Chinese workers build a better world along Belt and Road

BEIJING - The monsoon has brought high waves and Wang Xiaoyin is especially attentive as he watches a huge machine suck sludge from the seabed.

The cutter-suction dredger is fetching sediment from the seabed to build a new runway at Velana International Airport in the Maldives.

"The new 3.4-km runway will allow large passenger jets such as the Airbus A380 to land," Wang says. "We have over 200 workers and 30 machines working around the clock."

Wang, 37, is among some 100 Chinese construction workers on the project. It is his 13th month in the Maldives. "I'm missing home and my son," he says.

The tropical sunshine has given him a tan. "Once I was mistaken for a local worker by some visiting Chinese officials and they asked me how I could speak such good Chinese," he recalls.

Beijing Urban Construction Group is building a number of facilities including the runway, landing field, and a cargo terminal. The company is working on projects in ten countries under the Belt and Road Initiative.

With an emphasis on infrastructure, the initiative is taking Chinese constructors, equipment and technology around the world.

Some 3,800 km away from the Maldives, Ran Sulong and Pu Xiaosong are training Ethiopians how to run Africa's first cross-border electric railway.

The line linking Addis Ababa in Ethiopia to Djibouti was built to Chinese standards, using Chinese equipment and opened last October. The railway has cut travel time between the two countries from seven days to ten hours.

Both Ran and Pu are experienced locomotive drivers with China Railway 16th Bureau Group.

"The students are smart and devoted," said 39-year-old Pu. There are 50 students in his class and they have six years to learn how to run the railway.

Besides Chinese capital and technology, Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM) is also spreading along the Belt and Road.

Beijing Tong Ren Tang Chinese Medicine Company, a leading TCM manufacturer in China, has opened over 130 outlets in 26 countries and regions.

Liu Dan, 53, has been working in Tong Ren Tang for over 30 years and travels the world offering medical advice.

"I worked in Britain in the 1990s. At that time only Chinese people would come to see us, later on more and more locals started to be interested in TCM," he says.

"However, Western medical theory and standards still dominate the world. Tong Ren Tang needs to overcome challenges such as language, culture and legislation to expand overseas."

Under the Belt and Road, China plans 50 TCM communication and demonstration bases along the routes. There will be international TCM standards and more than 100 registered products.