad things and its affected us all. The theatre employs 100 uighurs, and china hopes the new silk road will give more a stake in the system. The ancient story has moments of danger, and chinas grand new narrative is still fraught with peril. Deliver on the spin of opportunities for all, or forever scan the crowd for the enemy within. Applause a cathedral in almaty. Kazakhstan a strategic stop on chinas new silk road, but traditionally russias backyard. Many kazakhs grow up speaking russian at school, watching russian tv, even supporting a russian football team. And none of that seems to have changed, but so much else has changed with the coming of china. Dosym satpayev is a political analyst. He sees the nations of central asia as billiard balls in a game between the big players, russia and china. China, i believe, will be likely some threat for our independence. Why . Because for china, kazakhstan is not an equal partner. For china, kazakhstan only is like one player in the big China Geopolitical game. The heart of the new silk road is infrastructure. With the chinese economy slowing back home, state Construction Companies are put to work abroad. This engineer is delivering a state of the art urban railway. Translation chinas advanced technologies bring in convenience and more comfort and safety for travellers in kazakhstan. If this project goes well, it will serve as a model for others. Translation but he tells me most of the jobs here will go to chinese workers, and the loan to build this railway was tied to a chinese design. China using its money and its muscle to achieve its own ends. Nearly two thirds of kazakhstans economy is oil and gas, an increasing share in chinese hands. This was once russias backyard but chinas now contesting that. Kazakhstan is rich in energy and minerals, and its a vital Transit Route stretching all the way from the chinese border to europe. So while kazakhs may still speak russian, a lot of oil in their tanks now belongs to china. But locals here say they see little benefit. In the village of kenkiyak a kindergarten has become a hostel for chinese workers. Ardak kubasheva was once a teacher here. Now she fears for their future. Translation the chinese have done nothing. There is a huge oil industry here but no jobs or facilities for young people. We want to live decently, so that we wont be ashamed of our village. She and others here complain of pollution and jobs going to outsiders. Government intimidation makes many kazakhs cautious on camera, but privately several accuse Chinese Companies of using bribes to cut corners. China says its presence abroad is a win win a win for china and a win for the people in its path. But thats not the experience here. They say their oil wealth is going elsewhere, and that win win means china wins once, and then china wins again. Some kazakhs will benefit from chinas plans more on the city skyline, a commuter railway, some highways, some pipelines but Building Big And Fast in a developing country, that often means corruption and crushing debt. Poland has looked west since the end of the soviet bloc, but Eastern Europe is becoming a key piece in chinas strategicjigsaw. Its already started mopping up assets, and hopes the new silk road will bind them together. Stalowa wola, built 80 years ago to make steel and things that can be made from steel, like military tanks and bulldozers. In those days nearly everyone here worked for the polish state, but whos providing the jobs now . This diggerfactory was near financial collapse when Chinese State firm liugong rescued it and 1200 workers. The average salary for the Assembly Line workers, its around 3800 per month. Right. But he tells me this is a business, not a charity. He arrived as a manager six years ago, and hes still trying to modernise the place. Their factory in china takes just seven minutes to make a machine which takes four and a half days to build here. He is a long way from home. Its like a bachelors life a little bit, yeah. Like in the army. So your parents are keen for you to get married so that they can have grandchildren. I mean, either trying to help you find somebody . They really did. They tried to introduce potential girlfriends for me. Could you search for someone online who actually wanted to live in poland, who even wanted to live in stalowa wola, poland . In the mind of chinese girls they dont have any idea about stalowa wola its notjust a wife he needs. At work the companys been struggling for orders. He needs the massive building projects on chinas new silk road to boost demand for diggers and keep his workers injobs. We havent seen a mass of orders yet. So no real difference to the bottom line yet . Thanks to the one belt 0ne Road Initiative i think the customers, they really have the need for the machines, but not yet. Belt and road is the official name for chinas new silk road. Its got an official name because its a government project. State Construction Companies, state banks not private traders or investors. Critics say this could be digging the world into a big hole. This is a plan by the state agencies, and its going to be implemented by state agencies, so my worry is that its going to end up with a huge amount of bad loans. With dozens of countries involved, it could be very very dangerous. Where some see risks, others see opportunities. China has a growing appetite for milk from where the grass is greener. Wieslaw inherited this land from his father, and hell pass it on to his son. They want to expand the farm and the business. He says china could be part of their future. Translation china is a very big and interesting market for us, and we want to try it. Its like a promised land. We are daring to think of doing new things now. But will china be happy to just purchase the product . In some of polands neighbours, its Buying Farmland and setting up its own fast dairy herds. Say im a Chinese Investor and i come and knock on your door and i say, ive got a lot of money i want to buy your farm. You can just sit and take it easy. Translation no, thanks. I wouldnt sell it to anybody. It is my father and grandfathers land and i want to have my touch on this farm. I dont want to sell it and have only money. Its a long way from this Milking Parlour to the Breakfast Table in beijing. Europe complains of chinese import barriers. It sells only half as much to china as china sells here. And europe worries that beijings learned the art of divide and rule, to force a path through europe for its new silk road. Shall we have jam first or Clotted Cream first . Whats the right answer . Theres no right or wrong. Lessons in the british tradition of Afternoon Tea from a chinese citizen. The lovely sweet jam. Tingting plans to take her pitch from an essex tearoom to china. A communist state perhaps, but one with a healthy appetite for the rituals of the british ruling class. Herjam is with berries straight from the tiptree farm. Chinas consumers getting choosy about food quality. A huge market but hard to stand out. I think were still at the beginning of thejourney. We are starting small by introducing new things, and a few things. I mean, the chinese are a curious country, 01 cuiious consumers they always surprise us. I have never seen so much jam it is, a world ofjam. So these are all bound for china . Mm. But chinas a long way away, and shipping by sea can take two months. No wonder the uk currently sells more to the tiny republic of ireland. Tingting hopes the new Train Service will help. Once a symbol of British Empire and engineering, now its chinas great age of the railways, carrying uk hopes for post brexit markets. From one end of the new silk road back to its start. Three weeks later and those British Goods from the train are on display at a chinese trade fair. No one but me showing an interest. Its a local stir fry which captures the crowd. So how are other european exporters doing . Theres certainly a lot of curiosity about the european products in there, but i didnt overhear any huge deals being done. I think theres still a long way to go. The ancient silk road was driven by private traders from many countries. The new version is Chinese State money and muscle. China has the most ambitious plan for our century. If it succeeds, it will make China Superpower again, even mightier perhaps than the empires of old. But if it fails, itll leave a legacy of bad blood which poisons chinas future, and taints even the grandeur of the past. Welcome back to bbc news where we are going to go over shortly to the london stage into the world athletics championships. Earlier we saw sir mo athletics championships. Earlier we saw sirmo farah athletics championships. Earlier we saw sir mo farah fail to achieve the double gold in the 5000 metres. He got the silver but we are looking ahead now to the last race of usain bolt before he retires, taking part in the four by 100m relay for jamaica. We can see the track at the London Stadium and we saw them coming out of the tunnel for this final race and it will be jamaica and the others in the line up will be Great Britain who are hoping for a medal, it hasnt been a particularly successful World Aquatics Championships for Great Britain, the only two middle so far have been one by sir mo farah, his gold and silver. The americans will also be in this line up and we can see them coming out now, chinese, two and all eyes on usain bolt in his final track race a glittering career. He didnt quite manage it come he came third with a bronze in his individual 100m. He will be hoping to finish on a high here this evening and i think there will be mixed feelings among the crowds. They would love for Great Britain to have a medal here but they would like to see usain bolt do well, also. Here he comes. With his team mates. Usain bolt will run the last leg and looking pretty relaxed, he must be used to this after all these yea rs must be used to this after all these years but here come the americans, the United States and gatlin will be running, the man he beat usain bolt in the 100m pretty much to peoples surprise. Expected usain bolt to win that race. And the turkish here as well he may be not expecting a medal but you never know. Things have been unpredictable so far, we have not had the happy endings people expected. Sir mo farah looked devastated as he crossed the line not what he wanted, how he want to finish, he will appear again in road racing who switches attention to marathon running. He was here with his family, some in tears, too. This is the man everyone has their eye on this evening usain bolt. For the last time he has had an incredible career, eight time 0lympic last time he has had an incredible career, eight time Olympic Champion and now he is warming up. Jamaica finished behind slower than Great Britain and america in the first heat but those heats dont matter. It is the final that counts. Usain bolt afterwards in an interview said it is hard to be that because of the energy i am getting from the crowd the slightest feel happy and he really is a favourite here with everybody in the London Stadium who love watching him race and he will leave quite a hole when he goes in such an incredible personality. Lets cross over and join the bbc Commentary Team for this, usain bolts final race, the four by 100 relay. Steve cram, if anything has been thrown up in the one championships it is that nothing is predictable. Will the story end with a happy ending, lets find out. |j suppose it depends on your point of view. I think this stage and for most view. I think this stage and for m ost fa ns view. I think this stage and for most fans around the world, a Win Forjamaica and for the great man in his last race would be celebrated just as much perhaps as a british gold medal here. We would defer to the great man and the last time you going to see him. It is incredible to think that we have talked about this moment for so long, all of the medals come all of the records. He has stood like a colossus over this sport for so long. And now, the final moments are close. The last time we will see those legs, that great action of his in full flow. Playing to the crowd, as ever. The spotlight is like a magnet to him. Imagine running down this home straight, imagine with this crowd roaring, knowing that usain bolt is chasing new home, goodness me. Lets talk about the british team for a second. Those are the men running the last leg, Mitchell Blake, for Great Britain. He has been given this leads now regularly. The change perhaps was to bring in adam gemili, not picked individually but he did look superb in qualification when they ran the second fastest time ever by a british team. Danny talbot has made the event his own. The power and the speed of Mitchell Blake on the final leg. A huge roar. We do not think the french are contenders. Jamaica have brought in the olympic and world champion. United states have made a change. For