Qa few days before Christmas, Florence Widdicombe, a 6-year-old girl from the suburbs of London, discovers a message while looking at the greeting cards bought by her mother: “We are foreign prisoners from Qingpu prison, Shanghai, China. Forced to work against our will. Please help us and tell a human rights organization. We all know that exploitation and misery are sometimes hidden beneath our trees.
Today, a new key element, but still little known, is emerging in our globalized trade: the New Silk Roads. Behind this poetic name evoking Marco Polo and the mysterious cities of Samarkand and Bukhara hides a monumental project of rail and sea connections through China, Central Asia, eastern Africa and Europe.