The Silk Road
China's Silk Road - Simplified Chinese: 丝绸之路 pinyin: sī chóu zhī lù
The Silk Road, began by the Han Dynasty, stretches from China across India, Arabia and even Rome.
map from the Silk Road Foundation. Clicking on it will open the map up in a new page.
The Silk Road is a collection of routes that stretched over 8,000 km from Xi'an (Chang'an) to the mediterranean Sea. Originally composed of several caravan routes, this was the road used to import Chinese goods, such as jade and silk into the Middle East, and eventually extending all the way to Rome. Beginning at around 300 BCE, importing and exporting centralized around the city of Hotan. Around 200 BCE, these routes were enlarged to include the Middle East. And by 100 BCE, the Silk Road became the central trading avenue between the Orient and the Mediterranean.
The name "Silk Road" was coined by the German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen in the 1870's. During that time, several ancient cities were being rediscovered along the route. By the end of the century, European explorers reopened the Silk Road in order to hasten their search of ancient cities. However, this was also the result of England's and Russia's eagerness for Central Asian Domination. Called the "Great Game", both powers sought control of the Silk Road and wanted to use
it as a means of control of the western part of China. Since then, many European nations have taken vast amounts of artifacts back to their respective museums overseas.
Today, vast amounts of treasures still exist along the Silk Road. Tours of this area usually begin in the city of Chang'an, today called Xi'an, passing through Lanzhou in Gansu Province and the Jiayuguan Pass to the Mogao Caves around Dunhuang and on to turpan, Urumqi and Kashgar (Kashi in the ancient times.)
Jiayuguan Pass marks the end of the Great Wall. The old Fort there is dubbed "Most impregnable Pass Under Heaven." The walls run 10 meters high, not including the gate towers.
The Mogao Caves are a highlight of Northwest China. Back in the 4th century CE, a Buddhist monk had visions of 1000 Buddhas and began to care grottoes ito the sandstone cliff and fill them with Buddha statues and wall paintings, most of which are still intact today.
Past Dunhuang and into Xinjiang, the Turpan Depression, more than 154 meters (504 feet) below sports some of the most famous sand-scapes of the desert. Hardly a drop of rain falls on the Turpan Depression. The Flaming mountains are aptly named, due to their look of being on fire during the mid-day sun. The Ruins of Jiaohe is what's left of a garrison from the Han Dynasty that was destroyed by Genghis Khan. Also, before hitting Kashgar, you'll pass the ancient capital of Gaochang and the Astana graves.
Kashgar
Lying 1300 meters above sea-level, Kashgar is located in western Xinjiang near to India, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. With the many influences around it, ethnically, culturally and linguistically, Kashgar maintains an air of mystique about it. The famous bazaar sells all sorts of traditional and modern clothes, hats and ornamental and ceremonial weaponry. Sunday, the market opens up on the eastern part of the city and within its confines lies a good amount of animals from goats to horses and camels; a good reminder of the long history of the Silk Road.
Origins
In Chinese, the Silk Road was called "Tianshan Nan Lu" or "the road south of the celestial mountains." In Xi'an, it was called the "Imperial Highway." Halfway between the east and west lies the town of Os. Traders frequently met there and bought, sold or traded cargoes and headed back to where they came
from. Most traders never traversed the entire Silk Road, only remaining in the areas near their respective cities, and meeting trading partners "half way."
Around 635 CE, the first Western traveler to pass beyond Kashgar, southeast of Os, was a Nestorian Christian priest from Syria called Olopun. In the early thirteenth century, Genghis Khan used the Silk Road to conquer Central Asia and parts of China. After the conquest, Khan made some changes to the operation of the Silk Road, setting up stations and couriers along the route, thereby improving transportation and communications along the route. With greater security and communications along the Silk Road during the Mongol reign, long-distance travel became all the more practical. Marco Polo journeyed from Venice all the way to Beijing between 1271 and 1275.
For over 2,000 years, the Silk Road brought not only merchants, but cultures together. Trade flourished through the route, peeking around the 14th century. However, the route would soon lose its influence, partially due to the fall of the Mongols, the rise of Turkish Islam and the drying up of oases and lakes along the route. Vasco da Gama further helped the decline of the Silk Road by opening up the "Spice Route", an alternate sea route between the East and West.
The Silk Road hosted a great number of contacts between cultures and nations in the past, bringing goods, technologies and ideas to the ends of both Asia and Europe. From the Silk Road, Buddhism spread into China from India. Islam credits its spread along this road as well. Mathematics, astronomy, and medicine traveled east and west, along with different forms of music, dance, painting, and other art forms. Traded goods included silk, jade, spices, ginger, tea, peach and pear trees, porcelain, papermaking, printing, and gunpowder. From Europe and the Mediterranean came glass, grapes, cotton, wool, gems, ivory, and larger breeds of horses. Most traded goods were small and of high value, due to the length of the journey these items had to make.