“This site used to be a Confucian Temple,” said the tour guide while pointing to a mound on the grassland outside the city of Ulanqab, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. It's hard to believe that the ruins of a Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) city called Jininglu are buried under the ground here.

Thanks to its proximity to Siberia, Mongolia and Beijing, then called Dadu or Khanbaliq, the town became a prosperous trade hub in during the Yuan Dynasty of the 13th and 14th centuries.

The ruins of the city were systematically excavated during the construction of a highway through Ulanqab. Relics discovered included remnants of ceramics from Jingdezhen in southern China and fur from Siberia.

“Jininglu was a node on the trade route leading into Asia's far north,” Li Biao, the director of Ulanqab Museum, said. “Tea, grain and ceramics from China's heartland and fur, salt and meat products from the steppe and Siberia were traded here.”

However, the city was attacked during the anti-Mongol uprisings of the late 14th century. Many of its inhabitants never returned to the city, and the town was abandoned.

Today, under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the modern reincarnation of Jininglu, Ulanqab, hopes to become a hub for connecting China, Mongolia and Russia once again. Wang Xinyu, Ulanqab's vice mayor, told CGTN that the city will be the southern end of a logistics artery called the “Three Ulan Corridor,” an ambitious plan to connect Ulanqab in China, Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia and Ulan-Ude, the capital of Russia's Republic of Buryatia. The three cities all happen to have the Mongolian word “Ulan,” which means “red,” in their names.

“Rail will be the main means of transportation,” said Vice Mayor Wang. “We already have an existing and extensive railway network. Cargo from the whole country gathers here. Trains from Ulanqab exit China from Erenhot, then travel through Mongolia and use Russia's Trans-Siberian railway to reach Moscow. This is the shortest route for cargo trains from China to reach Europe.”

As of July 2018, Ulanqab has sent 33 cargo trains to Europe a 161 percent increase year-on-year.

The BRI has also developed the road network here. As Wang told CGTN, trucks can enter Mongolia and Russia much easier under the Belt and Road framework. To further improve links, the city is also upgrading its airport from 4C to 4E standard.

Wang believes that the economies of the three countries are complementary. That's what makes the “Three Ulan Corridor” necessary. “For example, Mongolia and Russia need fresh vegetables and consumer goods from China. On the other hand, China needs the timber from Russia,” said Wang.