Silk Road background of the Grassland Silk Road

The Prairie Silk Road refers to the commercial channel connecting the Mongolian grassland to Eurasia and is an important part of the Silk Road. As an artery for nomadic cultural exchanges at that time, it traveled from the Central Plains region to the north across the Guyin Mountains (today's Daqing Mountains) and along the Great Wall in the Yanshan area, to the northwest through the Mongolian Plateau, the southern Russian grasslands, and northern Central and Western Asia, to the European region of the northern Mediterranean continent.

The formation of the Grassland Silk Road is closely related to the natural ecological environment. In the geographical environment of the entire Eurasian continent, it is extremely difficult to communicate between East and West. Environmental archaeological data show that Eurasia is only conducive to human east-west traffic in the mid-latitudes between 40 and 50 degrees north latitude, and this area is where the Prairie Silk Road is located. This is the core area where nomadic culture and farming culture meet, and is an important link point on the Prairie Silk Road.

For the Prairie Silk Road, the demand for bulk commodity exchange originated from the division of labor between agriculture and animal husbandry in primitive society. The dry farming areas of the Central Plains were dominated by agriculture and were rich in grain, hemp, silk and handicrafts. , and the development of agriculture requires a large amount of animal power (cattle, horses, etc.); the northern grassland area is dominated by animal husbandry and is rich in cattle, horses, sheep, skins, wool, meat, milk and other livestock products, but lacks food, textiles, Handmade products etc. This mutual economic need and interdependence between the Central Plains and grassland areas is the basic condition for the formation of the Grassland Silk Road. Therefore, the Grassland Silk Road is also known as the "Fur Road" and "Tea Horse Road" because of its characteristics.