and Maritime Silk Road that have proliferated in the last few years, now under the aegis of
and visualized as One Belt, One Road (一带一路). We examine how these narratives
articulate with geopolitical and strategic ones in China before exploring the history of the
idea of Silk Road (s). An excavation of their origins in nineteenth-century German imperial
geography leads us to reflect on the past and present relations between states, empires, and …