The Silk Road is a trade and transportation route across Europe and Asia in history. China is the hometown of silk. In the trade through this route, silk is the most representative commodity exported by China. /kloc-In the second half of the 9th century, German geographer Richthofen called this land transportation route "Silk Road". Since then, historians at home and abroad have agreed with this statement, which is still in use today.
After Zhang Qian passed through the western regions, it officially opened the land passage from China to Europe and Africa. This road starts from Chang 'an, the capital of the Western Han Dynasty, passes through the Hexi Corridor, and then divides into two routes: one starts from Yangguan, passes through Shanshan, goes west along the northern foot of Kunlun Mountain, passes through shache, goes west through Qingji, leaves Dayuejia, goes to rest, goes west through the plough (jiān, now Alexandria, Egypt, annexed by the Roman Empire in 30 BC), or enters the body from the south of Da Yue. The other one goes out of Yumenguan, passes through the former Cheshi country, goes west along the southern foot of Tianshan Mountain, goes out of Shule, crosses Qingji in the west, crosses Daguan Bay, and reaches Kangju and Chae Yeon (nomadic in the northwest of Kangju in the Western Han Dynasty, that is, the grassland in the North Caspian Sea, and belongs to Kangju in the Eastern Han Dynasty).
Maritime?Silk?Road
The Maritime Silk Road refers to the maritime traffic route between China and other parts of the world. China's silk is not only exported to countries in Central Asia, West Asia, Africa and Europe through transcontinental land transportation lines, but also exported to countries all over the world through maritime transportation lines. Therefore, after German geographer Richthofen named the land traffic route across the east and west as the Silk Road, some scholars further extended it and named the maritime traffic route between the east and the west as the Maritime Silk Road. Later, China's famous ceramics were also sold to other countries through this maritime traffic route, and western incense medicines were also imported into China through this route, so some scholars called this maritime traffic route the Ceramic Road or the Fragrant Porcelain Road.
The Maritime Silk Road was formed in the period of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty. Sailing westward from China, the South China Sea route is the main line of the Maritime Silk Road. At the same time, there is an East China Sea route from China to the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese archipelago, which occupies a secondary position in the Maritime Silk Road.
With regard to the South China Sea route of the Silk Road in Han Dynasty, Geography of Han Dynasty recorded the voyage that Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty sent envoys and businessmen to the sea for trade, saying that they started from Rinan (now central Vietnam) or Xuwen (now Guangdong) and Hepu (now Guangxi), went south along the east coast of Indo-China Peninsula, and arrived in Du Yuan (now Di City in southern Vietnam) for five months. After four months' voyage, it arrived in Lu Yi (now a Buddhist sect in Thailand) at the mouth of Chao Phraya River. After that, he went south along the east coast of Malay Peninsula and arrived in Li Zhan (now Bashu, Thailand) more than 20 days later. He abandoned the ship and landed here, crossed the isthmus, walked 10 for more than 0 days, and arrived in the capital Lu (now Dana Shalin, Myanmar). Then he boarded the ship and sailed west in the Indian Ocean. After more than two months, I arrived at Huang Zhiguo (now Kangchepland on the southeast coast of India). After returning home, I went down to Putrajaya (now Sri Lanka) from the south of the Yellow River, and then sailed directly to the east. Eight months later, I arrived in Malacca Strait, anchored in Pizong (now Pisan Island in western Singapore), and finally sailed for more than two months, from Pizong to Xianglin County in Rinan County (Chaqiao is located in the south of Weichuan County in Vietnam).
The Silk Road is a vivid and appropriate name. In the ancient world, only China was the first country to grow mulberry, raise silkworms and produce silk products. Archaeological discoveries in China in recent years show that silk production technology has developed to a fairly high level from Shang Dynasty to Warring States Period. China's silk products are still one of the most important products that China has dedicated to the people of the world. They spread widely, covering the contribution of China people to world civilization. Therefore, over the years, many researchers have tried to give this road another name, such as the jade road, the gem road, the Buddhist road, the ceramic road and so on. However, all of them can only reflect a certain part of the Silk Road. After all, they cannot replace the name "Silk Road".
The basic trend of the Silk Road was formed in the Han Dynasty around AD. It starts from Chang 'an (Jin 'an), the capital of the Western Han Dynasty, or Luoyang, the capital of the Eastern Han Dynasty, passes through Longxi or Guyuan westbound to Jincheng (now Lanzhou), then passes through Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan and Dunhuang counties in the Hexi Corridor, exits Yumenguan or Yangguan, and passes through Bailongdui to Loulan, Lop Nur. In the Han Dynasty, the Western Regions were divided into South Road and North Road, and the two roads diverged in Loulan. To the north, it passes through Quli (now Korla), Qiuci (now Kuqa) and Gu Mo (now Aksu) to Shule (now Kashgar). South Road starts from Shanshan (now Ruoqiang) and passes through Qiemo, Jingjue (now Minfeng Niya Site), Khotan (now Hotan), Pishan and shache to Shule. From Shule to the west, across Congling (now Pamir) to Dawan (now Fergana). From here, we can go west to Daxia (now Afghanistan), Sogdian (now Uzbekistan), Rest in Peace (now Iran), and as far as the plowshare in Daqin (the eastern part of the Roman Empire) (also known as Li Xuan, in Alexandria, Egypt). The other road runs from the southwest of Pishan, crossing the crossing (now Darier, Pakistan), passing through Cobin (now Kabul, Afghanistan) and Wuyishan (now Sistan), and heading southwest to Tiaozhi (now the head of Persian Gulf). If you go south from Bin to India (now Karachi, Pakistan), you can also reach Persia and Rome by sea. This is the basic trunk line of the Silk Road formed after Zhang Qian made two missions to the Western Regions in the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. In other words, the narrow Silk Road refers to the above-mentioned roads.
The Silk Road in history is not static. With the change of geographical environment and the evolution of political and religious situation, some new roads are constantly opened up, and some roads have changed or even been abandoned. For example, Bailongdui between Dunhuang and Lop Nur is a Ya Dan terrain, which often disorients travelers. In the early Eastern Han Dynasty, the northern Xiongnu on the Mongolian plateau was defeated and forced to move westward. After the Central Plains dynasty firmly occupied Yiwu (now Hami), it opened up a "new road to the north" from Dunhuang to Yiwu. From Yiwu via Gaochang (now Turpan) and Yanqi to Qiuci, it meets the former Silk Road North Road. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the north and the south of China were antagonistic, and the east and the west in the north were also harmonious. Under such circumstances, the exchanges between the Southern Dynasties, Song Dynasty, Qi Dynasty, Liang Dynasty and Chen Dynasty and the Western Regions were mostly along the Yangtze River to Yizhou (now Chengdu), then to Longhe (now Songpan) in the north, passing through Tuguhun Capital on the shore of Qinghai Lake, passing through Qaidam Basin to Dunhuang in the west, and meeting with the main road of the Silk Road. Or cross the Altun Mountain Pass to the west, enter the Shanshan area of the Western Region, and meet with Silu South Road. This road is called "Tugu Hundao" or "Henan Road", and today people also call it "Qinghai Road". From the Central Plains or the north of Hexi Corridor to the Mongolian Plateau, then to the northern foot of Tianshan Mountain in the west, across the Ili River to the broken leaves (near tokmak today), and into Central Asia. This road was later called "Beixin Road", which was very prosperous during the Mongol Khanate and the Yuan Dynasty.
Apart from the Silk Road on land, from the Han Dynasty, China people opened a waterway from Guangdong to India. After the Song Dynasty, with the further development of southern China and the shift of the economic center of gravity to the south, the sea routes from Guangzhou, Quanzhou, Hangzhou and other places became increasingly developed, going further and further, from Nanyang to the Arabian Sea and even as far as the east coast of Africa. People call these maritime trade routes "Maritime Silk Road".
Let me put it this way:
The Silk Road refers to the land passage opened by Zhang Qian in the Western Han Dynasty (202 -8 BC) from Chang 'an (Jin 'an) to Central Asia and West Asia via Gansu and Xinjiang, connecting Mediterranean countries (this road is also called "Northwest Silk Road" to distinguish it from the other two traffic routes later named "Silk Road"). Because silk products have the greatest influence on the goods transported to the west, it is named. Its basic trend was set in the Han Dynasty, including three routes: South Road, Middle Road and North Road.
The Silk Road in a broad sense refers to the long-distance commercial, trade and cultural exchange routes that have been formed since ancient times and spread all over Eurasia, even including North Africa and East Africa. In addition to the above routes, it also includes the Maritime Silk Road, which was formed in the Southern and Northern Dynasties and played a great 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 communication channel on the road at the end of Yuan Dynasty.
The word "die Seidenstrasse" originated from China published by German geographer ferdinand von richthofen in 1877, sometimes referred to as the Silk Road for short.
Although the Silk Road is the product of the economic and trade development promoted by countries along the route, many people think that Zhang Qian in China has opened a new era of Sino-foreign exchanges twice. And successfully opened the last bead curtain between East and West. Since then, this route has been stepped out of the "national highway", and ambassadors and businessmen from all countries have poured in along the road opened by Zhang Qian. From princes and nobles to beggars and prisoners, the most famous is that Ban Chao once again passed through the Western Regions and Xuanzang to learn from India. They all left footprints on this road. This east-west passage closely links the Central Plains and the Western Regions with Arabia and the Persian Gulf. After centuries of continuous efforts, the Silk Road has extended westward to the Mediterranean Sea. Broadly speaking, the eastern section of the Silk Road reached South Korea and Japan, and the western section reached France and the Netherlands. Italy and Egypt can also be reached by sea, becoming the road of friendship for economic and cultural exchanges between Asia, Europe and Africa.
Maritime Silk Road is the artery of ancient maritime traffic. China has been associated with the Malay Peninsula since the Han Dynasty, especially since the Tang Dynasty. As a way of communication, the most convenient way is sailing, and Sino-Western trade also uses this channel to conduct transactions. This is what we call the Maritime Silk Road.
During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, this road was mainly centered on the South China Sea, and the starting point was mainly Guangzhou, so it was also called the South China Sea Silk Road.
During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Guangzhou became the largest port in China and a world-famous oriental port city. The route from Guangzhou to the Persian Gulf countries via the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean was the longest route in the world at that time.
After the opening of the Maritime Silk Road, before the Sui and Tang Dynasties, that is, in the 6th and 7th centuries, it was only a supplementary form of the onshore Silk Road. However, during the Sui and Tang Dynasties, due to the constant wars in the western regions, the Silk Road on land was blocked by the war. Instead, it was the Maritime Silk Road. In the Tang Dynasty, with the development of shipbuilding and navigation technology in China, the sea routes from China to Southeast Asia, Malacca Strait, Indian Ocean, Red Sea and African continent were successively opened and extended, and the Maritime Silk Road finally replaced the land Silk Road and became the main channel for China's foreign exchanges.
According to the Records of Geography of the New Tang Dynasty, in the Tang Dynasty, there was a sea route along the southeast coast of China to Southeast Asia, countries in the North Indian Ocean, countries along the Red Sea, northeast Africa and countries in the Persian Gulf, which was called "Guangzhou Tonghai Island", which was the earliest name of the Maritime Silk Road in China. At that time, the commodities exported through this channel were mainly silk, porcelain, tea and copper and iron. The main imports are spices, flowers and other rare treasures for the court to enjoy. This situation continued until the Song and Yuan Dynasties. In the early Ming Dynasty, Zheng He went to the Western Ocean and developed the Maritime Silk Road to its peak. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties after Zheng He, with the implementation of the maritime ban policy and the decline of China's maritime industry, the Maritime Silk Road, which had made great contributions to the exchanges between the East and the West, gradually died out with the increasingly severe maritime ban.
During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the main bulk cargo transported by sea passage was silk, so everyone called this sea passage connecting East and West the Maritime Silk Road. During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the export of porcelain gradually became the main commodity, so people also called it "the road of marine ceramics". At the same time, because the imported goods have always been dominated by spices, it is also known as the "spice road at sea".