The Silkroad (Sichou zhi lu 丝绸之路)

Maybe you have heard about the Silk Road or read it yourself long before so that you have already understood the constantly changing and endless barren desert as well as its quietness. Maybe you have met it in the numerous words before. Haven’t you understood its brilliance hidden in the relics on the ancient route left to us by our ancestors that has gone through the test of over 2000 years of trials and hardships? And then do you still want to listen to the bells on the camels that have been pleasant to your ears for years in and out along this historical route that goes through Asia and Europe and maintains the civilization of east and west and appreciate the flourishment and continuous flow on the broad ancient route? Well, let’s read the Silk Road in the virtual world built by the net technology!

A 10,000-li silver ribbon, starting at Chang’an (Xi’an today), the ancient capital of China, and ending at the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, links up fields, deserts, grasslands, and mountains. This is the Silk Road famed in world history, the first thoroughfare that links up China with the West.

2000 ago, our ancestors opened up a great road--the Silk Road.

China was the first country in the world to breed silkworms and produce silk. The Silk Road was first conceived during the Zhou and Qin dynasties. From 138--139B.C., Zhang Qian, outstanding Western Han diplomat and traveler, first “blazed a trail” in the West, and the Silk Road was formally inaugurated as China’s “national road” linking up the east and west. Holding a tasseled staff and “driving enormous herds of sheep and cattle and bringing quantities of golden coins and rolls of silk,” Zhang Qian set out with a retune of 100 and 300 in two trips from Chang’an and reached Loulan (around Roujiang today), Yuli, Quick (Kula today), Shula (Kashi today), Yutan (Hotan today) and Wunsun (the Ill River valley today), as well as Dayuan, Kanju, kand Dayuezhi, now in Xinjiang and the Amu-Darya River valley in Central Asia. His assistant even went as far as Ansi (Iran) and Xindu (India) for friendly visits. In return, envoys from these countries also visited China, and merchants were continually on the way.

In 73 AD, Ban Zhao embarked on a mission to the western region with a 36-man retinue, ensuring the smooth operation of the Silk Road which had once been blocked by war. His deputy Gan Ying reached Daqin (ancient Rome) and toured the Persian Gulf (Arabic Gulf), extending the Silk Road.

The ancient Silk Road linked Chinese culture with that of India, Greece, Rome and Persian from one century to the other, carried the great Chinese inventions of silk, gunpowder, papermaking and printing to the West and brought Buddhism, Nestorianism, and Islam and their related arts and cultures into China. From time immemorial, the Silk Road has been a route of friendly intercourse between the Chinese and foreign people.

Chinese silk, ironware, gold and platinum, bronze mirrors, lacquer and bamboo wares, drugs and farming and smelting technology passed through the western region to India and Europe. Alfalfa, grapes, sesame, pomegranates, walnuts, cucumbers, carrots, safflowers, as well as lions, peacocks, elephants, camels and horses from the western region also found their way into the Chinese interior. A passage from the West Region: History of the Han Dynasty, documents the trade between China and foreign countries: “The emperor’s household was filled with pearls, rhinoceros horns and peacock feathers. Palace officials’ stables were crowded with thoroughbred horses: elephants, lions, mastiffs and peacocks roam the menagerie. Exotic articles poured in from every quarter.”

Fa Xian and Xuan Zang, eminent monks of the Jin and Tang Dynasties, journeyed to more than 30 countries including Kashmir, Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka along the Silk Road in 366 and 627 (or 629). The Lands of Buddhism by Fa Xian and the West Region by Xuan Zang were important references in research on the histories of the West Region and India, and the Silk Road.

1222-1223, Yelu Chucai, a Yuan dynasty poet, and Qiu Chuji, leader of Taoism, traveled west and made lively notes on the scenes along northern Xinjiang and the central Asian region.

The ancient Silk Road linked Chinese culture with that of India, Greece, Rome and Persian from one century to the other, carried the great Chinese inventions of silk, gunpowder, papermaking and printing to the West and brought Buddhism, Nestorianism, and Islam and their related arts and cultures into China. From time immemorial, the Silk Road has been a route of friendly intercourse between the Chinese and foreign people.

The ancient Silk Road yields a wealth of world famous treasures. A series of passes, castles, grotto temples, courier stations, burial sites and beacon towers shine with brilliance.

The greater part of the Silk Road threads its way through Xinjiang. Ancient travelers left behind many historical records and invaluable relics.

And all this reminds people from time to time that the Chinese nation had spread its splendid but unique ancient civilization to the west and even to the whole world through this main route so that the people all over the world could understand its great oriental civilization.

It used to be the main artery of communication and cultural exchange between China and the western countries.

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West Lake （杭州西湖）

The famous West Lake is like a brilliant pearl embedded in the beautiful and fertile shores of the East China Sea near the mouth of the Hangzhou Bay. The lake covers an area of 5.6 square kilometers. The view of the West Lake is simply enchanting, which offers many attractions for tourists at home and abroad. 
Tiger-running Spring
　　The legend goes that two tights ran there and made a hole where a spring gushed out. The Longjing Tea and the Tiger-running Spring water are always reputed as the "Two Wonders of the West Lake".
The Lingyin Monastery
　　The Lingyin Monastery, or the Monastery of Soul's Retreat, is a famous historical site of the West Lake. Here exists the Lingyin Monastery, a famous ancient temple in China, in front of which there are Feilai Peak, Cold Spring, Longhong Cave and precious rock cave arts and queer and varied natural caves and gullies.
Spring Dawn at Su Causeway
　　It's a 2.8 km. long boulevard cutting across the south-north scenic area, and lined with trees and flowering plants. When Spring comes with crimson peach blossoms and green willows; the scenery is all the more charming. Strolling along the boulevard, one feels as if the West Lake were wakening in dawn mist. Young willows were ethereal, spring breeze so caressing, and birds were chirping in unison.
The Moon Reflected in Three Pools
　　"There are islands in the lake and three are lake on the islands." The three stone towers were first built in Yuanyou 4th year (1089) of the Song Dynasty, with the wonderful scenery of "one moon in the sky having three reflection in the lake", it is one of the wonderful scenes of the West Lake.
Notes:
1. West Lake 西湖
2. Tiger-running Spring 虎跑泉
3. The Lingyin Monastery 灵隐寺
4. Spring Dawn at Su Causeway 苏堤春晓
5. The Moon Reflected in Three Pools 三潭印月

The introduction of Shanghai

A conurbation of over 18 million people ,Shanghai is China's second-largst city and is one of the four centrally administered cities in the country, the other three being Beijing, Tianjin and Chongqing. It is also one of China's most important industrial and cultural centres.
To most foreigner, Shanghai conjures up stories of adventure and intrigue, of vice and leasure. Many of these were probably no exaggeration, for it was a dynamic,violent and colourful city. Most of the European-style quarters of the old international Settlement and the French Concession areas can still be seen, though they are much in need of repair. One can still clearly imagine the extraordinary life of pre-1949 Shanghai.
HISTORY OF SHANGHAI
The name Shanghai, which means 'on the sea', was first used in AD 960 when the set dement was a backward fishing village. In 1554, the town was surrounded by a seven-metre (23-foot) high crenellated city wall and a moat to protect it against the frequent incursions of Japanese pirates. By the l7th century there were signs of growing wealth, but when the British troops stormed its undefended walls in 1842 Shanghai was still only a county town of no great importance.
The first foreign settlement was established in 1843, when the newly-appointed British Consul arrived to negotiate for a 138-acre (just over 0.5 square kilometres) site north of the existing city. This site was joined with the American Settlement founded in 1848 north of Suzhou Creek, to form the international Settlement in 1863. Subsequent negotiations with the Chinese increased the area of the International Settlement to more than 5,500 acres (about 22 square kilometres). The French Concession was established on 164 acres (about 0.6 square kilometres) in 1849 and was finally extended to about 2,500 acres (about l0 square kilometres). The Japanese, also, had secured a concession by the end of the 1ast century, which became a centre for cotton-spinning factories. These settlements were self administered and were outside Chinese government jurisdiction.
The old Chinese City, occupied by one group of the Taiping rebels--the Small Sword Society--between 1853 and 1855, became the scene of lawlessness and fighting. The foreign community, concerned for its own safety, formed the Shanghai Volunteer Corps, recruited from local traders and diplomats. They were even prepared to take on the imperial troops f backed by British and American officers and men from visiting warship5, the volunteers issued an ultimatum for the troops' removal, an action which precipitated the Battle of Muddy Flat in 1854. The imperial troops were duly driven away from their encampment, which was the site of the old racecourse, now the People's Park.
Shanghai was again threatened by the Taiping rebe1s in the 1860s, but they were quelled by the Ever Victorious Army made up of foreigners and Chinese, estab1ished for this very purpose. An American, Frederick Townsend Ward, a Frenchman, Henri A Burg vine, and a Briton, Char1es Gorge Gordon ('Chinese Gordon', later of Khartoum fame), took successive command and were all made officers of the Qing Imperial Army.
The nationwide upheavals in the 20th century the 1900 Boxer Rebellion, the 1911 Revolution, the Sino Japanese War took their toll on Shanghai's millions.Hundreds of thousands of Chinese poured into the foreign settlements for protection and then stayed on. Nevertheless, Shanghai continued to flourish as an entrepot with its staple exports of tea and silk, and imports of piece goods and opium. Banking plyed an important part in this great trading city, which had its own stock exchange.
The foreigners' lifestyle was grand and lavish for those who could afford to participate in clubs, race meetings, paper chases and nightclubs. The arrival in the 1930s of some 25,000 White Russian refugees enlivened the night1ife of cabarets and dance halls in 'Frenchtown', as the French Concession was called by the Anglo-Saxons. Chinese secret societies controlled the seamy side of Shanghai life, and the city was the Holly'Wood of China with a thriving movie industry.
But the Shanghai workers were subjected to appalling working conditions,overcrowding and exploitation, a situation leading inevitably to industrial unrest and revolutionary activity. The Communist Party of China was founded in Shanghai in 1921 at a secret meeting in the French Concession. The Party fomented strikes and uprisings--some of them actually planned by Zhou Enlai, later Premier--but these activities were violently suppressed by the Nationalist government. This was a period of debate among Chinese intcllectuals, who were influenced by the philosophies and experience of the more industrialized West. Many of these Chinese had
studied abroad or at missionary institutions of higher 1earning in Shanghai.
The beginning of the Sino Japanese War saw bombing and fierce fighting in and around Shanghai, but the foreign concessions were not occupied by the Japanese until after the bombing of Pearl Harbour, when Allied nationals were interned. In 1943 extra--territoriality came to an end by common consent, but the Chinese only regained control of Shanghai after the defeat of the Japanese.
When a People's Republic was proclaimed in China at the end of the civil war,foreigners and Chinese industrialists, fleeing Communism, left Shanghai, many re-establishing themselves in Hong Kong.
Because of the city's long history of foreign capitalist exploitation and 'bourgeois attitudes', adherents of the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and '70s were particularly vociferous in Shanghai, which became the headquarters of the so-called Gang of Four, the ultra-Leftist elements of this chaotic period.
When China began to reform her economic system and opened her doors to the outside world, one imagined that there would be a resurgence of the entrepreneurial spirit in Shanghai. But it took some while for today's momentum to build. Until recently, Shanghai has been starved of investment, Bejing having siphoned off much of its huge earnings. As the population continued to grow, the problems of housing and traffic congestion grew ever more acute.
However, in 1988, Bejing and Shanghai entered a new revenue agreement. Instead of surrendering more than three-quarters of its annual revenues, Shanghai began contributing a fixed amount to the central government and keeping any surpluses for its own use. The revitalizing of Shanghai could scarcely be more ambitiousf bridges, tunnels, ah urban subway System, Suburban housing, the technical upgrading and expansion of its textile industry, the building of a microelectronics industry in Caohejing, a would-be Silicon Valley; and the establishment of a new port and free trade and export processing zone in Pudong.