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As President Xi Jinping is visiting the Republic of Uzbekistan, we now learn more about the Central Asian country along the ancient Silk Road.

With a population of more than 30 million, and an area of nearly 500,000 square kilometers, Uzbekistan is in the heart of the Central Asia.

Neighboring Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, it is a landlocked country with a fasinating history.

The land that is now Uzbekistan was once a crucial link in the ancient Silk Road trade route connecting China with the Middle East and Rome.

With a population of more than 30 million, and an area of nearly 500,000 square kilometers, Uzbekistan is in the heart of the Central Asia.（File Photo)）

Cultural exchanges between China and Uzbekistan date back to more than 2,000 years. China's technology of papermaking was passed to the Arab world through the country. Today, the influence of Chinese architecture can still be seen in many old buildings, in cities such as Bukhara.

Uzbekistan opened the first Confucius Institute in Central Asia in Tashkent in 2005, and a second such institute was established in 2014 in Samarkand, a historical city in the southeast.