The Sun Seekers

Jacob Dreyer

Mia Yu, Eme Cosmos, 2024, film still. 4K video, 23’, stereo sound. Eme Cosmos is shot entirely in Fushun, in the foothills of the Changbai Mountains in Northeast China (Manchuria). From 1905 to 1945, Japanese colonial forces occupied Fushun and ruthlessly plundered coal, shale oil, and other resources. In the first half the twentieth century, Fushun emerged as the earliest and largest fossil fuel mining, oil refining, and petrochemical hub in East Asia. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Fushun made significant contributions to the process of Socialist industrialization. Led by China's "Dual Carbon" goals, Fushun is currently undergoing ecological restoration and transitioning towards renewable energy.

New Silk Roads

September 2024

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Notes

Victor Pelevin, The Sacred Book of the Werewolf (Священная книга оборотня) (2004; Viking Adult, 2008).

Saule Akhmetkaliyeva, “A Promising Green Energy Resource in Kazakhstan: Solar Power,” Eurasian Research Institute, n.d., ➝.

Harry Dempsey and Max Seddon, “Norilsk Nickel to move copper smelter from Russia to China as sanctions bite,” Financial Times, April 22, 2024, ➝.

Amy Hawkins, “China building two-thirds of world’s wind and solar projects,” The Guardian, July 11, 2024, ➝.

Euan Graham and Nicolas Fulghum, “Solar power continues to surge in 2024,” Ember (blog), September 19, 2024, ➝.

Stephen Chen, “Could China build a second capital in the far-western deserts of Xinjiang?,” South China Morning Post, April 30, 2023, ➝.

Zbigniew Brzeziński, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and its Geostrategic Imperatives (Basic Books, 1998).

Xinhua, “Xi says China, Azerbaijan upgrade bilateral relations to strategic partnership,” State Council, People’s Republic of China, July 4, 2024, ➝.

“Pax Mongolica,” Wikipedia, last modified August 6, 2024, ➝; Daisuke Wakabayashi, “Why China Is So Interested in Kazakhstan,” New York Times, July 18, 2024, ➝.

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto (1848), ➝.

Wang Xiaodong, “A Study of the ‘Industrial Party’ and the ‘Sentimental Party’,” Green Leaf, January 1, 2011, trans. Dylan Levi King for the Center for Strategic Translation, ➝.

Sherif Tarek, “China’s Second-Biggest Automaker Is Part of New Egyptian EV Push,” Bloomberg, May 27, 2024, ➝; Simone McCarthy, “China’s Xi Jinping calls for peace conference and ‘justice’ over war in Gaza as Arab leaders visit Beijing,” CNN, May 31, 2024, ➝.

Denise Wee, “Deutsche Bank Predicts Surge in Fees on China-Middle East Deals,” Bloomberg, May 22, 2024, ➝; Will Mathis, “Even in Saudi Arabia, Renewable Power Is Cheaper Than Fossil Fuels,” Bloomberg, May 23, 2024, ➝.

Jesus Mesa, “Saudi Arabia's Historic First Swimsuit Show in Photos,” Newsweek, May 20, 2024, ➝.

“Overview,” Vision 2030: Saudi Arabia, ➝.

Charles Clover, “Lev Gumilev: passion, Putin and power,” Financial Times, March 11, 2016, ➝; Neom, ➝.

Quoted in Mark Bassin, “Neo-Eurasianism and the Russian Question,” in The Gumilev Mystique: Biopolitics, Eurasianism, and the Construction of Community in Modern Russia (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2016).

Bassin, The Gumilev Mystique.

Vita Spivak, “Western Sanctions Are Pushing Russian Metals Producers Into China’s Arms,” Carnegie Politika (blog), July 12, 2024, ➝.

Bassin, The Gumilev Mystique, 129.

Sergei Karaganov, “Here’s why Russia must permanently abandon Europe and turn fully to Asia,” Russian International Affairs Council (blog), February 13, 2024, ➝.

Timothy Colton, “What Does Putin’s Conservatism Seek to Conserve?,” Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University (blog), January 17, 2022, ➝.

Alexander Gabuev, “Why China Is Sabotaging Ukraine,” Foreign Affairs, June 14, 2024, ➝.

GT Voice, “Russian Far East holds potential to cooperate with Heilongjiang,” Global Times, May 15, 2024, ➝.

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