The Southern Silk Road, with a total length of about 2,000 kilometers, is one of the oldest international passages in China. Starting from Yibin, Sichuan, passing through Ya 'an, Lushan, Xichang and Panzhihua to Zhaotong, Qujing, Dali, Baoshan and Tengchong, Yunnan, Dehong. Enter Myanmar, Thailand, and finally reach India and the Middle East.
There are two main routes of the Southern Silk Road: one is the West Road, namely "Niulu Road". Starting from Chengdu, it passes through Lin Qiong (Qiongzhou), Tsing Yi (famous mountain), Flue (Yingjing), Yaoniu (Hanyuan), Lanxian (Yuexi), Du Qiong (Xichang) and Yu Ye (Dali) to Yongchang (Baoshan), and then to Myitkyina or bhamo, and enters Myanmar and Southeast Asia. This road can reach the elephant country of "Yunnan and Vietnam" as far as possible, and may reach India and Bangladesh.
The other is the host country, which is called "Wuchi Road". It starts from Chengdu, goes to Bodao (Yibin), Nanguang (Gaoxian), Zhuti (Zhaotong), wei county (Qujing) and Guchang (Kunming), and then enters Vietnam all the way, overlapping with Yongniu Road. Judging from the documents available at present, the famous figure of the ancient Shu ancestors who took this route first was Wang Anyang, who moved south after Qin destroyed Shu. King Anyang led 30,000 people along this route into the Red River area in northern Vietnam, and established the Luo 'ou country, which is the "Shu country" in Vietnamese history.
Since the 1990s, the country has been committed to the identification of the ancient tea-horse road. Mu, Chen Baoya and other experts and scholars made an academic investigation on the ancient caravan route in Yunnan, Tibet and Sichuan. After exploring all the way, the concept of the ancient tea-horse road was put forward, which was widely recognized in subsequent academic research and promotion, and the ancient tea-horse road was confirmed.
After 2000, the ancient tea-horse road rose and fell in a few years with the fame of Pu 'er tea. On 200 1, Changdu, Tibet, took the lead in launching the tourism brand of the ancient tea-horse road, and jointly held the "Academic Investigation Seminar on the Ancient Tea-horse Road" with Ganzi and Shangri-La on the ancient tea-horse road, inviting experts and scholars from well-known domestic universities and scientific research institutions to give lectures on ethnology, history, Tibetan studies, geology, zoology and botany, and tourism.
First of all, the ancient tea-horse road mainly passes through the Hengduan mountains in Tibet, Sichuan and Yunnan, as well as the Jinsha River, Lancang River and Nujiang River basins. It is an ancient trade route with caravan as the main mode of transportation and tea-horse exchange as the main content since Tang and Song Dynasties.
Second, the ancient tea-horse road is a historical witness that all ethnic groups in southwest China live in harmony, and it is an ironclad proof that Tibet has been an inseparable part of China since ancient times;
Third, the ancient tea-horse road is the highest and steepest post road in the world, and some sections are still in operation today;
Fourthly, along the ancient tea-horse road, there are unique mountain and canyon landforms with the richest biodiversity, which is the core area of East Asian flora;
Fifth, the research and tourism development of the ancient tea-horse road is of great practical significance to the coordinated development of economy, culture and ecology along the route. After this meeting, people have a comprehensive understanding of the ancient tea-horse road, and it is a good start to study it or develop tourism and leisure economy, which has attracted the attention of all walks of life.
In 2005, the Pu 'er tea craze began to take shape. With the rise of Pu 'er tea fever, the ancient tea-horse road has once again attracted people's attention. After 2007, in combination with the third national cultural relics survey, Yunnan, Sichuan, Tibet and other provinces and regions set up special topics on the investigation and research of the ancient tea-horse road, which further clarified the direction, route, distribution, related cultural relics and surrounding environment of the ancient tea-horse road, laying the foundation for the next research on cultural protection.