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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