ABSTRACT
Since late 2013, yidaiyilu (One Belt One Road) has become a catchword in the Chinese government agenda. Yidaiyilu has been widely promoted among the Chinese people, which in turn has led to six million publications on Baidu, the Chinese search engine, by early 2015. The number of publications that can be traced multiplied in the following year and reached 16 million by the end of 2016. Yidaiyilu is said to be closely related to the ‘Chinese dream’, another catchword in Chinese politics, which was also introduced by Chinese President Xi Jinping. In fact, yidaiyilu could be understood as a crucial initiative to facilitate the realisation of the Chinese dream. The Chinese dream is a vision that brings power and prosperity to China, which can be achieved by two goals: first, to develop China into a ‘moderately well-off society’ – doubling the 2010 gross domestic product (GDP) per capita by about 2020, the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party; and, second, to build a strong, democratic, civilised, harmonious and modern socialist country by about 2049, the 100th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China (Kuhn 2013).
