Original subtitles

As a reporter,

I've traveled the Middle East for many years.

It's an area that has always fascinated me,

but in my work, I've mainly covered its war zones,

its crises, and its tragedies.

This journey, which takes me down the Silk Road

in the footsteps of Marco Polo,

gives me the opportunity of exploring

the great historical and cultural significance

of this part of the world,

its ancient melting pot of peoples

and civilizations that have contributed so much to our own.

(Eastern music)

A fast train connects Samarkand

to the Uzbek capital, Tashkent.

Its name means stone village,

but with a population today of 2.4 million people,

the little village has certainly come a long way.

Throughout the centuries,

the big cities on the Silk Road

were constantly being ransacked by invaders.

Some fared better than others.

Tashkent, for example,

which chose to cooperate with the Russians

when they arrived in Central Asia

in the 19th century,

and later became the Soviet's fourth biggest city.

Today, the Uzbek capital serves

as the nerve center for the entire region.

As the Russian empire began to recede after 1990,

it left behind the vestiges of the very particular

kind of urban design that can be found throughout

all of the former Soviet socialist republics.

Behind the great Telyashayakh Mosque

is the area known as Old Tashkent.

This is where those who refuse to move into

the buildings built by the government

continue to live.

It's here in Old Tashkent that one sees practically

the only veiled women in the country.

But in these back streets,

what is striking is once you get in the mixture of faces,

children who are dark, or blonde,

or with almond shaped eyes,

they portray many centuries of ethnic intermixing.

In fact, there aren't many conservative muslim families

such as these in Uzbekistan.

Where the regime uses heavy-handed tactics

to severely contain any Islamist fervor

of the kind that rages just to the south in Afghanistan.

Just a stone's throw from the Old Tashkent

of veiled women and plaster houses

is the big, brand new bazaar of Chorsu,

where you can see Uzbek women like these

in Western style dress, with their hair uncovered,

which is the norm in this country,

rather than the exception.

Little clues here and there in the market reveal

the sources of the different culinary traditions,

and the predominant influence of certain cultures.

You can tell we're in Asia, here.

There are 14 different types of rice.

And, of course, here are the spices.

Ah, yes, from Samarkand?

Samarkand.

(speaking foreign language)

It's tea mixed with saffron and cardamom.

How much is it?

18.

18,000 som?

Oh no, a little less.

[Vendor Translator] I usually sell it at 20,

but I'm giving you a special price.

15,000.

That's a good price, right?

(speaking foreign language)

So, 15,000 som.

Som is the old Sogdian word for money.

It's also the name of the national currency here.

And even today, it's still used to mean cash or dough,

from a large part of the silk road,

as far as Kashgar in China.

Thank you.

(speaking foreign language)

Thank you, thank you.

(speaking foreign language)

No, no, no.

In French, it's merci.

(speaking foreign language)

(Eastern music)

Raspberries, blackberries.

I'd like to do that job, sorting raspberries,

except that I'd go bankrupt

because I'd eat all the stock up.

(Eastern music)

Tashkent is often described as the big metropolis

of Central Asia, and in particular,

because of its very vibrant cultural scene.

The painter, Faizulla Akhmadaliev,

one of the most famous artists in the Uzbek capital,

exemplifies this sort of cultivated cosmopolitanism,

which combines influences from the East and the West.

The old painter has his own studio, lent to him by the city,

at the top of one of these Soviet high rises

in which the elevator only works every now and again.

Faizulla's work is deeply influenced

by Uzbek folklore and traditions.

In other words,

this means that much of its inspiration

comes from the history of the Silk Road.

Are you drawing a specific scene,

or is it imaginary?

[Faizulla's Translator] No, it comes from my imagination.

So it's a meeting between

three wandering Sufi mystics in a caravanserai

somewhere near Bukhara on the Silk Road.

(speaks in a foreign language)

[Faizulla's Translator] There is a reason, in fact,

why I'm interested in these three wandering Sufi figures.

One of the greatest painters

in the Sufi world is Ahmed Yasawi.

He was born and grew up in my village.

The mausoleums of Ahmed Yasawi's parents are in my village.

And as a boy, I use to play in them with my friends.

It's an important place from my childhood,

and now I'm drawing energy from it.

(light somber music)

So do you feel that you're a European artist

or an Asian artist?

[Faizulla's Translator] You know what, as a painter,

you must be yourself.

I try not to look at the art of European painters too much.

Claude Monet, Renoir, for example,

are some of my favorite painters.

I like French painters in general.

But if I look at them too often,

they can influence me, and I'm very afraid of that.

I can use a European approach in my work,

but we mustn't forget, that we're in Asia.

(speaks in a foreign language)

In addition to being the commercial hub

of Central Asia,

Tashkent is as we said an artistic and intellectual city.

A city that embraces culture in all of its forms,

including cooking.

The fruits and spices in the bazaar find their way

into a variety of dishes,

that is the pride and joy of the Uzbeks.

What we call fusion cuisine is, in this part of the world,

more than just the latest culinary trend.

Natalya Musina is a business woman

who owns one of the best restaurants in the city.

Here you can find manti, or Chinese dumplings,

Russian styled tomatoes in vinegar, and Iranian rice pilaf.

[Natalya's Translator] Here it is.

Supreme dish.

[Natalya's Translator] That's right.

So this is the supreme dish pilaf,

what's in it?

(speaking foreign language)

[Natalya's Translator] It's made with five Ingredients.

The first is the meat, then the onions,

the third is carrots,

of course you would oil and spices,

which is called zirvak.

And when it's almost done cooking,

you add the rice, and then water.

Oh, a little water.

[Natalya's Translator] That's it.

Here we say that pilaf was created by Timor

for his soldiers because its a very solid meal.

When you eat a dish of pilaf it will keep you going,

working, et cetera, for the whole day without any problem.

Please, go ahead and try it.

Oh, I'm waiting for you.

(laughs)

(speaking foreign language)

Ladies first.

[Natalya's Translator] Well here it's always...

The men first?

[Natalya's Translator] No, the guest.

That's how we do it here.

You are the guests.

Thank you.

(speaks in a foreign language)

[Natalya's Translator] I'll take just a little, to try it.

I love pilaf.

Oh, it's very good.

[Natalya's Translator] It's not bad.

I always serve this to a man before he gets married.

Is that right?

Horse tongue?

Mm-hmm.

It fortifies you for the wedding.

[Natalya's Translator] Exactly.

What about for travelers?

[Natalya's Translator] The travelers too.

So this will keep me strong during the trip?

[Natalya's Translator] Yes.

How often do Uzbeks eat pilaf?

How many times a week?

[Natalya's Translator] Once a week, on Thursday.

The wife makes a dish of pilaf,

and afterwards you have to make love.

That's the rule.

Really?

So you cook pilaf, you eat it, and then you make love?

Okay.

(light guitar music)

The Fergana Valley runs east to west,

and it was once the only crossing point

between the Persian empire and the Chinese empire.

Occupied by the Chinese, then by the Arab Muslim armies,

after their victory in the Battle of Talas in 751,

the Fergana Valley has always served as a link

between the East and the Far East.

(peaceful music)

The valley is an intermountain plateau

that is virtually 200 kilometers wide.

The Chinese believe that the fabulous,

blood sweating horses that were so vital

to the emperors armies, came from here.

(speaks in a foreign language)

I'm Alfred, and you?

Alfred.

(speaking foreign language)

Rosa.

Goodbye Rosa, thank you.

Have a good trip.

Goodbye everyone.

We've reached the Fergana Valley.

This really is the epicenter of the Silk Road,

halfway between Turkey and the other end of China.

Historically, this area has served as a buffer zone.

At one point, the Chinese empire agreed

never to go further west than this valley,

and the Arabs agreed never to go further east.

(Eastern music)

Look, that Chinese bus there

is completely related to our subject,

it says Marco Polo, Fergana.

So why is this valley so critical

to the history of the Silk Road?

Because its the only passage between East and West.

Here we come to the edge of the world known to the Greeks.

Alexander the Great's last fortress is behind us.

To the south are the Pamir Mountains

at over 7,000 meters high

which become the Hindu Kush and the Himalayas.

To the north there's the Tian Shan Range,

the mountains of the sky until all the invaders

and all the merchants had to come through here.

Kashgar is only 800 kilometers away

and we're starting to see the Chinese influence.

In the Fergana valley, there's an ancient tradition

that continues to thrive.

The traditional storytellers and puppeteers

perform on the outskirts of fairs.

The shows nowadays are mainly for children.

Ariam, nice to meet you.

(whistling)

(frogs chirping)

(speaking foreign language)

(dog barking)

Is puppetry an old Uzbek tradition

or is it instead a tradition

that developed along the Silk Road

and moved from caravanserai to caravanserai?

[Ariam's Translator] Puppet theater has existed

in Uzbekistan since ancient times.

We had puppeteers who performed in the streets

and palaces for the elite.

They used puppets to tell stories,

and portray the events and adventures

that took place in the caravanserais

all along the very long Silk Road.

Our children today are also learning

the same traditional art of puppet theater.

Is the type of theater that you do

closer to the shadow puppetry of the Chinese,

or more influenced by Turkish and Iranian Traditions?

[Ariam's Translator] In our country,

puppet theater has developed around three techniques.

We have hand-held puppets,

puppets with strings,

and shadow theater puppets,

in which the shadows of the characters

are projected onto a screen.

Our traditional theater is a combination

of all of these chodir.

(duck quacking)

Do you regard puppet theater as an art

that is mainly entertainment for children,

or is it a way of teaching philosophical tales,

morals, a way of educating people?

[Ariam's Translator] Every puppet show has a purpose,

and seeks to shape the way children see things.

To help them develop an understanding of life,

and provide them with a world view.

The children don't necessarily understand

the words or sentences, but when they see live performances

with characters and puppets,

it remains in their memory,

and in that way, the shows are able to reach the children

and achieve their purpose.

(Eastern music)

Fergana has a thousand year old

tradition of pottery making.

The clay in the area is of very good quality.

Very early on, the potters and ceramicists

inherited the techniques developed by the Chinese.

The workshops are owned by families

who have passed on the secrets of their craft

from father to son for generations,

and exhibit their creations in the courtyard.

(traditional music)

there is a very zen atmosphere in this garden.

They're very focused on their work.

But there's a sense of serenity,

it's a labor of patience and precision.

Bakhtiyor Nazirov's workshop also serves as a school

for the young people in the area

who hope to make a living from pottery.

The apprentices study for free with a master potter,

and in turn, their work belongs to him.

[Bakhtiyor's Translator] Among the generations of the past

there were many craftsmen,

but then under the Soviet Union

things became difficult

and we could no longer earn a living making pottery.

So people in my family gave it up

and went off to study or to invest

in other fields in order to make a living.

But some of my uncles stayed in this profession,

and I too continued to work with them

and now my son has joined them,

which makes me very happy.

Bakhtiyor's workshop and school

produces very beautiful things,

even garden gnomes, and it just goes to show

that the impact of the west

has reached even the remotest corners of Asia.

(knocking)

Hello,

how are you?

(speaking foreign language)

Good, thank you.

So this is the French classroom,

since the pottery workshop,

which is also a pottery school,

is also a French language school.

It's summer right now so the teachers are gone,

but the children like it so much,

they come to practice on their own,

which is very sweet.

What's your name?

[Asaday's Translator] My name is Asaday.

Hello Asaday, how old are you?

[Asaday's Translator] I'm 14.

14, Hello, what's your name?

[Naze's Translator] My name is Naze.

Naze, and how old are you?

[Naze's Translator] I'm 13.

13?

This class was started by Bakhtiyor,

he's the master potter, the head of the school,

and also loves French, so he's combined these passions.

For example, on this dish

he's painted the actor Louis De Funes.

On this one, that's on the teacher's desk,

on a traditional Uzbek dish,

we have the actor Jean Marais.

Can you read what's written there?

"Language that is careless never inspires respect."

(speaking foreign language)

Very good.

I understand your second love is French Literature.

Where does your interest in Alexandre Dumas come from?

[Bakhtiyor's Translator] Under the Soviet regime,

we watched a lot of French movies.

When I was in fourth grade school,

I read Alexandre Dumas' novel The Three Musketeers

and it made a big impression on me,

so I decided to read other books

written by the same author

such as The Count of Monte Cristo.

That's how I became interested in French literature.

I began to read novels not only by Dumas,

but also by Victor Hugo, Gilles de Montbrison,

Honore de Balzac, Prosper Merimee,

then I passed my love of France

onto my students by watching movies

together with them,

and so the children started to take an interest in France.

It was actually the children who had the idea

of starting the French class.

I did my part to support the project

in any way I could.

The students have been taking French lessons

for three months now,

and everything is going well.

We're hoping the results will be good.

At the moment we have a teacher who teaches full time,

and he gives the children their French lessons.

We hope that some of our more talented students

will perhaps go on to study at the Soroban one day.

(traditional music)

I've now been following

in the footsteps of Marco Polo for many

thousands of kilometers along this legendary road

that gets its name from its flagship commodity, silk.

We've seen silk fabrics in many different forms,

and in a variety of colors,

but here in Fergana, we're finally going to see

how the Chinese actually invented silk making

more than 4000 years ago.

In the shade of the mulberry trees

that feed the bombyx mori, or silk worms,

this factory in Marguilan handles the entire process

of production in the traditional way

from sorting the cocoons, to weaving the fabric.

These two women are sisters in law,

they are experts in spinning the cocoons of the bombyx.

The Chinese always try to keep silk making

a jealously guarded secret to the point

that they didn't allow the cocoons

or the silk making techniques to be

taken out of the country.

The legend in this region,

which probably has some historical truth to it,

is that around 2000 years ago,

a Chinese princess was given in marriage to a Kahn,

the king of this region of Fergana.

The princess felt very sad about leaving

her native land without being able to bring

what she liked doing best with her,

which was weaving silk.

She thus decided to defy her father, the emperor,

and she concealed some very special cocoons

in her hair bun, cocoons that contained silk worms.

You can see the tiny little embryos

which are the larvae of future silk worms.

This is what she hid in her hair.

Of course, the emperor's soldiers didn't dare search her,

especially not her hair,

so she arrived in Fergana here in this valley,

and she found a couple of mulberry trees.

She put the larvae in the trees and let them grow.

Each one of these larvae can produce

two to three thousand more larvae within a year.

So a few years later, there were silk worms

and cocoons, and they began to spin the silk.

(traditional music)

The cocoons fibers are made from the dried saliva

of the Lepidoptera silk worm caterpillar.

The filaments, which are surprisingly strong,

and can measure more than 1000 meters in length

are spun to make the silk itself.

(looms clacking)

(traditional music)

After they are dyed, the strands of silk

are ready to be used here

on the traditional looms of these weavers.

The threads of raw silk have to be regularly moistened

and combed in order to keep them supple.

(traditional music)

On summer evenings when it finally begins to cool down,

the people of the Enchanted Valley

come together at the village fairs.

The last glow of twilight falls upon Fergana,

the valley that is the true birth place of the silk road.

There's something both charming,

as well as a little archaic about these young performers

who take so many risks in order to

entertain a crowd.

As I stop in these Uzbek towns

nestled in the mountains, deep in the Asian heartland,

I often get the feeling that I'm going back in time.

Although the caravaneers have all but disappeared

on the silk road, the troubadors and acrobats

who entertain them are still here.

It wouldn't be hard to imagine the silhouette

of Marco Polo slipping in between

all of these colorful figures

to admire the performers before heading out

once again onto the road leading to the high mountains

of Kyrgyzstan.

(upbeat Eastern music)