Traditional trade routes that penetrate the natural barrier of the Himalayas are critical for connecting major Chinese and South Asian markets. Research on these trade routes can contribute significantly to facilitating the construction of the South Asian Corridor and enhancing trans-Himalayan connectivity. Combining historical literature, field surveys, and geographic information system (GIS) techniques, this study examined the spatial distribution characteristics and evolution process of the routes, focusing on transverse valleys of the Himalayan arc. The key findings were as follows. First, there are 21 traditional trade routes traversing the Himalayan region: six Sino-Nepalese routes, four Sino-Bhutanese routes, and eleven Sino-Indian routes. Second, the evolution of traditional trade routes has entailed five distinct phases: an incipient period (pre-7th century), formation (7th century-842 AD), development (842-1959), decline (1959-1962) and recovery (1962-present). Third, the incipient and formative developmental phases were prompted by the spread of Buddhism and the exchange of goods. The stability of local governments in Tibet and Central China and favourable border trade policies along with Britain's colonial expansion and commercial interests stimulated further development of traditional trade routes. However, India's strategic miscalculation and "Forward Policy" instigated the decline phase, while the demands of regional cooperation and development are currently the key drivers of the restoration and construction phase. Finally, to shelve disputes, promote cooperation and development, and enhance political mutual trust, governments should recover and construct traditional trade routes by replanning and constructing border trade markets, expanding border trade, developing pilgrimage and tourism, and strengthening cross-border cooperative research under global climate change.
As the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) continues to advance, the proportion of China’s investment in mineral resources has increased yearly. However, the current research on mineral resources investment risk mainly focuses on specific resources or combinations of minerals. There is still a lack of risk assessment research regarding mineral resources as a whole, which leads to the lack of appropriate methods for decision makers to consider the overall investment risk. This research establishes a six-dimension (6-D) investment evaluation indicator system to comprehensively assess the mineral resources, including political, economic, social, resource potential, environmental risks, and China factors, and 50 countries were studied. Various mineral resources are integrated into the resource potential dimension for quantitative risk assessment calculations. The entropy–fuzzy method determines the indicator’s weights and calculates the risk assessment. The results indicate that resource potential is the main determinant of overseas mineral resources investment. The outcomes show that Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, India, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Russia are ideal for China’s mineral resources investment. The findings provide a theoretical and methodological basis for the further macroscopic study of mineral resources investment risk between countries.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.