The time when the Silk Road emerged

An ancient transportation artery across the Asian continent. It gradually emerged after Zhang Qian went to the Western Regions in 119 BC. It starts from Chang'an, the ancient capital of my country (near present-day Xi'an) in the east, goes west along the Weishui River, passes through the Hexi Corridor (today's narrow strip of Gansu Province), reaches Dunhuang, exits Yumen Pass and Yangguan, and enters the "Western Regions" (today's Xinjiang and the western regions). The south road leaves Yangguan and goes west along the northern foot of the Kunlun Mountains. The north road leaves Yumen Pass and goes west along the south foot of the Tianshan Mountains. It crosses Congling (today's Pamir Plateau) and enters today's Central Asia. Then it goes west, passing through present-day Iran and other countries to reach Daqin (the Roman Empire). territories in the Middle East). In the Han Dynasty, people mostly took the southern route. In the Tang Dynasty, people mostly took the northern route. The "Silk Road" is about 7,000 kilometers long and is named after the transportation of Chinese silk, which is regarded as a treasure by the West. Through the Silk Road, Chinese silk, ironware, well-drilling technology, etc. were introduced to the Western Regions. Local products and musical instruments from the Western Regions, and Indian Buddhism were also introduced to China. The Silk Road was an important channel for economic and cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries for more than a thousand years during the Han and Tang Dynasties

The Silk Road was a transportation highway that ran through Central Asia and connected Europe and Asia. It played a vital role in the exchanges between these countries. Political, economic and cultural exchanges played a significant role. Because a large amount of Chinese silk and silk fabrics were shipped westward, this transportation highway was called the "Silk Road." The Silk Road is more than 7,000 kilometers long and is the longest land trade route in ancient times.

The Silk Road was a trade-based transportation route that began in the Western Han Dynasty between China, the Hezhong region of Central Asia, and India. Because most Chinese silk and silk fabrics are exported through this route, it is called the Silk Road. China is world-famous for its rich silk fabrics and is known as the "Silk Country". Through the Silk Road, large quantities of silk and silk brocades were continuously transported westward. At the same time, "rare and exotic objects" from the Western Regions were also imported into China.

Time Traveling Self-Driving Silk Road Shenzhen Automobile World Network 2006-04-21

Route:

1. Xi'an-Lanzhou-Dunhuang-Turpan-Urumqi - Kashgar

2. Xi'an - Urumqi - Turpan - Liuyuan - Dunhuang - Jiayuguan - Lanzhou - Shanghai

3. Xi'an - Yinchuan - Zhongwei - Guyuan - Lanzhou - Dunhuang - Turpan - Urumqi

4. Yinchuan - Guyuan - Lanzhou - Dunhuang - Jiayuguan - Xi'an

5. Xi'an - Lanzhou - Xining - Lanzhou - Dunhuang - Urumqi

6 Xi'an ——Xianyang——Zhaoling——Qianling——Fumen Famen Temple——Yang Guifei’s Tomb——Maoling

Silk Road Travel Information

Silk Road Tourism, Route It is long and has many days. The temperature difference between morning and afternoon is large between day and night, the altitude is very different, and the folk customs are very different. In particular, each has its own traditional eating habits, and the economic status and living standards are also very different. Therefore, you should do all the necessary things before departure. Prepare.

What should be reminded here is that you must prepare a field backpack. When traveling in the wild, there is a lot to know about how to make good use of a backpack. In order to keep your hands free, the backpack must have shoulder straps. If you are walking longer distances, it is best to use a backpack with a hip belt, which can effectively distribute the weight. The length of the backpack straps should be adjusted properly, and the center of gravity should be on the lower back. The size depends on the purpose. If you plan to go camping in the wild, the backpack should be at least 65 liters because it needs to contain tents and sleeping bags. It is best to have more pockets in a backpack so that items can be packed and easily accessed. The necessary items usually include: rain gear, kettle, sunglasses, travel shoes, camera, spare batteries and light bulbs, flashlight, dry towel, map, and various clothing. In addition, you also need a medium-sized aluminum or stainless steel lunch box - not only the packaging of the first aid box, but also used to melt snow or collect water and food when necessary. The inside of the box lid can be used as a reflector for signaling in the sun.

Introduction:

The Silk Road was a famous ancient overland trade route across Asia and connecting Eurasia. The Silk Road starts from Chang'an (today's Xi'an) in the east, passes through Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, and Xinjiang, crosses Congling (today's Pamir Plateau), and reaches the CIS, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, and Syria in Central Asia. The east coast of the Mediterranean has a total length of more than 7,000 kilometers. The total length of the Silk Road in China is more than 4,000 kilometers, which is about one-half of the entire Silk Road.

The Silk Road has a history of more than 2,000 years, and its charm is eternal. Today, the numerous historical relics, monuments, magnificent natural scenery and colorful customs of various ethnic groups along the ancient Silk Road still attract thousands of tourists from all over the world. Historically, camels, known as the ships of the desert, were the main means of transportation on the Silk Road; today, tourists can travel along the Silk Road by plane, train, or car, which is fast, convenient, comfortable and safe. There are many historical and cultural monuments along the Chinese Silk Road. The main ones include: Qin Shihuang's Terracotta Warriors and Horses, known as the eighth wonder of the world, Famen Temple which preserves the bones of Sakyamuni Buddha, Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, Maijishan Grottoes, Jiayuguan of the Great Wall and Han Dynasty beacon sites, and the famous Tibetan Buddhist temple Ta'er. Temple and the ruins of the ancient city of Gaochang, an important Silk Road town.

The natural landscapes along the Silk Road are unique and magnificent. The Bird Island in Qinghai Lake, the Swan Nature Reserve in the Bayinbulak Grassland and the Tianchi deep in the Tianshan Mountains, the Salt Lake in Qinghai, the Yadan Landform in Lop Nur, the Flame Mountain in Turpan and the Devil City in Karamay, etc., have all added endless details to the Silk Road. Moving charm. The area covered by the Silk Road in China spans China's Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, and Xinjiang.

There are many ethnic minorities living here who are hospitable and good at singing and dancing. Different ethnic groups have different development histories, and each retains its unique national characteristics, traditional culture and religious beliefs. In areas of various ethnic groups, tourists can experience local ethnic life, enjoy ethnic songs and dances, participate in weddings and festivals of local residents, and purchase exquisite ethnic handicrafts.

The Silk Road, as the main tourist route in northwest China, after more than ten years of development and construction, the infrastructure is improving and has become a very attractive themed route among many tourism products in China. .

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A place discovered on the Silk Road Prehistoric sites

After being dormant for half a century, the archeology of the Ma culture in Gansu (Left Magistrate and Right Shan) has recently made important discoveries. A number of important relics and relics have been unearthed one after another, providing people with a better understanding of this dormant silk culture. The prehistoric culture beneath the road provides a wealth of physical information.

Zhou Guangji, an archaeologist at the Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology who is in charge of on-site archaeology, said that the (left-horse plus right-hand Shan) Ma cultural relics discovered this time are mainly tombs, ash pits and house foundations. When excavating and cleaning these relics, archaeologists discovered a number of exquisitely crafted bronze vessels, bone vessels, pottery, stone tools, animal bones and carbonized crop fruits.

The (left horse plus right good) horse culture is based on the horse-style pottery with triangular patterns discovered in 1956 in Macheng Village (left horse plus right good) in Yumen, Gansu It got its name. In subsequent research, scholars further believed that it was a bronze culture that was distributed at the western end of the Gansu Hexi Corridor of the Silk Road about 3500-3000 years ago.

It is understood that the archaeological excavation site is located at the Huoshaogou site in Yumen. This is the first formal archaeological excavation of the (Left Ma and Right Shan) Ma cultural relics in China.

Zhou Guangji said that there are two important discoveries in this archaeological event that have attracted the attention of the archaeological community: First, based on the overlapping relationship between strata and the ash pits that break the relationship sooner or later, as well as the objects unearthed in them, it can be judged that the The relics of the (Left Ma and Right Shan) Ma culture break the remains belonging to the Siba Culture, thus confirming the relative age of the (Zuo Ma plus Right Shan) Ma culture later than the Siba Culture; Among the pottery of the Shanma Culture, a large number of square-footed root Ge were discovered for the first time, which had never been found in previous archeology. At the same time, it also broke the history of the Ge culture in the Hexi Corridor.

The Silk Road was a historical trade transportation line across Eurasia. China is the hometown of silk. Among the trade carried out through this route, silk is the most representative commodity exported from China. In the second half of the 19th century, German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen called this land transportation route the "Silk Road." Since then, Chinese and foreign historians have agreed with this term and it is still used today.

After Zhang Qian passed through the Western Regions, he officially opened this land passage from China to the European and African continents. This road starts from Chang'an, the capital of the Western Han Dynasty, passes through the Hexi Corridor, and then divides into two routes: one starts from Yangguan, passes through Shanshan, goes west along the northern foot of Kunlun Mountain, passes Yarkand, crosses Congling in the west, and exits Da Yuezhi. , to Xi'an, it leads to Liqian (jiān, today's Alexandria, Egypt, annexed by the Roman Empire in 30 BC) to the west, or to the body poison from the Dayue clan to the south. The other leads out of Yumen Pass, passes through Cheshiqian Country, goes west along the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains, leaves Shule, crosses Congling Mountains in the west, passes through Dayuan, and ends at Kangju and Yancai (during the Western Han Dynasty, it was nomadic in the northwest of Kangju, forming sea and northern grasslands of Caspian Sea). , belonged to Kangju in the Eastern Han Dynasty).

Maritime Silk Road

The Maritime Silk Road refers to the maritime transportation route between China and other parts of the world. In addition to being exported in large quantities to Central Asia, West Asia, Africa, and European countries through transcontinental land transportation lines, China's silk is also continuously sold to countries around the world through maritime transportation lines. Therefore, after the German geographer Richthofen named the land transportation route across the east and west the Silk Road, some scholars further extended it and called the maritime transportation route between the east and the west the Maritime Silk Road. Later, China's famous ceramics were also sold to other countries through this maritime transportation route, and Western fragrant medicines were also imported into China through this route. Therefore, some scholars also called this maritime transportation route the Ceramic Road or the Fragrant Porcelain Road.

The Maritime Silk Road was formed during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. The South China Sea route starting from China and sailing westward is the main line of the Maritime Silk Road. At the same time, there is also an East China Sea route from China eastward to the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese Archipelago, which occupies a minor position in the Maritime Silk Road.

As for the South China Sea route of the Silk Road in the Han Dynasty, "Hanshu Geography" records the voyages of envoys sent by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and merchants recruited to go out to sea for trade: from Rinan (today's central Vietnam) or Xuwen ( He took a boat out to sea from Hepu (now Guangxi), traveled south along the east coast of Indochina, and arrived in Duyuan (now Dishi in southern Vietnam) in the Mekong Delta after five months. Then we sailed northward along the west coast of Indochina and arrived at Elu (now Nakhon Pathom in Thailand) at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River after four months of sailing. From there, we sailed south along the east coast of the Malay Peninsula and sailed to Chamli (today's Bashu, Thailand) after more than 20 days. We abandoned the ship and landed ashore, crossed the isthmus, and walked for more than ten days to our capital, Lu (today's Tanah, Myanmar). Sarin). Then he boarded the ship and sailed westward in the Indian Ocean. After more than two months, he arrived at Huangzhiguo (now Kanchipuram on the southeast coast of India).

When returning to China, he sailed south from the Huang Branch to No Longer Country (today's Sri Lanka), then sailed directly east, and after eight months he sailed to the Strait of Malacca, where he anchored at Pizong (today's Pisan Island to the west of Singapore), and finally sailed again. In more than two months, he drove from Pizong to Xianglin County in Rinan County (the administrative seat is Chaqiao in the south of Weichuan County in Vietnam today).

The Silk Road is an image and appropriate name. In the ancient world, only China was the first country to start planting mulberry, raising silkworms, and producing silk fabrics. Archaeological discoveries in various parts of China in recent years have shown that silk production technology has developed to a very high level from the Shang, Zhou and Warring States periods. Chinese silk fabrics are still one of the most important products that China has dedicated to the people of the world. They have spread far and wide, covering various contributions of the Chinese people to world civilization. Therefore, over the years, many researchers have wanted to give this road another name, such as "Jade Road", "Gem Road", "Buddhist Road", "Ceramic Road", etc. However, all It can only reflect a certain part of the Silk Road, but ultimately cannot replace the name "Silk Road".

The basic direction of the Silk Road was formed in the Han Dynasty before and after BC. Its starting point in the east is Chang'an (now Xi'an), the capital of the Western Han Dynasty, or Luoyang, the capital of the Eastern Han Dynasty. It goes westward through Longxi or Guyuan to Jincheng (now Lanzhou), then passes through the four counties of Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan, and Dunhuang in the Hexi Corridor, and exits Yumen Pass or Yangguan, through Bailongdui to Loulan in Lop Nur area. In the Han Dynasty, the Western Region was divided into the South Road and the North Road, and the bifurcation point between the North and South Roads was at Loulan. The north road goes west, passing through Quli (now Korla), Qiuci (now Kuqa), Gumo (now Aksu) to Shule (now Kashgar). The southern route started from Shanshan (today's Ruoqiang), passed through Qiemo, Jingjue (today's Minfengnia site), Khotan (today's Hotan), Pishan, and Shache to Shule. Travel west from Shule and cross Congling (today's Pamir) to Dawan (today's Fergana). From here, one can go westward to Bactria (in present-day Afghanistan), Sogdia (in present-day Uzbekistan), Parthia (today's Iran), and as far as Liqian (also known as Lixuan, in Alexandria, Egypt) in Daqin (eastern part of the Roman Empire). city). Another road is to go southwest from Pishan, cross Xuandu (now Dalil, Pakistan), pass through Jibin (now Kabul, Afghanistan), Wuyishanli (now Sistan), and go southwest to Tiaozhi (now Persia). Bay Head). If you go south from Jibin to the mouth of the Indus River (now Karachi, Pakistan), you can also reach places such as Persia and Rome by sea. This is the basic trunk road of the Silk Road formed after Zhang Qian’s two missions to the Western Regions during Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. In other words, the Silk Road in a narrow sense refers to the above-mentioned road.

The Silk Road in history is not static. With the changes in the geographical environment and the evolution of the political and religious situation, some new roads are constantly being opened, and the directions of some roads have also changed. Even abandoned. For example, Bailongdui between Dunhuang and Lop Nur is an elegant and elegant terrain that often makes travelers lose their way. When the Northern Huns in the Mongolian Plateau were defeated in the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty and forced to move westward, the Central Plains Dynasty firmly occupied Yiwu (today's Hami) and opened the "Beixin Road" from Dunhuang to Yiwu in the north. From Yiwu to Qiuci via Gaochang (today's Turpan) and Yanqi, it joins the original northern route of the Silk Road. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the north and south of China were in a state of opposition, while the east and west of the north also sometimes merged. Under such a situation, most of the exchanges between the Southern, Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen dynasties with the Western Regions were along the Yangtze River up to Yizhou (now Chengdu), then north to Longgan (now Songpan), passing through the capital city of Tuyuhun on the shores of Qinghai Lake, and westward through the Qaidam Basin to Dunhuang, merges with the main Silk Road; or more westward, crosses the Altun Pass, enters the Shanshan area of ??the Western Regions, and merges with the South Silk Road. This road is called the "Tuyuhun Road" or "Henan Road", and today people also call it It is called "Qinghai Road". There is also the north from the Central Plains or the Hexi Corridor to the Mongolian Plateau, then westward to the northern foothills of the Tianshan Mountains, crossing the Ili River to Suiye (near today's Tokmak), and entering Central Asia. This road, later also known as the "Beixin Road", was most prosperous during the Mongol Khanate and Yuan Dynasties.

In addition to the overland Silk Road, the Chinese have opened a waterway from Guangdong to India since the Han Dynasty. After the Song Dynasty, with the further development of southern China and the shift of the economic center of gravity southward, maritime routes starting from Guangzhou, Quanzhou, Hangzhou and other places became increasingly developed and traveled farther and farther, from the Southeast Asia to the Arabian Sea, and even as far as the east coast of Africa. People refer to these maritime trade routes as the "Maritime Silk Road".

Let’s put it this way:

The Silk Road refers to the route from Chang’an (today’s Xi’an) through Gansu opened by Zhang Qian on his mission to the Western Regions during the Western Han Dynasty (202-8 BC) , Xinjiang, to Central Asia and West Asia, and connects the land routes of Mediterranean countries (this road is also called the "Northwest Silk Road" to distinguish it from two other transportation routes that will be named "Silk Road" in the future). Because among the goods transported westward by this road, silk products had the greatest impact, hence the name. Its basic direction is set in the Han Dynasty, including three routes: the South Road, the Middle Road, and the North Road.

The Silk Road in a broad sense refers to the general name for long-distance commercial trade and cultural exchange routes that have been formed since ancient times and spanned Eurasia and even North and East Africa. In addition to the above-mentioned routes, there are also the Maritime Silk Road, which was formed during the Southern and Northern Dynasties and played a huge role in the late Ming Dynasty, and the Southern Silk Road, which appeared at the same time as the Northwest Silk Road and replaced the Northwest Silk Road as the communication channel in the late Yuan Dynasty. Road and so on.

The term Silk Road (German: die Seidenstrasse) first comes from "China" published by German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen in 1877, and sometimes also It's called Silk Road for short.

Although the Silk Road was the product of the joint efforts of countries along the route to promote economic and trade development, many people believe that China's Zhang Qian's two visits to the Western Regions ushered in a new era of Sino-foreign exchanges. And successfully opened the last bead curtain between East and West. From then on, this route was used as a "national highway", and envoys and businessmen from various countries came and went in an endless stream along the road opened by Zhang Qian. From princes and nobles to beggars and prisoners, the most famous ones are Ban Chao's journey to the Western Regions again and Xuanzang's return from India to learn Buddhist scriptures. They all left their own footprints on this road. This east-west passage closely connects the Central Plains and Western Regions with Arabia and the Persian Gulf. After centuries of continuous efforts, the Silk Road has extended westward to the Mediterranean. In a broad sense, the eastern section of the Silk Road has reached South Korea and Japan, and the western section has reached France and the Netherlands. Italy and Egypt can also be reached through sea routes, becoming a road of friendship for economic and cultural exchanges between Asian, European and African countries.