The Road Behind the Fabric

The Silk Road was the richest, longest, and most international trade route of the ancient world. The 7,000-km route spanned China, Central Asia, India, the Parthian and the Roman Empires. Even today, its name continues to conjure up dramatic images of endless camel caravans slowly crossing featureless deserts and freezing mountain passes.

Named after the silk carried on it, the Silk Road stretches by various routes. Historically, these routes are divided into three sections.

The Eastern Section refers to routes to the east of Dunhuang. Along the routes lay the ancient Chinese capitals of Changan, Luoyang, and Dadu, – all had been the starting point of the Silk Road at one time or another. The stretch of the Silk Road between Changan and the west of Liangzhou is the famous Hexi Corridor where strategic positions were located. Many fierce battles were fought here, and some great poems were written here.

The Central Section comprises of areas west of Dunhuang County and east of Congling (the High Pamir). From along the southern and northern edges of Taklamakan Desert, it branches out into two separated westbound routes.

Also stretches out into two separate routes, the Western Section extends west of Congling, through today’s Russia, Afghanistan, Iran, Syria and Italy to the Mediterranean ports of Alexandria and Antioch. It extends south to today’s Pakistan and India.

Click Here for a map of the Silk Road
 

The Silk Road was inaugurated around 138 to 119 B.C., after Emperor Wu of the West Han Dynasty sent diplomat Zhang Qian to make an initial contact with Xiyu – Western Region. It thrived in the Tang Dynasty (approx. 618-907 A. D.). Envoys from the west visited China via the Silk Road, and merchants were continually on the way. Caravans generally met on the road and traded goods, rather than traversing the entire route. One of the most famous travelers taking the route is Marco Polo. The legendary Venetian ventured to China in the 13th century by the Silk Road, a trip that took about three years. The Silk Road gradually declined by the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty (17th century), due to the advent of popular sea route transportation.

The Silk Road not only transported the Chinese silk to the west, but also enhanced the political, economical and cultural exchanges between the East and the West. Merchandise such as Chinese tea and technology including weaving, papermaking and printing, medicine and other advanced Chinese technology of the time found their way through the Silk Road to the West. Concurrently, from India, came spices, ivory, and cotton; from Rome, came glass.  Ideas also traveled to and from China via the Silk Road. From the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, various religious beliefs were introduced into China, among them, Indian Buddhism, Persia’s Zoroastrianism, as well as Nestorianism, a sect of Christianity from the Roman Empire. These religions and their related arts and culture have tremendous impact on Chinese culture.

Yielding a wealth of cultural relics and unique historical features, today’s Silk Road is an important tourist attraction in the western part of China. It continues to span the past and the present and link the East to the West.

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