Reconnecting Eurasia: a new logistics state, the China–Europe freight train, and the resurging ancient city of Xi’an

ABSTRACT

Large-scale transport systems project expansive geographical reach via far-reaching connectivity and spillovers. This phenomenon, however, is understudied for its impact on economic and spatial relations across geographic scales and economic domains and the mechanism carrying and transmitting that impact. Despite its short existence, the China–Europe Freight Train (CEFT) has already created a long geographical reach and major impact on the transport landscape spanning China, Central Asia, and Europe. This paper argues that a new logistics state in China at the local level is driving and sustaining the CEFT from below relative to the national government and market forces. Using the ancient city of Xi’an as a characteristic embodiment of a logistics state, this paper demonstrates how the logistics state-driven CEFT has multiplied routes and redirected trade flows between China and Europe, reorganized inter-city and cross-border production and supply chains from China to Europe, stimulated a new geography of globally oriented and nationally rebalanced local consumption in China, and fueled major new development in an ancient and economically lagging city. The paper concludes on critical complications and implications from the Chinese local logistics state for the CEFT’s sustainability and future research.

KEYWORDS:

• Geographical reach
• logistics state
• China–Europe freight train
• Eurasia
• Xi’an

Acknowledgments

I thank the Henry Luce Foundation for an institutional grant to Trinity College and the Karen and David Thomas Urban China Endowment at Trinity College for supporting its Silk Road summer program in 2018, which inspired this research. I also acknowledge the Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professorship Fund at Trinity College and a Regional Studies Association Policy Expo grant for partial financial support. Earlier ideas and information in this paper were presented at the Nordic Center for Asian Studies in Copenhagen, the International Institute for Asian Studies in Leiden, a workshop at the Open University, the United Kingdom, the Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space in Erkner, Germany, the Mercator Institute for China Studies in Berlin, and the University of Turin during October and November, 2019, and a World Bank conference in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on 27 January 2020. I thank the hosts of and audiences at these seminars and conferences for their support and feedback. I am grateful to Julie Gamble, Zhigao Liu, Peter Rimmer, and two anonymous referees for comments on earlier versions, to informants in Xi’an for providing valuable information and sharing grounded insights, and to Jiashun Xue for modifying Figure 3 and 4. I am alone responsible for any remaining errors.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The CEFT was officially designated as the China Railways Express (CRE) in 2016. I prefer the acronym of CEFT to convey the bi-directional and two-ended nature and form of this trans-continental rail network.

2. “What is the difference between transport and logistics?” Corlett Express Trucking; accessed from https://corlettexpress.com/what-is-the-difference-between-transportation-and-logistics/.

3. The ITL Group website; accessed from http://en.xaitlgroup.com/itlgroup/introduction/509.htm.

4. “Secretary Wang’s first visit to the ITLP projects Xi’an’s ambition,” Wangyi News, 6 September 2019; accessed from https://3g.163.com/news/article_cambrian/EODFDI8G0525HAAA.html.

5. “Strong transportation, strong nation,” an interview with Zhang Dawei, Deputy Chairman and General Secretary of China’s International Economics Exchange Center, Outlook East Weekly, August 18; accessed from https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/BnCYjU5yod2ZNBgrxwzHDA.

6. “Five cities to build distribution hubs for China–Europe railways,” China Daily, 18 July 2020; accessed from https://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202007/08/WS5f05589ea3108348172580bb.html.

7. “Shaanxi: Accelerating the construction of Xi’an as a CEFT consolidation center,” Shaanxi.yidaiyilu.net, 2 April 2021; accessed from https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Ohrvjx8NiO9QLIJcOTA12Q.

8. Besides the New Eurasian Land Bridge, the BRI’s five other economic corridors are: the China–Mongolia–Russia Corridor, the China–Central Asia–West Asia Economic Corridor, the China–Indochina Peninsular Corridor, the Bangladesh–China–India–Myanmar Corridor, and the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor.

9. “A decade of CEFT development,” yidaiyilu.gov.cn, 16 March 2021; accessed from https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/64gWlmHE7EClGFjA7a4lfQ.

10. ”Why is this first CEFT so important for Chongqing?”Sohu.com, 18 December 2020; accessed from https://www.sohu.com/a/441025545_731021.

11. “The CEFT is accelerating,” The Alashankou WeChat platform, 29 May 2021; accessed from https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/-Ois1S5EsyEbjFZ42MxAnA.

12. “An overview of the CEFT: Which three cities are at the top?” yidaiyilu.gov.cn, 26 March 2021; accessed from https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/InKxDIgiTfe7oVn8UQ78sw.

13. Ibid.

14. “Trade with the BRI countries reaches 5.4 trillion RMB,” yidaiyilu.gov.cn, 25 July 2021; accessed from https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/ceOsFVnmmk1dEZoiu5-kIw.

15. “The CEFT Chronicle 2011–2020,” yidaiyilu.gov.cn, 7 December 2020; accessed from https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/z3fxvFhj2C5QlBPQVGpycg.

16. “Who is the CEFT king in cargo carrying?” yidaiyilu.gov.cn, 5 January 2021; accessed from https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/ZyLdcdVxfOnhKfrsHlenVw.

17. Ibid.

18. “The CEFT ‘Chang’an Express’ has exceeded 10,000 trains,” Shaanxi.yidaiyilu.gov.cn, 12 August 2021; accessed from https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/PKAUvQyqO18qfIVrpI6PMw.

19. “DHL and Xi’an Group launches fastest rail freight service between China and Germany,” Indonesia Shipping Gazette, 5 November 2019; accessed from https://indoshippinggazette.com/2019/dhl-and-xian-group-launches-fastest-rail-freight-service-between-china-and-germany/.

20. A report on cooperation between the ITLP and Nippon Express, personal communication with a staffer at the ITLP, September 2019.

21. “Regularization of the Xi’an-Istanbul line,” The ITLP WeChat platform, 7 January 2021; accessed from https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/1O0kRRa3NymR8TkYetnnkQ.

22. “Building up the consolidation center,” The ITLP WeChat platform, 7 August 2020; accessed https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/vVWap4zNiC27PFQnHttuRw.

23. “How to discover the CEFT’s new customers?” yidaiyilu.gov.cn, 9 September 2020; accessed from http://www.yidianzixun.com/article/0QgcNrMT.

24. “How to continue growing the CEFT?” yidaiyilu.gov.cn, 11 April 2021; accessed from https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/MBnaUsWmmoNGZjhDqIPkkg.

25. Same as Note 23.

26. “Using the CEFT to elevate Xi’an’s large trading avenue,” Shaanxi.yidaiyilu.gov.cn, 9 April 2021; accessed from https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/lI4-qs9pRGefpYFpe37Tkg; 8 June 2021; accessed from https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/L-PcOWEzXKv38_xD-Z2lRxw.

27. “Shaanxi Siying Electronics Co. sends its products to Kyrgyzstan on the Chang’an Express,” Shaanxi Daily, 28 January 2019; accessed from http://www.51touch.com/lcd/news/dynamic/2019/0128/52948.html.

28. “Shaanxi nourishes its foreign trade competitiveness,” Shaanxi.yidaiyilu.gov.cn, 24 March 2021; accessed from https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/wMbs_4kIU9bCtI2Qb2A5RQ.

29. “New China Rail Express train service imports Volvo Cars to Xi’an,” China Daily, 15 June 2018; accessed from https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201806/15/WS5b2387b9a310010f8f59d39f.html; “Volvo’s China-made SUVs exported to European market,” China Daily, 8 July 2019; accessed from http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201907/08/WS5d22d625a3105895c2e7c40f.html.

30. “The China–Europe freight train for Volvo returns to normal,” Jiangxi TV Station, 8 April 2020; accessed from https://cn.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202004/08/WS5e8d742ba310395ca8f746bb.html.

31. “The ITLP sends you happy New Year surprises,” the ITLP WeChat platform, 4 February 2021; accessed from https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Wdal2WP2cOzt4qco9o-bGQ.

32. “Alternative transport mode: China–EU trade on rail,” Yingzhi Zhang, IHS Markit, 17 March 2021; accessed from https://ihsmarkit.com/research-analysis/alternative-transport-mode-china-eu-trade-on-rail.html.

33. “Ulife as the portal for imported goods,” the ITLP WeChat platform, 24 September 2020; accessed from https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/wjmCDotDB7WAzRKBWwR4QQ.

34. Same as Note 26.

35. “Harvesting the other half: luxury consumption in China’s lower-tier cities,” Jing Daily, 6 January 2020; accessed from https://jingdaily.com/harvesting-the-other-half-luxury-consumption-in-chinas-lower-tier-cities/.

36. Same as Note 4.

37. Same as Note 28.

38. “JD.com’s Europe–China freight train takeover brings the Chinese market even closer to European merchants,” JD.com website, 22 May 2018; accessed from https://jdcorporateblog.com/jd-coms-europe-china-freight-train-takeover-brings-the-chinese-market-even-closer-to-european-producers/.

39. “Nourishing Shaanxi’s foreign trade competitiveness,” Shaanxi.yidaiyilu.gov.cn, 24 March 2021; accessed from https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/wMbs_4kIU9bCtI2Qb2A5RQ.

40. “China is now EU’s biggest trading partner,” The South China Morning Post, 16 February 2021; accessed from https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3121929/china-now-eus-biggest-trading-partner-exchange-complicated.

41. Same as Note 32.

42. Same as Note 32.

43. James Suokas, “China to scale down subsidies for Europe-bound cargo trains,” Global Times, 19 October 2018; accessed from https://gbtimes.com/china-to-scale-down-subsidies-for-europe-bound-cargo-trains.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported in part by the Henry Luce Foundation [Environment and Asian Studies]; Regional Studies Association [Policy Expo]; The Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professorship Fund at Trinity College.