Silk Road

Source: cultural-china.com

Silk Road is a trading route across the Eurasia in the history, through which the most influential goods freighted to the west was the silk products, hence the name. Generally, the Silk Road refers to the land passage initiated by Zhang Qian, a special envoy to the Western Regions, starting from Xi’an, passing Gansu and Xinjiang Province in China to the Central and Western Asia and connecting all Mediterranean countries. In the latter half of the 19th century, the German geographer Richthofen named this route the "Silk Road", which has been followed to this day. Besides this route, there emerged the Southwestern Silk Road and the Maritime Silk Road later.

During the Western Han Dynasty, in order to unite the Great Yüeh-chin to fight the Huns, the Emperor Wu of Western Han Dynasty dispatched Zhang Qian as the special envoy to the Western Regions, which facilitated the formation and development of the Silk Road. The Road has witnessed a great number of celebrities in the history, including the outstanding envoys Zhang Qian and Ban Chao, famous monks including Tang Xuanzang and Fa Xian and lots of poets, artists and explorers.

Through the Silk Road, the Four Great Inventions of Ancient China, silk, porcelain, tea and jade articles were taken to the west, enlarging China’s influences to the western world; the characteristic animals and plants in western countries, such as grape, clover, blood-sweat horse and ostrich, as well as the Buddhism were introduced to China, helping expanding our vision and enriching the traditional art of China.

Lots of historic cultural sites remaining on the Silk Road, including the world-famous Dunhuang and mysterious ancient state of Loulan, now stand quietly on this ancient road.