Among all ethnic groups in China, Tibetans living on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau need tea because "they eat fishy meat; The heat of highland barley is not confused by tea, so tea is regarded as an indispensable necessity for survival. However, in Tibetan areas, tea has never been produced, and tea-producing areas are mainly concentrated in Sichuan and Yunnan. In order to transport the tea from Sichuan and Yunnan to Tibetan areas and import the local products from Tibetan areas to the mainland of China, a series of traffic lines mainly focusing on tea trade have been opened under the thorns of Tibetan, Han and Hui ethnic vendors, backpackers, foot households and caravans. Like a green ribbon, it runs across the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Loess Plateau and the Gansu, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Sichuan and Yunnan plateaus, winding on the roof of the world. Across the mountains and rivers, across the snowy plains and vast grasslands, it is like a continuous link connecting the mainland and the vast Tibetan areas, like a golden bridge across time and space, conveying the brotherhood of the Han, Hui and Tibetan peoples. Since the Tang Dynasty, this trade relationship has been mainly carried out in the form of exchange of tea from the mainland and horses in Tibetan areas, so it was called "tea-horse exchange" or "tea-horse exchange" in history, and the commercial road opened up by this trade was called "tea-horse ancient road".

Pedestrians and pedestrians on the ancient tea-horse road

Speaking of the ancient tea-horse road, people will naturally think of the famous Sichuan-Tibet and Yunnan-Tibet tea-horse roads. The ancient tea-horse road seems to be far away from the northwest and belongs to the southwest, which has nothing to do with the northwest.

However, the earliest ancient tea-horse road in China and its main distribution are not in Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan in the southwest, but in the northwest of China. There is a mysterious ancient road in the alpine plains and jungle wilderness of Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia. This is the famous ancient road of cultural and economic exchange in China-the Tea Horse Road, also known as the Shaanxi-Gansu Green Tea Horse Road.

Xiandai tea-horse ancient road caravan

According to archaeological investigation, as early as the late Neolithic period, there was a certain cultural connection between Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia and Qinghai. Majiayao culture centered on Gansu has a certain inheritance relationship with Yangshao culture in Shaanxi and Zongri culture in Qinghai. The famous Qijia culture is also widely distributed in Shaanxi, Qinghai and other places, and it is distributed in the bronze age Lajia site in Minhe, Qinghai. These numerous cultural relics fully show that as early as the late Neolithic period, there was a relatively smooth cultural exchange route and traffic route between Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia and Qinghai, which laid the foundation for the formation and development of the Tang-Fan ancient road south of the Silk Road and the Shaanxi-Gansu-Qinghai tea-horse ancient road in the future. In the Han Dynasty, Zhang Qian made two missions to the Western Regions according to Zi Tong Zhi Jian, both of which crossed the Yellow River into Huangzhong and entered the Western Regions in Linjin Capital (now Dahejia, Jishi County). In the Sui Dynasty, according to Sui Shu's records, in March 609 AD, Emperor Yangdi Yang Guang, accompanied by Pei Ju, led an army composed of a large number of civil and military officials. Hunting Yanshan Mountain (Hualong County, Qinghai Province), entering Changning Valley, crossing Lingxing to Haomenchuan (Datong Valley), encircling Tugu Hunfuyun King, destroying its capital and reducing its population by more than 6,543,800.

Map of ancient tea-horse road

In the Tang Dynasty, after the marriage of Tubo and Tang Dynasty, the relationship between the two sides was closer in politics, economy, military affairs and culture, which directly promoted the final formation of the traffic route of the ancient Tang-Fan road. In the Yuan Dynasty, in order to develop the transportation between Tibet and the mainland, the Yuan government established about 19 post stations in Daxing, a Tibetan area, which greatly extended the Tea-Horse Avenue between Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia and Qinghai-Tibet, and laid the foundation for the Tea-Horse Exchange in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The Ming Dynasty was a period of unprecedented prosperity of tea-horse trade in northwest China. In the early Ming Dynasty, in order to appease the Tibetan-dominated ethnic minorities outside the northwest, the Ming court used tea as a weapon to implement the policy of "tea-horse exchange" in the northwest, that is, the tea from Ziyang and Hanzhong tea-producing areas in Shaanxi and Sichuan was transported to Qin Zhou, Hezhou, Zhou Min, Xining and other places to exchange horses with overseas ethnic minorities, so that the tea-horse trade of "allowing people to get tea" rose to the national policy of controlling foreign countries and protecting the country, and the Ming court formulated policies and decrees to restrict the tea-horse trade. "History of the Ming Dynasty, Food and Goods" says that "tea can be exchanged for horses, which will strengthen people's popularity and strengthen China". Therefore, the Ming government formulated a series of laws and regulations on the production, sale, trafficking, taxation, price, quality and supervision of tea in Tibetan areas to curb the speculation of tea merchants. After the formation of tea-horse trade, it has played an indelible role in the cultural and economic exchanges in China for thousands of years.

Xiandai tea-horse ancient road caravan

First, it provided a large number of excellent horses for the Central Plains Dynasty and improved the fighting capacity of the Central Plains army, especially in the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Second, tea, salt, silk and other mainland materials were transported to Tibetan areas, and at the same time, a large number of Han, Miao and Hui cultures were brought to Tibetan areas, and Buddhist culture in Tibetan areas was also introduced to Han areas, which made the northwest and southwest border areas of China more and more integrated with the Central Plains culture, and finally reached Liangzhou alliance with Baita Temple in Wuwei, Gansu Province in the Yuan Dynasty. Tibetan areas belonged to the Central Plains dynasty.

Xiandai tea-horse ancient road caravan

In short, the ancient tea-horse road, which has declined now, has played an indelible role in the history of China, and its story still needs further exploration by modern people!