Aminova Oyzoda: World citizen form Uzbekistan

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In 2004, when nine-year-old Uzbek national Aminova Oyzoda moved with her family to China from Uzbekistan’s capital Tashkent, little did she realize that they had traveled through the historic Silk Road that has been the facilitator of trade and cultural linkages between both countries and their regional neighbors for many centuries.

Still in primary school, Oyzoda was hardly aware that just three years ago in 2001, the same historic ties had led to Uzbekistan joining the member countries of the erstwhile Shanghai Five group – China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan – to form the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

Aminova Oyzoda says father’s love for the Chinese language brought her family to China. /Photo via Aminova Oyzoda

She fondly recalled that it was her father’s passion for the Chinese language that brought the Uzbek family to China in the first place. “My father really loved the Chinese language. He studied Chinese from a really young age. And when he grew up, he started teaching Chinese in Tashkent’s famous Dongfang Xueyuan (Tashkent State Institute of Oriental Studies). And after few years of working there, he got an opportunity to work in China and our family moved,” Oyzoda told CGTN Digital.

Fourteen years on after she first arrived in China, Oyzoda’s destiny appears to be intertwined with both the SCO and the Silk Road, or rather the modern version of the ancient trade route.

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In sync with SCO and BRI

Fourteen years on after she first arrived in China, Aminova Oyzoda is naturally inclined towards SCO and BRI as a student of international politics. /Photo via Aminova Oyzoda

As a student of International Politics at Beijing’s Renmin University of China and an active member of the SCO Countries Youth League, the 23-year-old Uzbek woman today has a natural inclination for issues related to the SCO – which expanded its membership last year to include India and Pakistan – and China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which aims to revive the Silk Road through modern transport corridors and infrastructure projects.

“The BRI is a visionary project that has the potential of changing the contours of the Eurasian region in a positive manner. Uzbekistan is a strong supporter of the BRI, with several of the proposed trade corridors passing through the country. The initiative is also in sync with SCO’s vision of connectivity between the member countries,” Oyzoda said.

“The SCO is today the biggest multilateral organization that’s growing not only in [size] but also in function. In the future, it will play a big role in the world,” she added.

A cursory look at Oyzoda’s journey from Tashkent to Beijing shows an obvious connection to Silk Road and the SCO, which probably stirred her interest in both. Oyzoda’s birthplace Tashkent was a known hub on the ancient trade route, while Beijing, where she has been pursuing higher studies since 2013, is home to the SCO Secretariat.

Oyzoda spent her first year in China in Qingdao, where her father was a teacher in one of the campuses of Shandong University. Qingdao is the host city for this year’s annual SCO leadership summit, which is scheduled for this weekend. The Uzbek family also spent a number of years in Urumqi, the capital of China’s northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The city was another major hub on the Silk Road.

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‘So lucky to be in China’

Aminova Oyzoda feels China is a great place to be for young people with opportunities available in all fields. /Photo via Aminova Oyzoda

Oyzoda said that her stay in China and her subsequent involvement with SCO youth activities has been instrumental in her evolving into, what she described as, a “global citizen.”

“I see myself as an Uzbek but at the same time growing up in China, I also feel like being partly Chinese. And since we live in an increasingly globalized world, I quite often see myself as a world citizen,” she quipped.

Referring to the SCO Countries Youth League, which was founded in April 2017, as a platform for “amazingly talented people,” Oyzoda said. “The youth league is governed by values such as cooperation, understanding, responsibility and respect. This is the storehouse of young energy. We are all inspired by each other.”

“We all know that we are so lucky to be in China, particularly in the current times. China is growing fast and is really paying strong attention to the young people. So we've a lot of opportunities in all the fields,” she added.

Trying to make the best of the available opportunities, Oyzoda is already working on two startup ideas – one in the field of education and another on Chinese medicine. She confided that the second project is her tribute to her grandfather, who was a renowned doctor in the former Soviet Union and later in Uzbekistan.

“My grandfather wanted me to become a doctor and follow his steps. I could not become a doctor but I would like to do my bit in the field of medicine in his memory,” Oyzoda said.

Cameraperson: Li Jingjing

Video Editor: Geng Zhibin

Graphics Designer: Pan Yufei

Reporter & Director: Abhishek G Bhaya