The Silk Road

The Silk Road refers to a transport route connecting ancient China with Central Asia, WestAsia, Africa, and the European continent. It appeared as early as the second century and was traveled mainly by silk merchants. The term “Silk Road,”or “die Seidenstrasse”in German, was first noted down by the German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen at the end of the 19th century.

The silk Road began in Chang an(present-day Xilan, capital of Shaanxi Province), passing through Gansu and Xinjiang to Central Asia, West Asia, and to lands by the Mediterranean.

There were no signs of communication between ancient Chinese civilization and Mediterranean civilization in earlier history. In about the seventh century BC, the ancient Greeks began to learn about an ancient civilization to the east, yet knew little about it. Before the Silk Road, according to archeological findings, there had already existed an intermittent trade route on the grasslands from the Yellow River and Indus River drainage areas to the Euphrates and Tigris, and the Nile drainage areas. Yet real communication between China, Central and West Asian countries, Africa and the European continent did not develop until the opening of the Silk Road.

The Silk Road functioned not only as a trade route, but also as a bridge that linked the ancient civilizations of China, India, the Mesopotamian plains, Egypt, and Greece. It also helped to promote the exchange of science and technology between east and west. The Silk Road served as the main channel for ancient China to open up to the outside world, as well as for fresh impulses from other cultures to enter the country, which contributed a significant share to the shaping of Chinese culture.

Yongchang (everlasting prosperitby) brocade of the Eastern Han Dynasty, showing ahigh level of textile technology.

qingquang

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