Historical stories of the Silk Road, historical stories about the Silk Roads

The Silk Road was an important transportation route across the Asian continent in ancient times. Since 119 BC Zhang Qian's mission to the Western Regions, it has gradually appeared. From Chang'an, the ancient capital of China in the east (near present-day Xi'an), westward along Weishui, through the Hexi Corridor (present-day Gansu Province, the narrow strip), to Dunhuang, out of Yumen Pass and Yangguan, into the "Western Regions" (now Xinjiang and the west of the region).

The south road out of Yangguan along the northern foot of the Kunlun Mountains to the west, the north road out of Yumen Pass along the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains to the west, over the Green Ridge (now the Pamir Plateau) into present-day Central Asia, and then westward, through present-day Iran and other countries to reach the territory of Daqin (the territory of the Roman Empire in the Middle East). In the Han Dynasty, the south road was mostly walked. In the Tang Dynasty, the north road was mostly walked.

The "Silk Road" is about 7,000 kilometers long and is named after the transportation of Chinese silk, which is regarded as a treasure in the West. Through the Silk Road, Chinese silk, ironware, and well-drilling techniques were transmitted to the Western Regions, and local products and musical instruments from the Western Regions, as well as Buddhism from India, were also introduced to China. The Silk Road was an important channel for economic and cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries during the Han and Tang dynasties.

The role of the Silk Roads in the kit.

Zhang Qian made two missions

1. Zhang Qian's first mission to the Western Regions.

Purpose: Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty recruited envoys to the Western Regions, preparing to contact the Dayue people who had been driven by the Xiongnu from Hexi to the Western Regions, and jointly flank the Xiongnu. Zhang Qian, who was eager to make contributions to the country, resolutely applied for the recruitment.

By: In 138 BC, he traveled west from Chang'an with more than 100 followers, but was captured by the Huns on the way and detained for 12 years. He did not forget his mission, managed to escape, and reached the Otsuki clan.

At that time, the Dayue clan had been moving west for a long time and had no intention of fighting the Xiongnu again. Zhang Qian returned to Chang'an and reported to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty what he had seen in the Western Regions and their desire to communicate with the Han Dynasty.

2. Zhang Qian's second mission to the Western Regions.

In 119 BC, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent Zhang Qian as a second envoy to the Western Regions. Zhang Qian led the mission, with tens of thousands of cattle and sheep and a large amount of silk, to visit many countries in the Western Regions. Countries in the Western Regions also sent envoys to visit Chang'an. Since then, the exchanges between the Han Dynasty and the Western Regions have become more frequent.

The Silk Road is the first communication route across the Eurasian continent in history, which has promoted friendly exchanges between Eurasian and African countries and China. China is the homeland of silk, and silk is the most representative of the goods exported by China through this route. In the second half of the 19th century, the German geographer Richthofen called this road transportation route the "Silk Road", and since then Chinese and foreign historians have agreed with this theory and continue to use it today.

The Silk Road refers to the land passage opened up by Zhang Qian's envoy to the Western Regions in the Western Han Dynasty (202-8 BC), with Chang'an (now Xi'an) Chongchi and Luoyang as the eastern starting point (one says that Luoyang is the starting point), passing through Gansu and Xinjiang, to Central Asia and West Asia, and connecting the Mediterranean countries (this road is also known as the "Northwest Silk Road" to distinguish the other two traffic routes with the name of "Silk Road" in the future). It is named after the silk products that had the greatest influence on the goods transported west by this road. Its basic direction was set in the Han Dynasty and Han Dynasty, including three routes: the South, the Middle and the North.

The Silk Road, in a broad sense, refers to the general term for long-distance commercial and cultural exchange routes that have been formed since antiquity and spread throughout Eurasia and even North and East Africa. In addition to the above-mentioned routes, it also includes the Maritime Silk Road, which was formed during the Northern and Southern Dynasties and played a huge role in the late Ming Dynasty, and the Southern Silk Road, which appeared at the same time as the Northwest Silk Road and replaced the Northwest Silk Road as a road exchange channel at the end of the Yuan Dynasty.