Brief Introduction:
The Silk Road is an ancient overland trade route connecting Asia, Africa and Europe that began in ancient China. In the narrow sense, the Silk Road generally refers to the overland Silk Road. Broadly speaking, it can be divided into the overland Silk Road(the Silk Road on theland) , the maritime Silk Road and the grassland Silk Road.
The "Overland Silk Road" was a land commercial and trade route connecting the hinterland of China with the European lands. It was formed between the 2nd century BC and the 1st century AD ,and was still in use until the 16th century.It was a major road for economic, political and cultural exchanges between the East and the West. Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty (204BC-220AD)sent Zhang Qian on a mission to the Western Regions to form its basic trunk road,which started from Chang 'an in the Western Han Dynasty (Luoyang in the Eastern Han Dynasty) and reached Dunhuang through the Hexi Corridor.
The Maritime Silk Road, also known as the South China Sea Silk Road, was a maritime route for communication, trade and cultural exchanges between ancient China and foreign countries. The Maritime Silk Road was formed during the Qin and Han Dynasties(221BC-220AD), developed during the Three Kingdoms period, developed during the Sui Dynasty(581-618AD), flourished during the Tang and Song Dynasties(7 century-13 century), and transformed during the Ming and Qing Dynasties(1368-1911AD). During the Sui and Tang Dynasties (581-907AD), silk was the main commodity, while during the Song and Yuan dynasties(960-1368AD), porcelain exports became the main commodity, so the road was also called "maritime ceramic Road".
The Grassland Silk Road,which formed around the 5th century BC,i s a trade corridor connecting the Mongolian grassland with the Eurasian continent. It is an important part of the Silk Road. The main route started from the central Plains to the north, crossed the ancient Yinshan Mountain (now Daqingshan mountain) and Yanshan mountain along the Great Wall, and in the northwest went through the Mongolian Plateau, the north of middle Asia to the Mediterranean Region.
At beginning the name of “Silk Road” (German:Die Seidenstra e) comes from the German geographer, Ferdinand Von Richthofen. In his book, “China -- The Result of My Journey”, published in 1877,he named this overland trade route as The Silk Road. The Silk Road proposed by Richthofen mainly refers to the overland route between Europe and Asia (later also known as the Silk Road on the desert and Oasis),which passed through the hinterland of Asia and formed by oasis in arid deserts, Gobi desert and plateaus. On the other side ,compared with the other two (the maritime Silk Road and the grassland Silk Road), most of silk goods were traded to the west via the Silk Road on the land, which were the most influential of all the goods carried along this route.So nowadays as people mention the silk road,it generally refers to the Silk Road on the land.
Although the Silk Road was the product of countries working together to promote economic and trade development, many believe that Zhang Qian, a Chinese diplomat who twice traveled to the Western Regions, opened up a new era of sino-foreign exchanges. And he successfully lifted the last curtain of pearl between the East and the West. Since then, this route has been stepped out as a"national road", with envoys, merchants and missionaries from various countries following the road opened by Zhang Qian in an endless stream.
In recent years ,with the conception of “One Belt and One Road”, the Silk Road is getting more popular. So it is time for us and it is also our duty to show you more detailed information about this. And it is also good time for you to take the Silk Road Tours.
The background history and the main route of the Silk road:
At the early Han dynasty( 204 BC-111AD),the important military area, Hexi corridor, used to be occupied by the minority Huns. In order to isolate the Huns and recover the Hexi Corridor,Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty decided to send Zhang Qian(calledthe pioneer of silk road) on a mission to the Western Regions to unify the Rouzhi minorities, which were driven out from Hexi corridor by the Huns, to acttack the Huns in the Hexi corridor. Zhang Qian went to western regions twice in 138 BC and 119 BC respectively,starting from Chang’an( Xi’an today). Each time Zhang Qian with his group took a lot of silk and offered them to the countries along the western regions as gifts. Little by little more and more western people got to know that there was a lot of good silk in the country,China,east of the world. They would like to exchange more silk from China .After that more and more exchanges happened about silk,tea,spice,jades,plans,etc. between China and west. So gradually the trade road came into being, which was call the Silk Road afterwards.
The main route of the silk road: Xi’an (Luoyang)-Hexi corrodor-Dunhuang-Taklimakan desert-Pamir plateau-Middle Asia-Western Asia-Europe.
On June 22,2014, China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan jointly declared the eastern section of the Overland Silk Road, "Silk Road: The Road Network of the Chang’an-TianshanCorridor", as a World Cultural Heritage site, becoming the firstcross-border cooperation project successfully applied for world Heritage Status.
The Significance and Influence of the Silk Road:
From the moment Zhang Qian opened up the world-famous Silk Road during the West Han Dynasty(204BC-24AD),until the road collapsed in Ming Dynasty(1368-1644AD), it lasted a history of about 1.600 years. The ancient Silk Road contributed greatly to the cultural exchange between China and the West besides different goods . From the 2nd century BC to the 15th century AD, splendid civilizations among China, India, Greece, Persia and Rome were exchanged along this famous trade route, making the route as a great “Cultural Bridge” between Asia and Europe. The economic and political exchanges happened between the East and West, and religions of the West were introduced into China via the world-famous route as well, such as Buddhism and Islam. From remote time , the Silk Road has been a friendly exchanging route between the Chinese and western people. The Silk Road greatly promoted the exchanges of economy, technology and culture among the Asian, the European and the African, which made the whole world more colorful and closely.
Main Cities along the Silk Road in China
There are many famous ancient cities along the Silk Road. They have not only witnessed the vicissitudes of the Silk Road over 2000 years, but also completed the mission of promoting exchanges between East and West ,while retaining their own distinctive culture, art, their ethnic styles and folk customs as well. These cities played very important roles along the Silk Road at that time.
Xi’an -Tianshui - Lanzhou - Xining -Wuwei-Zhangye -Jiayuguan -Dunhuang -Turpan -Urumuqi - Korla- Kuqa- Hotan-Kashgar - Central Asia
Suggested China Silk Road Tours :
7 Days Terriffic Silk Road Tour
11 Days Classic Silk Road Tour
14 Days Adventure Trip Along the Footstep of Master Xuanzang
15 Days Silk Road Interesting Chanllenging Tour
The Most Useful Information for the silk road travel:
1) Best Time to Silk Road
2) What to visit
3) How to plan your silk road tour
4) Silk Road Travel Tips
5) Hotels we selected along the destinations of the Silk Road
6) Transportation along the Silk Road
7) Climates along the silk road
8) Food on the silk road
9) Shopping on the silk road
10) The interesting activities and festivals along the silk road
Pioneers on the Silk Road （Click the following pictures to read more）
Many people who played the role of travelers as well devoted a lot for the development of the Silk Road. They left their footsteps on the most popular trade route, who are the monks,merchants, diplomats, generals and rows of commodities-carrying camels and horses coming and going in endless stream between the East and West.