The Millennium-Old Silk Road Sets Sail Again, BYD Becomes China's New Name Card for Going Global

Let's turn back time to Quanzhou Port a thousand years ago. At that time, masts stood like a forest, and foreign merchants gathered. On the dock, Jingdezhen porcelain, Hangzhou silk, and Wuyi tea ready for shipping were stacked. They would ride the monsoon winds southward, crossing the South Seas, eventually reaching Rome, thousands of miles away.

Time arrives at 2026. A BYD convoy departed from Xi'an's Great Tang West Market, traveling south along the four thousand-year-old cultural arteries of Bozhou incense, Jingdezhen porcelain, Hangzhou silk, and Wuyi Mountain tea. Passing through Quanzhou and Chaozhou, it finally reached Shenzhen to complete the "going global" ceremony.

Porcelain, silk, tea. These were the "hard currency" of our foreign trade a thousand years ago. A thousand years later, at Shenzhen Port, roll-on/roll-off ships departed slowly one after another. Inside the holds, neatly arranged were not silk or porcelain, but tens of thousands of new energy vehicles. The destinations were surprisingly consistent with a thousand years ago, still Europe and Southeast Asia.

Some friends might consider this BYD "Silk Road Ten-Thousand Miles" event as simply a brand promotion. But if we dig deeper into its connotation, we find it is actually a cultural relay spanning a thousand years. Why say that? Let's start from that ancient trade route from a thousand years ago.

Silk Road, A Thousand-Year Name Card of China

When mentioning the Silk Road, what comes to many minds is the sound of camel bells and a land channel filled with yellow sand.

But in reality, the ancient Silk Road always operated on two lines in parallel. The land Silk Road started from Xi'an, going westward over mountains and ridges, directly reaching Rome; the maritime Silk Road started from Quanzhou, setting sail and navigating through the South Seas. These two distinct routes converged, becoming a bridge between ancient China and world trade.

Friends who have read history certainly know that what we exported on this trade route were ancient Chinese specialties like Bozhou incense, Jingdezhen porcelain, Hangzhou silk, and Wuyi tea. Although called "specialties", the weight and significance of these products back then was far heavier than we imagine.

Porcelain was the "high-tech product" of that era. Europeans didn't decipher the firing secrets of hard porcelain until the 18th century. In the hundreds of years before that, Chinese white porcelain was regarded as "white gold" in Europe. Silk and tea were also scarce "hard currency". In Rome, the price of silk was almost equivalent to gold of the same weight.

In other words, when Chinese products went overseas a thousand years ago, what was exported was not just commodities, but world-class craftsmanship and technology of that time.

And coming to today, a thousand years later, the BYD convoy is retracing not just the ancient roads in a geographical sense, but a path where "good Chinese products win the world". However, on BYD's manifest are world-leading new energy vehicles, power batteries, and a complete charging replenishment system.

From Selling Products to Building Systems, The Value of Going Overseas is Getting Higher and Higher

Looking at Chinese carmakers going overseas, sales volume is always the most intuitive entry point.

BYD's overseas sales have already broken one million units, a year-on-year increase of over 140%, with products covering over 120 countries and regions globally. From starting scale overseas expansion to reaching one million sales, BYD only took a few short years. This speed is extraordinary in the history of any previous multinational carmaker. Even Toyota and Volkswagen took decades to complete a similar global layout.

Of course, sales volume is just a partial data point. If you only focus on sales, you might view BYD's global strategy as too shallow.

What is most noteworthy about today's BYD going overseas is the two words "system". 8 own roll-on/roll-off ships shuttle regularly on global routes, delivering whole vehicles directly to Europe, America, and Southeast Asian ports. The Rayong Factory in Thailand, BYD's first passenger vehicle base overseas, localized both parts and employees, with vehicles produced locally and then exported to Europe. Besides the Thailand factory, BYD has multiple bases synchronously laid out in Brazil, Uzbekistan, Hungary, etc., forming a complete closed loop of "Domestic R&D + Overseas Localization Production + Global Shipping".

Technology export is even more important. The second-generation Blade Battery, fast charging replenishment system, are landing overseas synchronously with the vehicles. Europe's first fast charging station has been built, Uzbekistan's dedicated charging network is being laid out, and even the "PV-Storage-Charging" integrated power station solution has entered the Central Asian market.

The porcelain merchant ships a thousand years ago loaded finished products. Today's roll-on/roll-off ships load not just finished cars, but factories, technology, and standards. The carrier of going overseas has changed, and the depth of going overseas has also completely changed.

New Maritime Silk Road, Sending the Best Chinese Made to the Whole World

In this BYD "Silk Road Ten-Thousand Miles" event, actually, there is a detail worth savoring, which is that the weight of the Quanzhou stop was significantly increased.

The convoy visited the Maritime History Museum here, watching thousand-year-old techniques amidst the threads of marionettes, and reading letters home that crossed the ocean in the Qiao Pi Hall. Why specifically choose Quanzhou? Because this city preserves the most complete memory of the Maritime Silk Road. It is the origin point of China's deep interaction with the world via the ocean, and it is also a key to understanding the logic of today's China going global.

Until today, more than 80% of global cargo trade still relies on maritime shipping. Maritime routes are the blood vessels of globalization. The main battlefield for Chinese cars going overseas: Europe, Southeast Asia, Latin America, all actually require sea routes to arrive more economically. BYD building 8 roll-on/roll-off ships by itself is essentially holding this "blood vessel" in its own hands.

This is why, in the previous "Double Silk Road narrative", the Maritime Silk Road was actually the main focus. From Quanzhou Port to Shenzhen Port, from the Maritime Trade Office in the Song and Yuan dynasties to today's roll-on/roll-off terminals, the maritime channel between China and the world has never closed; it's just that the cargo on ships changed from silk and porcelain to batteries, whole vehicles, and PV-storage solutions, which are what is often called the "New Three Items" for going overseas today.

And the weight of this new name card is not less than the porcelain from a thousand years ago. When countries along the route use Chinese new energy vehicles, Chinese fast charging stations, and Chinese PV-storage-charging solutions, what China exports is not just products, but a complete set of green and sustainable development paths.

The moment the BYD convoy departed from Shenzhen Port, what we saw was not just the voyage of a car manufacturer, but a relay spanning a thousand years. The incense, porcelain, silk, and tea of the ancient Silk Road, and the batteries, whole vehicles, and charging systems of the new era, completed the handover in the same sea area. The carrier is indeed changing, but the core has not changed: Send the best Chinese-made to the whole world.