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I'd say the silkroad bust increased illegal business on TOR, the news reached many people that probably didn't know TOR stuff existed. Then with minimal effort, they can proceed to find other market place such as "sheep market" or BMR.
Not sure, transaction volume isn't actually going up though.
The facts that the price is higher on BTC China, and that BTC China has taken such a huge share of bitcoin trade, let me think China is leading the raise.
I agree with this. China is leading the rise, because they're discovering Bitcoin. But as I said, it's rising too quick, same as when the west discovered bitcoin in 2011 causing the first bubble.