Sino-Indian "Silk Road" reopens after 44 years

To the music of military brass bands, China and India set five decades of hostility behind them yesterday, opening a long-closed Silk Road pass across the Himalayas.

Both governments enthused about improving trade between the two rising powers of Asia, which is surprisingly low for growing economies with a population of more than a billion people each.

To the music of military brass bands, China and India set five decades of hostility behind them yesterday, opening a long-closed Silk Road pass across the Himalayas.

But the opening agreement restricts border trade to items such as goat fur and yak tails, on the Chinese side, and carpets, alcohol and cigarettes on the Indian side.

Indians can also export rice and barley to China, while China can send electric bicycles in the opposite direction.

The Silk Road

Katy Heslop
• Name coined in 1800s by Ferdinand von Richthofen, German scholar

• First developed in 1st century BC, and utilised by the Romans

• Route used to transport goods, including gold, ivory, silk, jade and furs

• Buddhism spread east along the road from India in fourth century, as Chinese rulers sent missionaries, who returned with scriptures and artwork

• Marco Polo was one of first Europeans to travel route. Returned to Italy in 1295 and collaborated on book about his discoveries

• Use declined from 14th century, when rise of Islam brought barriers between central and eastern Asia, and trade routes by sea developed.

• Trade with west declined as China became more isolationist, and by the 18th century road was little used