As China begins its momentous New Silk Road project and expands its influence into Central Asia, the borderlands between China, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have become sites of ethnic tension and political struggle. This region - which marks the meeting of China and post-Soviet Central Asia - is increasingly important militarily, economically and geographically. Yet we know little of the people that live there, beyond a romanticised 'Silk Road' sense of fraternity. In fact, relations between the people of this region are tense, and border violence is escalating - even as the identity and...