The Silk Road usually refers to the trade route in northern Europe and Asia, with a total length of more than 7000 kilometers (more than 14000 miles), which is in contrast to the ancient tea horse road in the south. It was opened by Zhang Qian in the Western Han Dynasty and ban Chao in the Eastern Han Dynasty. It starts from Fangcheng County, Nanyang City, Henan Province, passes through Gansu and Xinjiang to central and West Asia, and connects Mediterranean countries.
This road is also known as the "land Silk Road" to distinguish the other two transportation routes named "Silk Road" in the future. Silk products have the greatest influence on the goods transported to the west by this road, so it is named.
Long ago, the hardworking and intelligent Chinese people mastered the technology of sericulture, silk reeling and silk weaving. In ancient times, there was a famous man named Zhang Qian. He took 300 people and millions of silk, cattle and sheep. He set out from ancient Xi'an and successfully arrived in Wusun, which is now Iran and India.
The beautiful silk he brought aroused the interest of people all over the western regions, especially Kangju people. Kangju people are a nation good at doing business. They drove camels in groups, brought fur and spices... To Chang'an to exchange silk and tea to Iran. A road of communication between the East and the West dominated by silk trafficking was formed at the end of the 19th century. German geologist Li xihuofen praised the East-West Road opened by Zhang Qian as the "Silk Road". On the basis of years of research, Hutson, a German, wrote a monograph "the Silk Road". Since then, the silk road has been recognized by the world.
Speaking of the Silk Road, it is not only one. Due to different dynasties and different destinations to the west, there are several articles. But there are three main routes: Tianshan North Road is along the north side of Tianshan Mountains; Along the south side of Tianshan Mountains is Tianshan South Road; Along the Kunlun Mountains is the South Road of the western regions. These three routes from north to South are called North Road, middle road and South Road in turn. The north, middle and South roads are basically one route before Loulan in Xinjiang: Xi'an Lanzhou Hexi Corridor Wuwei Zhangye Jiuquan Dunhuang Yumenguan (Yangguan) - loulan.
North Road: Loulan - Turpan - Hami - Urumqi - Yining - Ili - West to the Caspian Sea coast;
Middle road: Loulan Kuqa Aksu Kashgar West to Iran and along the Mediterranean coast to Rome;
South Road: Loulan - Qiemo - Khotan - Shache - South to India and southwest to Afghanistan.
1. The silk road is a route of outward radiation development centered on China. From the second century BC to the 15th century BC, the ancient Chinese culture, Indian culture, Greek culture and Persian culture were connected. In addition to spreading the most important and largest amount of silk to the west, there are silkworm technology, gunpowder, compass, copper smelting, papermaking, printing and so on. Through this road, it has also spread to Central Asia, Iran, Rome and other places.
2. Similarly, Western and Central Asian products, Buddhism, Nestorianism (a sect of Christianity), Islam, astronomy, calendar, mathematics, medicine, music and art were also introduced into China.
3, apart from mainly developing westward, it also moved south to Indochina Peninsula and Southeast Asia, developing eastward to the Korean Peninsula and crossing the sea to Japan. Japanese civilization is most enlightened by the silk road. It can be said that it is through the silk road that Japanese cultural history introduces a large number of Chinese and Western cultures.
The silk road is a major transportation artery between China and the West starting from China. It is the main way for China to expand outward in the era of the strongest national strength. It is also the main route for Chinese cultural export, cultural exchanges and trade exchanges between China and the West.