Mahnoor Makhdoom walked into a coffee shop in Baiziwan, located in Beijing’s Chaoyang District, to meet with her interviewee, Maria Charlie, an international student from South Africa. Makhdoom asked questions about the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a China-proposed initiative to promote global connectivity along and beyond the ancient Silk Road routes, and received compelling answers and stories in return.
Throughout that morning on October 14, Makhdoom gathered valuable content for her forthcoming book.
A native of Pakistan, she is a journalist and editor of China affairs at Pakistani newspaper The Daily Mail. Her work focuses on researching and reporting on the BRI.
The journalist first visited Beijing at the age of 10 as part of a
