By Sara Birkenthal
Foreign Policy - May 5, 2016
The pagoda-like buildings of Dragon City, a Chinese megamall, is an
odd vision in the desert landscape of Muharraq, the third-largest city
in Bahrain. The large complex, laid out in a traditional Chinese
courtyard style, sports cavernous hallways lined with larger-than-life
red lanterns hanging from industrial-looking ceiling beams. As I browsed
a store designed to look like a high-end watch retailer, the afternoon adhan,
or call to prayer, began to echo through the halls. Shoppers made their
way to the specially designated male and female prayer rooms located on
the ground floor of the mall. Many of the shopkeepers who were Chinese
remained in their stores. One salesman hummed along with the call to
prayer as he folded bedding. The emptying halls revealed an endless
array of items for sale: light-up sneakers, crystal chandeliers,
traditional Gulf incense, and custom-tailored abayas. And that
was just the section for commercial goods. Another wing was devoted
entirely to industrial items. There, I was greeted by a young shopkeeper
named Zhu selling jet skis. She was originally from Beijing, but had
just arrived the day before from Dubai, where she had lived for two
years.
Zhu is but one of the thousands of Chinese workers who have
come to the Gulf for better opportunities. The region is part of
China’s so-called New Silk Road
project, which connects Chinese companies to markets in the Middle
East, Africa, and throughout Asia. And Dragon City is an important brick
in the road. As China’s GDP growth slows,
President Xi Jinping is looking for new channels to sustain the
country’s growth, and the ambitious New Silk Road project is part of the
solution. At the heart of the initiative is the creation of a trading
route that retraces the original Silk Road and aims to offload some of
the country’s excess labor and goods to places such as the Middle East.
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