Since the 1990s, Sino-Central Asian relations have deepened to the degree that China now has the capacity to drastically alter the political and economic trajectories of each of the five states of the region. To date, China has enjoyed tremendous success in pursuing its interests in the region. Whether this continues to be the case will be determined in part by how Central Asians react to Chinese involvement in the region. In this paper, I overview the development of Sino-Central Asian relations and discuss four narratives about China’s role in the region which have the potential to shape these relations over the short and medium term future. These four narratives are: China as protector; China as aggressor; China as investor; and China as exploiter.