Chen Xiangming

Chen Xiangming

Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professor of Global Urban Studies and Sociology, Trinity College, Connecticut

Chen Xiangming is the Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professor of Global Urban Studies and Sociology at Trinity College in Connecticut, US. Chen is a comparative scholar of cities and their dwellers in all their local attributes and conditions and their global dimensions and connections. In doing local research on the relationship between the Belt and Road Initiative and cities, he has travelled through such ancient Silk Road cities as Xi’an, Dunhuang, Kashgar, Horgos, Tashkent, Kokand, Samarkand, and Bukhara, from east to west.

A train leaving Russia and entering China at Manzhouli. (Photo: Jack No1/Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0)
Economy

Russia 'looks East': Surging logistics and trade flows across China-Russia border

By Chen Xiangming 07 Sep 2023
With China-Russia trade leaping many-fold since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, both sides have forged stronger cross-border transport and freight links, says US academic Chen Xiangming. However, this comes with challenges, due to Russia’s historical orientation toward Europe and severely underdeveloped Far Eastern regional and local economies.
A China Railway Express train travelling from the Qingdao China-SCO Countries Cooperation Hub to Uzbekistan, 12 May 2023. (CNS)
Economy

Back to the future: Trade routes from the Silk Road(s) to the BRI corridors

By Chen Xiangming 18 May 2023
Chinese President Xi Jinping convening an in-person summit with Central Asian country leaders in Xi'an, Shaanxi province this week is a timely reminder that trade continues to bind regions of the world, as new Silk Roads form out of the merging and melding of ancient and new routes in China’s BRI. US academic Chen Xiangming examines the issue.