The Silk Road refers to the land passage opened by Zhang Qian in the Western Han Dynasty (202 -8 BC) to connect Mediterranean countries with Chang 'an (Jin 'an) and Luoyang (starting from Luoyang). This road is also called "Northwest Silk Road" to distinguish the other two traffic routes named "Silk Road" in the future. Because silk products have the greatest influence on the goods transported to the west, it is named. Its basic trend was set in the Han Dynasty, including three routes: South Road, Middle Road and North Road.

The Silk Road in a broad sense refers to the long-distance commercial, trade and cultural exchange routes that have been formed since ancient times and spread all over Eurasia, even including North Africa and East Africa. In addition to the above routes, it also includes the Maritime Silk Road, which was formed in the Southern and Northern Dynasties and played a great 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 a communication channel on the road at the end of Yuan Dynasty.

The word "die Seidenstrasse" originated from China published by German geographer ferdinand von richthofen in 1877, sometimes referred to as the Silk Road for short.

Although the Silk Road is the product of the economic and trade development promoted by countries along the route, many people think that Zhang Qian in China has opened a new era of Sino-foreign exchanges twice. And successfully opened the last bead curtain between East and West. Since then, this route has been stepped out of the "national highway", and ambassadors and businessmen from all countries have poured in along the road opened by Zhang Qian. From princes and nobles to beggars and prisoners, they all left footprints on this road. This east-west passage closely links the Central Plains and the Western Regions with Arabia and the Persian Gulf. After centuries of continuous efforts, the Silk Road extended westward to the Mediterranean Sea. Broadly speaking, the eastern section of the Silk Road reached South Korea and Japan, and the western section reached France and the Netherlands. Italy and Egypt can also be reached by sea, becoming the road of friendship for economic and cultural exchanges between Asia, Europe and Africa.

[edit] route

Generally speaking, the Silk Road can be divided into three sections, and each section can be divided into three routes: North, South and China.

Eastern section: from Chang 'an to Yumenguan and Yangguan. (Opened in Han Dynasty)

Middle section: from Yumenguan, Yangguanxi to Congling. (Opened in Han Dynasty)

Western section: from the green ridge to the west, through Central Asia and West Asia, until Europe. (opened in Tang Dynasty)

The following are the names of important cities in various sections of the Silk Road (ancient place names in brackets).

[edit] east section

In the route selection of the eastern section, we should consider the safety and convenience of crossing Liupan Mountain and the Yellow River. The third line starts from Chang 'an, joins Wuwei and Zhangye, and then goes along Hexi Corridor to Dunhuang.

Northern Line: Jingchuan, Guyuan and Jingyuan have the shortest routes to Wuwei, but it is not easy to pass water along the way.

South Line: From Fengxiang, Tianshui, Longxi, Linxia, Ledu, Xining to Zhangye, but the road is long.

Midline: Jingchuan to Pingliang, Huining, Lanzhou to Wuwei, with moderate distance and supply.

see

Xi 'an (Chang 'an): Xumishan Grottoes, Maijishan Grottoes and Bingling Temple Grottoes.

Wuwei (Liangzhou)

Zhangye (Ganzhou)

Jiuquan (Suzhou)

Dunhuang (Shazhou): Mogao Grottoes and Yulin Grottoes.

During the period of 10, in order to bypass the territory of Xixia, the government of the Northern Song Dynasty opened up the "Qinghai Road" from Tianshui to the western regions. It became a new trade route after the Song Dynasty.

see

Tianshui

Xining

Fu chongcheng

Solkuri basin (Solkuri)

[edit] middle part

Caravans on the Silk Road. The route of the central region is mainly the western region, which changes with the change of oasis and desert. There are many forks and branches in the middle of the third line, especially the fourth town Anxi (established in 640).

South Road (also called Yutian Road): It starts from Yangguan in the east, along the southern edge of Taklimakan Desert, and passes through Ruoqiang (Shanshan), Hotan (Yutian), shache and other places. Jing Congling.

Yangguan

Ruoqiang (Shanshan)

(be) sure not to do sth

Niya is one of the 36 Western Regions in the Western Han Dynasty.

Hotan (Khotan)

Zhongdao: It starts from Yumenguan, along the northern edge of Taklimakan Desert, and passes through Lop Nur (Loulan), Turpan (Auto Market, Gaochang), Yanqi (Yuli), Kuqa (Kucha), Aksu (Gu Mo) and Kashgar (Shule) to Fergana Valley (Dawan).

Yumen Pass

Loulan (Shanshan merged and now belongs to Ruoqiang County, Xinjiang)

Turpan (Gaochang): Gaochang Ancient Town, Yaerhu Ancient Town, Baizixi Thousand Buddha Cave.

Yanqi (Yuli)

Kuqa (Qiuci): Qizil Thousand Buddha Cave and Kumutula Thousand Buddha Cave.

Aksu (Gu Mo)

Kashi (Shule)

North Road: It starts from Anxi (Guazhou), passes through Hami (Yiwu), Jimsar (Tingzhou) and Yining (Yili), and ends in broken leaves.

Hami, the waterway is rich in cantaloupe.

Urumqi, palindrome means beautiful grassland.

Yining (Ili)

Broken leaves

[Edit] West Section

From the jungle west to Europe, it is the western section of the Silk Road, and its north, south, middle and south lines correspond to the three lines in the middle section respectively. The route from Caspian Sea to Constantinople was opened in the middle of Tang Dynasty.

Northern line: along the Aral Sea, the Caspian Sea and the northern shore of the Black Sea, Itil passes through broken leaves, Virote, astrakhan and other places to Istanbul (Constantinople).

Urumqi

Almaty (Kazakhstan)

Jambul City (Virote, now Kazakh City)

Tokmak (broken leaves, now Kyrgyzstan)

Salai (Russia)

Sack

Istanbul (Constantinople, now a Turkish city)

Central Line: Starting from Kashgar, take Fergana Valley, Samarkand, Bukhara, etc. Go to Mashhad (Iran) and join the southern line.

Kashgar or Kashgar?

Peshawar: Hara Helin Avenue

Kabul

Bamiyan: The famous Bamiyan Buddha was destroyed by the Taliban in 200 1 year.

South Line: Starting from Pamirs, you can enter Pakistan and India from Kashmir, and you can also travel to Europe from Peshawar, Kabul, Mashhad, Baghdad and Damascus.

Mashhad (Iran)

Sabzeval

Hector Hector Tompylos (Van Du and Xie) may be located between Mugan and Shahrud, in today's Ilanda. )

Tehran

Hamadan

Cherman Sahan

Bakubai (Iraq)

Baghdad

Abu Hareb

Fallujah: Follow the Euphrates River to Aleppo.

Ramadi

Alibo (Syria)

Damascus

Adana (Turkey)

Konya

Antioch

bag

Constantinople (Istanbul)

[Edit] Other

In addition, there are the Southern Silk Road, which mainly communicates with South Asia, and the Maritime Silk Road along the coastal roads.

[Editor] Economic and cultural exchanges

[Editor] Commodity Exchange

As the name of "Silk Road" implies, on this 7,000-kilometer-long road, silk, like porcelain of the same origin in China, became a symbol of prosperity and civilization in East Asia at that time. Silk is not only an important luxury consumer goods on the Silk Road, but also an effective political tool for China dynasties. China's diplomatic envoys to the western regions and even further countries often regard silk as an effective means to express the friendship between the two countries. Moreover, the spread of silk to the west has slightly changed the impression of China in western countries. As the high prices of silk and porcelain spread to Constantinople, quite a few people think that China and even East Asia are rich areas with rich products. Heads of state and nobles used to wear China silk dyed with Phoenician red and use porcelain as a symbol of glory at home.

In addition, lapis lazuli from Afghanistan also flows into Europe and Asia with the caravan. The widespread spread of this kind of trade commodity far before silk in Eurasia has contributed to the promotion of trade exchanges between Europe and Asia. This precious commodity was once a symbol of national wealth in the two river basins. After lapis lazuli was spread to India, it was regarded as one of the seven treasures of Buddhism by Buddhists there, adding a long religious color to lapis lazuli. The spread of grapes, walnuts, carrots, peppers, beans, spinach (also known as Persian food), cucumbers (called cucurbitaceae plants in Chinese) and pomegranates has added more choices to the daily diet of East Asians. After historical development, the wines from the western regions have been integrated into the traditional wine culture in China. Caravans mainly transport iron, gold, silver, mirrors and other luxuries from China. What is shipped to China are rare animals and birds, plants, furs, medicinal materials, spices and jewels.

[Editor] Cultural exchange

[Editor] China's ancient technology spread to the West

At present, the oldest known printed matter: the Diamond Sutra of the Tang Dynasty was discovered in Dunhuang. Papermaking has made great contributions to China's leading position in ancient science and technology in the world. However, it seems that only some countries in East and South Asia have developed the paper industry. With the opening of the Silk Road, paper products began to appear in the Western Regions and beyond. People found ancient paper from the 2nd century in the archaeological site of Loulan. Although paper is also used in Central Asia, there is no evidence of paper industry. Many people believe that the spread of papermaking to the west has brought great changes to Europe and Central Asia, but the initial changes were cruel: the forces of the Tang Dynasty and the emerging Abbas dynasty in Central Asia were constantly rubbing. During the Nero War, which had a strong influence on the political situation in Central Asia, Arabs brought China prisoners of war back to Samarkand along the Silk Road, and among these prisoners of war were China craftsmen who were good at papermaking. Finally, papermaking spread all over the world.

There are dense deserts in the western regions, and the prosperity of countries is often inseparable from water. Snowmelt water in Tianshan and Kunlun Mountains is one of the main water sources in the western region. However, collecting snow water is not easy. After melting, the accumulated water at the foot of the mountain will evaporate or seep into the ground in a short time. Since the Han Dynasty sent troops to the western regions to hoard and develop agriculture, Karez and well canal technology, which spread in mountainous areas, was used by soldiers in the western regions who also needed water, and gradually spread to further countries. Whether Karez technology was introduced into the Western Regions from China or Persia has always been a controversial issue. However, it has been proved that the well canal technology and well drilling methods were spread to the west from China. According to Records of the Historian, Li Guangli, the general of the Second Division, led troops to attack Dawan in order to cut off the water and besieged the city. However, "Imakiayahito in Wancheng knows how to drill a well", which made Dawan people persist for a long time.

Printing in ancient China was also one of the technologies that spread westward along the Silk Road. Wood blocks and some paper products used for block printing were found in Dunhuang and Turpan. Among them, the engraving of the Diamond Sutra in the Tang Dynasty is still preserved in Britain. This shows that printing had spread to Central Asia at least in the Tang Dynasty. During the13rd century, many European travelers came to China along the Silk Road and brought this technology back to Europe. In 65438+5th century, Johannes Gutenberg, a European, printed a Bible by printing. 1466, the first printing factory appeared in Italy, which made this technology convenient for cultural exchange spread all over Europe.

[Editor] The exchange of religious ideas

Western missionaries discovered in the northern part of China in the Tang Dynasty (7th century) are just like the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, when Buddhism spread from the "Silk Road" sub-tunnels on the north and south sides of the Taklimakan Desert to the western countries. There are still many stories about the introduction of Buddhism into the western regions. However, at home and abroad, "the basic view of academic circles is that Buddhism was introduced to the western regions as early as the 2nd century BC and as late as 1 century BC". Accordingly, after Buddhism was introduced to the western regions in Khotan in 87 BC, it spread from the Buddhist holy land in Khotan to Yecheng, shache, Tashkurgan, Kashi, Aksu, Kuqa, Yanshou and other places on the northern road of the Silk Road from 60 BC to 10 BC, as well as Qiemo, Ruoqiang, Milan, Loulan and other places in the northeast.