China-based globalization is on the increase at the same time as United States-based globalization is in retreat.This is one of the central trends of our times.U.S.President Donald Trump is not so much a cause of the retreat of US-based globalization as a symptom.Although the rise of China-based globalization is no longer new,nothing symbolizes its ongoing impact better than the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21 st-century Maritime Silk Road,now usually termed simply the Belt and Road Initiative(BRI),which President Xi Jinping inaugurated in 2013.I expect that,over the next few decades,the BRI will transform the political,economic and cultural landscape over the vast Eurasian continent,in the seas to its south,and even into Africa.Interlinkages between the various countries of the region with China are likely to be stronger than at any time in the past.When the American and European continents were interlinked following the Christopher Columbus expeditions at the end of the fifteenth century,the West increasingly tended to dominate the world economy and culture,so that China’s earlier magnificent achievements in the fields of culture,political ideology and economics tended to be eclipsed.The Confucian emphasis on harmony became dimmed.Although the BRI is primarily economic,it also involves civilization much more broadly.The implication is that an understanding of the spread of Chinese culture and cultural values necessitates analysis of the past.To some extent the modern disciplines of economics,political science,international relations and sociology help in understanding.But this is one-sided.Anuanced analysis can come only by emphasizing also traditional Chinese approaches based on Chinese culture,including ideas and art-forms.Though the term Seidenstrasse(Silk Road) was coined first by the German geographer Baron Ferdinand von Richthofen(1833-1905) in 1877,the reality of China-based trade in silk was much older.Indeed,the Silk Road dates back at least to the Han Dynasty(206 BCE to 220 CE).It flourished in one form or another for many centuries,with the first half of the Tang Dynasty(618-907) forming a kind of golden age.China at that time was not only politically,economically and culturally powerful but also highly multicultural in its approach.China’s culture not only spread elsewhere,but it also welcomed and absorbed influences from outside.European images of China from the time of the Roman Empire down to the sixteenth century were not strong in the sense that people knew much less and were less interested than was later the case.But they were definitely positive.They were dominated by views of a magnificent Chinese culture,a prosperous country and good government.Marco Polo(1254-1324) expanded a very positive image,which even compared China’s main cities to paradise on earth,but this view was not new even in his time.It might be noted that cultural exchange along the Silk Road was by no means in one direction.Not only did China contribute arts and ideas,it also absorbed and then transmitted them to others.But,in my opinion,it is part of the brilliance of Chinese civilization that it was in effect able to make foreign things its own,and then pass them on to others.Examples include Buddhism and musical instruments,especially the pipa.Buddhism originated in India.Introduced into China during the Later Han Dynasty(25 to 220 CE),it became widespread and transformed there,with its own history,characteristics and achievements.It was also taken to other countries,such as Japan and Korea.Another example is the pear-shaped plucked string instrument called the pipa 琵琶.Its origin is uncertain and controversial,but it probably came from Central Asia.However,it developed with its own history,features and repertoire in China,becoming an essential part of Chinese music,which it remains to this day.The pipa also spread to other countries,notably to Japan in the form of the biwa,to Vietnam as the dan ty ba and to Korea as the bipa.Although the West is mostly positive about BRI,there are those who see it as aimed at spreading Chinese control over Central Asia and further west,a new form of colonialism.The BRI will strengthen Chinese political,economic and cultural influence,but I doubt it will be a form of colonialism,new or old.If one looks at European forms of colonialism,one can see that economic influence developed into political and general control.An excellent example is India.There,the private English East India Company carried out trade,but followed up with sending in armies when resistance emerged;finally the British crown ending up taking over the country altogether with the establishment of British India in 1858.I do not see the signs of such a development or potential in the BRI.And history suggests to me that the kind of aggression that leads to colonialism is quite inimical to the Chinese people.It is for this reason that I think the BRI has a very good chance of being a source of harmonious trade and cultural interchange across the Eurasian continent and elsewhere.At present the world seems to me more conflictual than it was a while ago.We see the rise of international terrorism to a degree that,only a couple of decades ago,very few observers expected.We are also witnessing the rise of competing nationalisms that point in a direction inimical to harmony and progress.In this context,I believe the rise of the BRI has the potential,through the spread of Chinese culture,for bringing about a more harmonious and prosperous world.There are two central arguments in this paper.They are:1.China-based globalization,symbolized by the Belt and Road Initiative,is on the increase,as US-based globalization is in retreat,and has the potential to transform the great Eurasian continent for the better in the medium-term future.2.The history of the Silk Road and the cultural interchange it involves,give hope that the spread of Chinese culture,which is included in the BRI,could make for a more harmonious and prosperous world in the coming decades.